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Everything was once again a swirl of lights and possibilities, but I saw nothing. I looked back at the shrinking window that led to Nexus, the very winds of creation burned my eyes until they shut. I just shot forward. Faster. Faster! And then…

I dropped and skidded in the grass. My armour tilled the dirt. Native air filled my lungs. I stretched out my fingers. Nothing but verdant blades around me. The portal, vast and brittle, loomed above me. Scorch marks still remained where the explosive had struck it. Beyond that, cave walls climbed up some ways until they formed a ragged frame for the twilight sky. Far above, a gleaming aurora of thousands of colours burned - I had to presume it was a result of Nexus’ collapse.

For some time, nothing could move me, in body or in feeling. My mind was stuck processing one long death march of a thought: could I not just stay there until the grass rose up and swallowed me? It seemed preferable to the uncertain trek ahead of me. The journey to break the fate I had made for myself.

But, eventually, even oblivion loses its appeal, so some part of me forced strength into my limbs. My muscles ached. My eyeline rose, allowing more and more items into my field of view. Corpses of thugs lay unrecovered around the cave.

Slowly, I turned, and a path back up and out became visible. Something crunched as my boot pressed down. A white funeral mask had snapped in two.

“Glibby’s master…” I thought. “Perhaps I should pursue that line of attack. Brit already hates the Ape… but do I tell him who he’s working for?”

I had to be delicate as a harpist. One wrong strum of my fingers and I could set things shuddering into discordance, no better and perhaps a lot worse than they already were. I was a serpent trying to wind around the stem of a delicate flower without strangling it.

“Cossack of course comes to rule this Gaian kingdom. Is this advantageous or a distraction?”

Light crept down from the cave-mouth. The incline became steeper. The walls rockier. Narrower. Sharper.

“And this Brotherhood. Chrone looked at me so strangely. Are they friend or foe? Both? They merit close attention. An early destruction, if necessary.”

A rock split my palm, and a jolt of pain caused me to trip. My armour rattled as I pulled myself back up. The crimson wept from the heart of my right hand, then ran down the diamond plates on my arm. I realised how battered and different my armour would be. How could I explain this?

“I cannot possibly say what has happened to me. They would think me mad. Or could I? Can I not just tell them our new purpose? That our new enemy is fate itself?”

Yes. Yes, I could. My mind was made. I came to the mouth of the cave, burning with purpose. The valley re-entered my sight for the first time in far too long, and immediately my eyes crept over to the cave we used as a camp.

And there, at the cave mouth, I saw Small’s shock of blond hair. The assassin kept guard over our shelter. Smoke rose up past him, and I saw Bokane tending to the campfire as the ever-hulking Mini stooped to turn a spit. The scent of pork enticed me even from there.

A mad grin spread across my face as my stratagem coalesced. I would go down there, and regardless of what they thought at first, I would convince them I spoke the truth. A speech to end all speeches. I would tell Astro what I had done, what I would come to do, and I would convince him to help me stop it all.

We would locate this Silhouette, and we would dismantle his network. Find Chrone and his Brotherhood and enlist them. Seduce the Gaians and have their nation at our disposal. And, at the appointed time, we would venture out to that mine in Acrisius, knock down the doors, and fight our way into Nexus with an army at our backs. The Tower would crumble. The Entity would be slain. And when my own fool self arrived, I would confront him, and inform him of his grand and glorious purpose. To take up the Book. To guard young Helix and all other forlorn. To build the Ashen Kingdom eternal!

I raised my hands in euphoria, imagining the end of this glorious tirade. It all seemed so clear to me, until:

“Where have you been?”

I froze. All my grand schemes imploded.

“You’ve been missing for a week! Aaron’s worried sick. Cossack too, but I think he’s more afraid we’ll kick him out of the group if you’re not around to vouch for him.”

He laughed. Against my wishes, my body turned until, over my shoulder I could see him: Astro, young as the day I left.

“Only a week?” I croaked.

The sun caught in his black hair, causing a strip down the middle to shine white. He had a snarky grin plastered across his face, betraying his relief but also failing to disguise his concern about where I’d actually been. His presence impelled me to turn full, and I almost fell as I did so. Suddenly the drop into the valley looked much steeper, and gravity all the fiercer.

“By the mods, look at you,” he gestured to hole Freak had punched in my breastplate. “What happened to the obsidian stuff? I couldn’t get you out of it last I saw you.”

I swallowed. My lungs tightened as I recalled the Entity’s victory over me. With the Book I had stood no chance. Even as King in Ash I had not been strong enough. Only Shadow had ever been its equal. As the Other Steve had once told me, the Entity had crushed many armies before our arrival. Without Shadow, what chance could any army led by me ever stand?

“I got robbed,” I managed, removing some of the cracks from my voice.

“Oh…” he frowned. “I’m so sorry.”

He came forward and put a hand on my shoulder. In a brief twitch of the fingers, he squeezed the vain delusion from me. The King in Ash had failed. There could be no return for him.

“Don’t be,” I scoffed, “My own stupid fault. I wanted to show people I was still important, and it just made me easily ambushed.”

Crystalline tears ran down my cheeks. I hadn’t even noticed my eyes start to water. I raised a hand to my face and Astro folded me into his grasp. I clung to him desperately.

Some time passed. We broke apart. Astro smiled at me. I forced a smile back.

“Strange this?” he tried.

“Hm?”

He gestured at the symphony of colour overhead.

“The aurora, never heard of those in the Vanilla Craft.”

I deflected: “Well, we’re not quite there yet.”

He lit up a tad.

“Ah, actually!”

He pulled out a stack of papers from his robes.

“Our visas are all sorted. We’ve even got a job offer,” Astro said encouragingly.

“H-have we?”

“The Emperor of the Realm of Seven Kingdoms, a man called Dominus, approached me. He wants you to govern some land he’s come into possession of. Seems like a great opportunity.”

I racked my brains. The Realm had been scarcely mentioned. Dominus even less so. Only brief half-whispers in the Shelter about them which suggested… What, exactly? A disgrace? A fallen friend? A defeated enemy? Secret had let slip something about an attack on the Citadel? Surely not that Citadel? However, all that hardly mattered, really.

“Actually Astro,” I sighed. “Take it if you wish, but I think I’m retiring.”

Astro’s eyes flared with surprise. I recalled the anger, disgust, contempt that would one day fill them when he witnessed my betrayal of Helix. How moved he had been by the slim hope of my success. A meagre parody of closure I had foisted upon him.

“You’re entirely certain?”

I was. The world needed no more of Kay Mandy’s vaulting ambition. Of his attempts to guard his own good reputation long after he had already destroyed it. Instead, I would banish him to some quiet place and tell him to wait until Astro, or Aaron or Cossack or any of them at all truly needed his aid.

“Yes,” I said with finality. “In my absence, I’ve become rather captivated with the idea of farming. So, I shall do that. A necessary tedium after all the excitement I’ve had lately.”

Astro chuckled warily.

“We’ll see how long that lasts. Come on, that pork smells pretty great, but I know just the recipe to make it perfect.”

All of them had gathered around the campfire now, waving and joking. Aaron, Secret, Cossack, Bokane, Mini, Brit and Gracey. The family to whom I would devote my life.

“Don’t you dare ruin another dinner,” I teased.

I punched him on the shoulder, and we set off down the hill. My friends’ laughter seemed to grow dimmer as I got closer, and as the sun inched closer and closer to the horizon, the brilliant, hopeful rays of the aurora became harder and harder to make out. Yet the campfire glowed like a hearth, and there was some reassurance in that.

I stood in Nexus alone, everyone had left through the portals I created, even animals had wandered through. Now it was just the terrain, the buildings, the plants, and me. I did not just see Nexus through the eyes on my body. In fact, I had very little need of this manner of observation. The blackness in the sky was nothing but an extension of me, something that I had neglected to tell the others, both to avoid more worship from my Coven and to not delay the departures.

I returned to the Tower, or what was left of it. Now that Nexus was empty, I stopped holding back the collapse of the fabric of reality. The Tower’s arms, twisted as they had become, now bent inwards to one specific point, the Entity’s entry scar. The rest of the building quickly followed, then the ground itself was distorted out of shape and curved upwards. Far off in the distance, the horizon shrunk as matter dissipated into the Void, or rather into me, since I had enveloped Nexus in its entirety.

Mountains rushed by, followed by deserts and jungles. An ocean disappeared into nothingness. An indeterminate amount of time later the terrain began taking truly odd shapes, it looked like Nexus had absorbed the far lands of several worlds.

I watched all of this transpire, standing by as the world died. Then, finally the last atom had disappeared, leaving an empty, directionless space behind that only contained me. The fragment of myself that was still in Nexus disappeared through the entry scar, and behind it the space bubble turned itself inside out and collapsed. Nexus was no more.

I had fully returned to the larger self that I had only properly become aware of when I killed the Book. In the past I had taken glimpses outside of reality, usually to observe the layers of energy, or the Book’s pocket dimension. Now was the first time I truly looked outwards.

At first, I was unable to perceive anything, still unfamiliar with the structure of higher-dimensional space, but gradually I saw that space’s equivalent of colour. Dots appeared in my vision, each representing a world, they were infinitely small, lacking any higher-dimensional extent, but I could still see details if I focused on one. In one of the closer ones, I could observe Herobrine marching his army home, in another the hunters fortified their camp with materials they had taken with them.

But my focus was not on the worlds, because there still was something here in this liminal space that seemingly escaped everyone’s memory. The Entity was here somewhere, it was not dead, and I needed to change that. If I didn’t, everything we did, all our sacrifices would be nothing more than another link in the chain of its cycles.

With each passing moment my perception expanded further, I was able to see more worlds and look into these worlds with greater detail. Then I saw what I was looking for. A tiny speck of grey, rapidly moving away from where Nexus had been.

So that is how it operates, each time it is defeated it shoots away. Eventually it will collide with a world and begin its growth anew.

I began moving towards the Entity, slowly at first, having to get used to moving in this new state. Soon I became fast enough to match the Entity’s speed, then faster to close the distance. As I got closer, the grey speck gradually became bigger and something dawned on me, even in this state the Entity was massive.

Before me was the higher-dimensional equivalent to a tetrahedron, though instead of the ever-repeating static that had covered its form in Nexus, here the Entity’s surface was a single uniform middling sensation, not even a colour in the regular sense. This geometric menace now towered over me, many times larger than I. This bastion of Order that I had to bring down to prevent it from destroying any more worlds.

If I had a human body still, I would have instinctively swallowed at this point. But there was no point in deliberating. It was Order, I was Entropy. All I had to do was make contact and I would eventually erode it into nothingness.

Right?

I pushed my doubts aside and accelerated towards the nearest quasi-grey face. I braced myself as I rapidly approached. I slammed into the Entity… but it refused to give. The small dent my impact created immediately righted itself.

What if Order and Entropy work differently here? What if they cannot interact at all at this level of reality? Was I doomed to fail?

Questions like these began sprouting in my mind like weeds. As vines of doubt climbed higher, the worlds in the distance gradually disappeared, or rather my ability to perceive them did as I slowly slipped into despair. It was just like when I had found out that Claw had taken control. The realisation I had made in the nightmare rang true once again. If I failed here, I could not guarantee that my brother, or anyone, was safe. Feeling slipped away, the only thing I could perceive was my nemesis ahead of me, but even that faded slowly.

Just before my mind went dark, a faint thought appeared.

Why am I so concerned with protecting everyone? It is the right thing to do, but… why does it affect me so much when I fail? Why do I feel so helpless? It is as if I am unable to do something that is expected of me.

I held onto that thought. Back when I had emerged from the laboratory, Fire had that same emotion written all over his face, until I told him that we have a way out.

That was not what my brother would do, I have seen him push through hardship before, and I have done it too, it is what got us to where we are. Something is not right… To kill the Entity, the embodiment of Order, I need to break through its surface, something I cannot do as the embodiment of Entropy-

My thoughts ground to a halt. That was it.

Am I Entropy? The only ones who said so were Kay, who had heard it from the Book, and Freak, who had heard it from Dr. Mercury. None of them were reliable sources of information in this matter.

I thought back to when I entered Nexus. As soon as I did my senses had expanded and I was able to tear holes into reality. I never had the time to question why these changes happened. I had not initiated them, so something else must have.

Just at the moment I finished the previous thought, I suddenly felt constricted. As if bound by countless of strings that dragged me in all directions at once. But my mind felt clearer than ever.

I am a mage, but am not magic, magic is simply a tool for me to use, so why would Entropy and Void be any different? I was asking the wrong question this whole time! Human? Entropy? God? What does it matter what I am? If there is no answer either way, why should I care?

I am myself. I am Shadow.

This thought surged through my mind, pushing away the numbness. Like a warm shower of rain, sensations flooded my mind. Millions and millions of worlds became visible and with every passing moment more joined them. I had changed too, no longer possessing a body of Void, I instead simply was, existing beyond description. Then, finally I saw them. The strings that had bound me so tightly moments earlier, now failing to find purchase on my transcendent body. With a thought I caught each of them, then tore them into shreds so small that they faded from existence entirely.

Back in Nexus I had thought I felt free, that feeling was dull compared to what I felt now. In front of me was still the grey bulk of the Entity, but despite nothing changing about our relative sizes, it no longer seemed to loom over me. It was then that I realized why the Entity feared me, not because of what I had been, even if many incorrectly assumed such. The Entity feared what I could become… have become.

I moved forward once again, speeding towards the geometric abomination ahead of me. Shortly before I collided, I saw myself reflected in its surface. I broke through, now surrounded by grey in every sense, shortly behind me followed a path of darkness as I carved a swathe into the Entity’s formerly perfect being. Halfway between the black and grey, bright bolts of energy bounced like electric discharges as Order failed.

Once I arrived at the centre, I gathered my focus, pulling all that is the Entity into my being. The only way to be certain of its obliteration. Uncountable years of memories and information streamed into my mind, but it all seemed hilariously insignificant compared to what I was now. The embodiment of Order collapsed into me, and as it did a pulse of radiant sensations was sent flying outwards, rolling harmlessly over nearby worlds before dissipating.

But there was still something left where the Entity once was. Another mind, a familiar one. I had found her. I had found Destiny. Little more than a speck of existence, no body to speak of, but she was there. There was not much I could do for her, except for one thing. I carefully moved what remained of her, of the one who kicked off the events that led to our victory. Her world was not far. I made a tiny puncture in the walls of her world and pushed her through, then closed it up once more. I sincerely hoped that that was enough.

Now the only thing that remained for me was to return home. I knew where to go, sensing my world’s resonance. Despite my relatively slow pace, my world approached quickly. But before I could reach it, I encountered something like a transparent barrier. I could see my world, but I was seemingly unable to move any closer.

With a thought, I parted the barrier, and went through the gap. The barrier neatly closed behind me. I immediately felt a difference, it was like after exiting Nexus. At first, I saw very little, then gradually more. Was this another layer of existence? My world was still ahead of me, so I pushed on, only to be stopped again and again. I cut through each barrier, growing more confused with each time. With every passage, reality felt thinner, sparser. When I looked back, I could still see all the worlds like before, but some of them were encapsulated in bubble-like structures. The further I went the more worlds looked enclosed, and after some point even the bubbles themselves appeared to have bigger bubbles around them.

Then, finally I broke through to my world. No matter how far I looked, there was nothing else in the same space, the emptiness was profound. But there was something when I looked at my world. My world consisted of three layers that were so close they almost touched. Two of them made sense to be there, one was the “real” world, the other was the server. The revelation that the server was not just a simulation, but an actual world passed me by almost without a trace, at this point it was barely a leap in logic. The third layer however, contained no matter, instead it was composed entirely of energy, like what I had seen in Nexus.

At this point I had no idea what exactly the implications of this third layer were, but it felt good to know that I could discuss it with my brother in peace once I was fully home. I moved close to the server’s layer, then parted its walls to let a part of me slip through. My larger self would have to remain outside.

It was a peculiar feeling, being back to three-dimensional space after where I had been just before, but there was comfort to returning to such a familiar place. My body formed in the middle of a forest, namely the forest surrounding Rockhaven. The runes on my skin burned brightly for a moment as I returned to existence fully. I was of course not alone, the immediate area teemed with Mencur-Besh and Eye-and-Claws. Straight ahead of me stood Fire, who interrupted his conversation with Lucy and Dr. Mercury to pull me into a hug. As he did so I noticed something with my lingering extradimensional senses. My brother was bound by strings too.

Determination welled up inside of me. I would help him free himself, just like he had done for me.

Steve and Jennifer stepped out of the portal and stopped to appreciate the yellow sun above. However, their attention was almost immediately drawn away by an explosion of light in the sky. They found themselves staring at an aurora of colours, many of which their world had never seen before. Each shade was more brilliant than the last.

Suddenly, a wind whipped their hair as Drake Junior swooped past. Their eyes followed the young Enderdragon as he swept so low to the ground the shrubs and flowers of the ground began to scratch his exposed belly. Then, purring with satisfaction, he shot back up into the sky and began to bite playfully at the intangible rays of the aurora.

“Be careful up there!” Steve shouted.

The dragon didn’t seem to hear him and continued to swing around still more boldly. Steve gritted his teeth and stood on tiptoe as he tried to follow every turn.

Behind him, a laugh erupted from Jennifer’s throat and Steve turned in exasperation, only for her hand to touch his face and brush the worry out of him.

“Hey,” she smiled.

She had removed her armour, just leaving a t-shirt and jeans. The multi-coloured lights bounced off her shining red hair, an aurora in its own right.

“Hey.”

He reached for her waist and drew her in.

“You know I love you, right?”

She leaned in.

“I got the impression.”

Their lips touched. The sun was warm, and so was she. He held her tight to him. Their eyes drifted shut. The lights of the sun and aurora danced atop their closed eyelids, turning the void of blindness into a radiant glory. They stayed that way for the longest time.

Finally, the aurora dimmed, and they drew apart. Still holding hands, they took in the quaintness of Brine Manor. Atza, Steve’s mother, stood at the door, fussing over a reluctant Ozen. Wolfric sat off on a bench on the porch, drifting off into a peaceful sleep after the exertions of the day. On the top floor of the manor, a light shone in Dad’s room, and Steve could see his silhouette, upright and reading over an old book.

A look across the Manor’s colossal lawn and into the forest revealed a road, and people coming up it. Alex sat astride a horse, her long orange hair flowing in the breeze and her diamond armour looking almost black beneath the shelter of the bows of trees. Behind her, her friends, Dylan and Rana led a donkey laden with supplies.

In the other direction, Steve saw Mark and David of Morbrook riding up a redstone railway of their own design. Behind them trailed a line of minecarts containing villagers and chests, full to bursting with melon and bread and pork and… so much else both wonderful and familiar.

“Now they show up,” Jennifer rolled her eyes wryly. “When it’s time to celebrate.”

Steve laughed.

“Eh, I’ll trap the Alliance members into one hell of a Dungeons and Enderdragons game tomorrow and then we’ll be even.”

They began to walk down toward the crowd, then suddenly they stopped. Steve was frowning, and his shoulders hunched.

“Actually,” he said. “What do we do next?”

“What do you mean?”

“In the nightmare, I saw a world where I had everything. You were there, and we had… a family. And Ozen was there, and I was still adventuring, and Dad had fully recovered, and it still didn’t make me feel complete. So, I…”

He trailed off, shame filling him. He tilted his head and looked at his right hand as though it were stained. Once again, Jennifer’s hand touched his face, this time to straighten out his fretful confusion.

“You know what I saw?”

His eyes locked with hers. There was a trust, profound enough that it superseded words. And it melted away all worry within him.

“No?”

She drew back and pretended to huff.

“Well too bad, because I’m not telling you.”

She winked, and it was like the signing of a sacred covenant.

“Love ya, Steve,” she ordained.

Steve chuckled and cast a glance to the side. Atza and Ozen were building long tables while David, Mark and the villagers carried over their plentiful banquet. Dad was waving from the window in his fragile way. Drake had come to rest on the ground, where Alex threw him a cooked porkchop. The aurora was faded, but its colours lingered like a welcome stranger.

Steve and Jennifer drew each other in for one last kiss, and they set off to enjoy whatever this new future might hold.

“Stupid dimensional portals,” thought Warnado, tapping his foot. “Never open when you need them.”

He sat atop a huge pile of rocks beneath which the golems were buried. Crushed. Broken. Whatever word you wanted to use, these guys were out of commission.

At the foot of the rockpile, sat a nether portal, some small stones piled against and spilling into the obsidian ring. Warnado looked expectantly at it for a few second, then sighed. He reminded himself that he didn’t even technically know this portal led to Nexus. He’d just emerged right next to it so… y’know, it had to be this one, right?

His heart kept pounding as he thought about what was happening on the other side. The world hadn’t evaporated into an endless nightmare, so Freak didn’t seem to have won… yet. But he also didn’t know that the others had won. He didn’t know what had happened to Shadow, or Fire, or Lucy or her.

“I didn’t even get to say-”

He stopped his thoughts in their tracks and the spillover emerged as uncontrollable laughter. What a stupid thought? Stupid, dumb, stupid thought. Of course she was okay. She had to be. Just perfect. It was fine. Sure. He believed that.

He distracted himself by throwing a hearty kick at the broken gauntlet. Just before impact an aethereal armoured boot formed around his foot, and he sent the already mangled pile of brass and shattered crystal into the stratosphere.

He felt good for exactly a second before pain shot through his foot and he fell back and found himself sitting on a golem’s head. Suddenly he relived the moments before his expulsion in excruciating detail.

His power surging, the gauntlet shattering. Warnado had heard Tin-throne shrieking in his brain as he disintegrated. The whole time. Not fun. Then, his body freezing, doubling over as he shared the dying demon’s pain. Golems beating and blasting him. His form shattering, surging out in an explosion of demonfire! The roof crumbling…

Somehow, he had summoned another portal, just as inexplicable as the one he had entered Nexus through. And he had come through right there. Well, the golems came through first, then the rocks, then him. Right beside this stupid portal that he couldn’t open. And he had tried pretty hard. Somehow, after all his training and studying, he still couldn’t even identify the general vibe of the spell he had used. When he tried it was like the spell brandished a shotgun and told him to get off its property.

So, his only option now was to wait, and hope they’d won. Or that he could be called back in time to help. His stomach twisted as he thought about them fighting that nightmare. About not being there to help-

Flash! His head snapped toward the portal so hard he was surprised his neck didn’t snap. For a split-second the portal was active, filled with a blinding, solid, golden light. Then, it receded as quickly as it arrived. A lone figure stepped through, silhouetted in the glare.

Half-blinded by the flash, Warnado looked away, and as his eyes cleared, he saw the sky fill with a brilliant aurora. He got the vibe that this was a good sign. Hope filled him, his chest began to hurt, and a smile of impossible intensity began to spread across his face. He turned.

“You’re alive!” cried the hoarse, husky voice of Dinnerbone.

The smile stopped right at its apex, so wide Warnado could have sworn it was about to split his face in half. When he saw that Dinnerbone really did have no one with him, he halfway wanted it to.

“You have no idea how glad I am to see you little guy! I knew I still sensed you, but y’know everyone kept saying you’d exploded and died. I really started freaking out, probably some apology cards to be sending… But you’re here! The Prophecy can still happen! …Hooray!”

Dinnerbone’s speech became more halting as he spoke and Warnado had a few ideas why. The enormity of the moment? Sure. Shame about how he’d behaved while freaking out. Perhaps. However, by far the biggest on the list was probably the fact that, while his glowing red eyes had slowly drained of emotion, he couldn’t get rid of the smile.

They both got very quiet.

“Where’s Amanda?” he asked.

Dinnerbone swallowed.

“She thought you were dead. Got real torn up about it. I, uh, I probably didn’t help. Ended up going back with Astro’s crew, I think.”

Warnado’s smile began to spread again. Further than he’d ever felt it. Past the point of splitting his head in two. And he began to laugh. Loud. Too loud. He staggered forward, jumped, and then slid down the pile of rocks toward Dinnerbone. He recoiled.

“So, she’s okay, huh?” Warnado asked. “She, hahaha, she survived?”

“Yes.”

He felt his vision narrowing. He knew what was coming.

“Cool. That’s great. Amazing… Hah! Amazing-great-cool!” he patted the portal twice with his hand, “So why don’t you just open this bad boy back up? Then, I’ll, haha, step right through and get her.”

Dinnerbone didn’t say anything. Warnado summoned a taco into his hand and took a large, cartoony, almost animalistic bite out of it. He felt his jaw stretch further than he considered natural.

“I was afraid you’d say that.”

He doubled over, and awful pain shooting through his stomach, then his heart, then all of him.

“You should really go, Dinnerbone,” Warnado panted.

Dinnerbone seemed to falter for a moment. Then, with a look of resolve, he straightened his hat stepped forward.

“Come on kid, I can’t leave you like this. Let me take you to Jeb’s Kingdom, get you some food.”

Warnado’s fingers clenched so tight the obsidian began to bend underneath. He realised that he was scorching hot. Boiling even. Sweat cascading off every part of him.

“Don’t worry, I’ll go to stupid Notch Island,” he hissed. “Invite your friends - hah! - we’ll have a potluck! Hahahahaha!”

It all felt pretty funny all of a sudden. The girl he lost, then found again, then loved, stuck in a parallel world until he got his crap together and learned how to do a spell which seemed to actively hate him. And he hadn’t even told her that-

“Warnado127, I understand what you’re going through-”

“My dude, I really need to be alone right now! Don’t you have somewhere you should be busking?”

Warnado snapped his head around. Dinnerbone looked nervous again. He realised that Dinnberbone’s face was bathed in red light. Warnado’s eyes were like suns. Suns streaming with tears. Huh, weird, he hadn’t noticed.

Dinnerbone scrunched up his face and stepped forward again.

“Come on kid, let’s get you somewhere safe.”

Snap! Warnado saw sparks fly from his fingers as he did it. There were scorch marks on his palms. A pillar of lava appeared between he and Dinnerbone. The man with the ukulele jumped back.

“Go!” Warnado pleaded.

And so, he ran back towards the distant peaks of Jeb’s Kingdom.

Warnado held it in as long as he could, shaking with the effort, his teeth gritting, his eyes like spotlights on the ground. Then, the second Dinnerbone was out of sight, he threw his face to the sky. He screamed.

Demonfire erupted from within him, spread across the clearing. The grass, the trees, the flowers, all were destroyed. Under the molten purple flames, they all burned, buckled and fossilised in seconds. The obsidian ring and the pile of rocks and golems both shattered and were blown away. Glowing smears led away from Warnado to the East and West. And all the while, he wailed in grief and agony.

Then, finally, he stopped. His head fell, his throat hoarse from the abyssal screech. He saw that his robes had changed colour. No longer blue and silver, they were red and gold - no! - brass. His robes were highlighted in the colour of the gauntlet he had only just gotten rid of. Great.

Honestly, he felt pretty amazing. Like he’d cleared a blocked nose or popped his ears. His horns even felt a little longer when he reached up to check on them. He supposed he’d finally stabilised his demonic powers and felt pretty proud of himself.

He’d beaten Glibby, helped save the multiverse, and sorted out all his demon weirdness. It was a pretty good day. No! A great day! No! A fantastic one, the good day, the best day of his life! All aside from the part where… He felt the pain and the heat begin to swell up in him again, so he stopped thinking about that. He decided he wouldn’t think about that for a good long while, because, after all, otherwise, he felt completely, utterly amazing!

So, like any person who felt completely, utterly amazing, he sat down on the remains of the portal’s base, stared at the aurora in the sky, and didn’t do anything for a long, long time. The clouds moved. The aurora faded. The sun descended. The stars scattered themselves across the sky. Dawn broke. He didn’t even move his neck.

At some point, he heard the crunch of footsteps on dead forest, but didn’t look at it. It would have interrupted his busy schedule of sky-staring.

A guy stepped into his peripheral vision, marching forward as he intently stared at a cube whose six sides displayed various different images. He wore the robes of a wizard. He stopped, then looked around the clearing until his eyes settled on Warnado.

“Hey!” he called.

Warnado blinked, then looked down.

“Yeah?” he shouted back.

“Are you one of those Heroes of the Prophecy? The Dark Prophecy?”

Warnado rolled his eyes, then remembered he should probably be careful.

“Who wants to know?”

“Just me.”

Warnado shrugged. Carefulness was overrated.

“Yeah, I am.”

“Cool!” he said. “Big fan of your work, or at least, what you’re gonna do!”

“Thanks!”

Neither of them said anything. Warnado looked back up at the sky. Frowning, obviously having expected conversation to come more easily to him, the wizard guy called out again.

“Is there any way I can help you?”

Warnado didn’t respond. His mind kept wandering to the dream of Amanda, and he kept having to drag it back to reality.

The wizard guy huffed, then stooped. He brushed a finger against the ground. He licked the dust off it.

“Hm… demonfire. You know, I have a pretty decent recipe for a demon arm lying around back at the hut.”

Warnado’s eyes lit up. He arose. A wide, energised grin had spread across his face.

“I’m listening.”

Snow crunches beneath my feet, I cannot see far in front of me, and the winds shriek still, but there is a desperation to it. A finality. This is a dying storm. I clench my fingers and find that I still have a hold of Amanda’s shoulder. She is caught completely off-guard by the cold and hunches over reflexively. I curse, realising I also haven’t properly equipped myself.

With a snap of my fingers a rune appears on the ground, and for a small radius everything becomes tolerably warm. The snow beneath us slowly starts to lose its ice-packed solidity. Amanda stomps and drags her feet as though wiping them on a doormat. I rub my shoulders and crane my head to examine her.

“Where is everyone?” she asks before I can glean anything useful.

I cast my eyes off into the storm. The swirling white flakes and fog

“Not sure,” I mutter.

I enhance my vision and strain further. In the distance I am able to discern a shifting mass which might be a column of marching men. I frown, then check my last storage ring. Capacity is still reasonably high, though it will take much longer to recharge. At the very least, it will stave off the ravages magic has inflicted and will continue to inflict upon my body.

“Out that way,” I point. “I think. We might wait a moment, though, I can feel the storm subsiding.”

“Cool,” she says faintly.

Her eyes are fixed on the stiletto knife Rose threw to her, and her fingers twist it precisely.

“I don’t know if I’m going crazy or not,” she says, “But I think she threw the original knife. Not a duplicate or anything.”

“Hm…” I lean forward, “You might be right.”

I use a simple analysis spell. I learn nothing.

“Sorry,” I grimace.

I crane my head again and try to get a good look at her features. She is sombre. Understandably. Suddenly, she looks up and makes eye contact with me. I feel as though I’ve been caught doing something terrible and look away.

“It’s not your fault,” Amanda says. “I should have been paying more attention. It’s a little late to ask her now.”

I swallow and scan the winds again. I can now see the mass of people more clearly. At their head I see a pair of glowing white eyes. I begin to hear a distant sound: the men are singing. I can’t make

“Nonsense, I’m sorry if all this was a little abrupt. I don’t think any of us planned for this. How are you feeling?”

Amanda rolls her shoulders into a hunch again.

“I miss him already, but that’s not going to change anything.”

I think on Warnado’s constant joking, his playful arrogance, his magically-enabled comfort eating. He never liked me much but…

“I miss him too.”

I back away, and a morsel of the song is carried to me. It arcs along the wind, then caresses my ear like a lost love.

…It’s but the turning of the weather.

The Spring breeze leads me home…

I smile as I remember the tune.

“Oh, that’s a lovely old one,” I chuckle. “We used to sing that in Zine. Gracey of all people gave a great rendition. I still remember one evening-”

I turn to Amanda. She’ smiling politely, but there’s a tear running down her cheek. I kneel down and draw her in. She hugs me back. We don’t say anything for a while. The singing draws nearer, becomes a constant murmur. I can see the Watcher’s white eyes blazing more clearly. I let go of her and stand up.

“Alright,” I say. “A song like that demands better weather.”

I stand up, rubbing my hands together, a grin stampeding across my face. Amanda straightens up and begins to walk off beyond the bounds of the warming spell. I grab stop her.

“Oh, are we not going to join them?”

I scrunch the corners of my mouth downwards. I feel the magic building up inside me.

“In a second. Like I said, we need better weather.”

She squints and for a second my newfound energy infects her too, sending a smile pulsing across her face.

I raise my hands, and there is a release. A pulse goes out, driving the storm away as it goes. The snow is uncovered. It glistens in the sunlight, but also with other colours. The parting of the clouds reveals a brilliant aurora of countless colours.

“Woah,” Amanda says. “Did you do that as well?”

I remember where I first saw the aurora. Back on the border of the Vanilla Craft. Kay had come back, missing his obsidian-plated armour, saying he’d been robbed. The day he announced his intention to retire… I think I understand that choice a little better now. At least he tried. I suppress the pain and maintain a confused frown for Amanda’s benefit.

“No,” I stroke my chin and lean back. “That’s Shadow I think… Nexus had a lot of energy tied up in it. A million magical undercurrents all tied up together. So, when Shadow tore that up, I guess it all just got released.”

“You just made that up.”

“Pretty much.”

We laugh.

I look back to where I’d previously seen the vague mass. Now, it is there, in brilliant detail.

The Vanillans make their long trek back towards the grey walls of the Old Craft. Legionnaires carry shields by straps. Vangaardians hold their heads high. Arcationites and Brotherhood acolytes exchange great boasts of war. And there are Blackshells, and Legionnaires, and Gaians and so many others. Content in their battered glory, returning from war to the distant promise of peace. I see my guild. Aaron begins to jump and wave. Herobrine stops to demurely nod. With him, the procession halts. They await our arrival.

I raise my hand in acknowledgement and take Amanda by the arm. We begin to march towards them.

“What do we do, once we get there?” Amanda asks.

“You know,” I start. “I don’t really know. My banishment is over. Herobrine indicated he might have a use for me at the True Court, though I can’t imagine Jeb will agree. Jeb was not happy about Herobrine joining us, and I don’t imagine he’s happy with me for helping to persuade him. Of course, there’s always Cossack and the Gaians, I should be welcome to any post I want in his government.”

“Oh,” she halfway groans.

I look down at her and smile.

“I agree. Saying it out loud it all sounds a little ‘tribal’ to me. I had also thought of setting out to see the world again. Travelling for a while with the Guild. Would you like to join me?”

I see a distant hope flicker in her eyes. She allows herself to smile.

“I think I would.”

I smile and squeeze her against me. The Guild are approaching us now. Aaron, Tass, Secret, and the others. I remember the relief of our reunion on the Fields. Even in such darkness as the aftermath of the coup, just seeing them again had brought so much joy. I break away from Amanda and suddenly kneel, making a show of adjusting my boot.

“Go on ahead. Best you start meeting our travelling companions properly.”

She smirks as she detects the lie in my tone but heads on with a shake of her head. I spare a glance at the aurora and close my eyes.

I feel the energy coalesce in my hand, then open them once again. A golden ray, identical to the ones from Shadow’s portals rises from my palm. Not enough to make a functional portal, but a starting point from which to reconstruct the spell. The first thread in a tapestry.

I clench my fist shut and vow that, one day, I will have it working again. And then, perhaps, if the universe is willing to grant us one more miracle and preserve Warnado’s life, I can give her that same gift of reunion.

Amanda is already trapped beneath an avalanche of conversation from Tass and Aaron. Mo and Secret are jeering at me to hurry up. I glance over my shoulder, back across the frigid tomb of Acrisius, and I thank the fallen for bringing us this far. The fallen of Nexus, and of my own world. Fristad, Destiny, David, Mini, Bokane… Kay. I thank you all. I forgive what I can.

Then, I move on. A new journey begins, unburdened by the old.

Tyron saw the infinite possibilities of creation rattling by. Worlds teaming with life, conveying beauteous abundance forever. Worlds absent of life, sublime in their still, unseen vistas. Worlds with something rather like life but didn’t quite seem to quite qualify in his eyes. He found himself laughing as he passed by a particular nearby world full of moving polyhedrons made of a variety of stone he didn’t recognise.

“So weird,” he thought to Kir.

“So bigoted,” the sword huffed, though he could tell it wasn’t too mad.

And then, finally, they neared his own world. Where Rathina awaited. Where Seth awaited. The dragons. Everything he loved. He saw himself reflected endlessly, as though in a hall of mirrors. The variations were slight at first, then spiralled into unrecognizability. Here, he had red fur. There, he taught in a school for promising heroes. Then, he worked at a coffee shop, still a teacher, somehow. Then, sitting at a laptop in hoodie and sweatpants, scrolling through pages upon pages of stories about a stranger rather like himself. The symphony of creation, ever-spreading, ineffable in its results.

He spun out into his own world, balletically regaining his balance. It was the same range of hills he had emerged into a few weeks prior. Same sharp, blocky features. In other words, the same familiar beauty. Seth came up and he hugged him tightly. The brown-haired builder staggered away in the aftermath of the Dragoknight’s grip.

He laughed out some parting words and a promise to see Tyron again soon as he gathered his things and set out for a temporary shelter he had built on a nearby hill. A temporary shelter which was already transforming into a lavish villa.

The dragons swept by in low, ordered formation: a sign of respect. Glowstar was at their head. Tyron saw him nod and smirk in the split-second he passed near enough to see. And on they went, out toward the horizon. Some destined for the End. Some for the stars. Some for deep caves packed with gold and jewels. Free and fair and fanciful. Just as he had fought for.

He heard the crunch of a furtive footstep on grass behind him but did not turn. He smiled uncontrollably, knowing well who it would be. Rathina, his other half. The best girl he ever could have met. He felt her hand on his shoulder, and she pulled him. He closed his eyes.

As he felt his body swing around, Tyron took a moment to think on his time in Nexus. It had been a time of despair. A time where he had feared that all this world had been destroyed. A time when he had worried what the Entity might achieve. What Freak might achieve. Kay. Shadow. The Book.

And yet it had also been a joyous time. So many friends he would never otherwise have known. Astro with his perpetual snark. Kay’s oscillation between cruel, vapid grandeur and disarming sincerity. Fire’s sturdy, calm leadership. Warnado’s mere existence. Lucy being unreasonably nice all the time. Steve, Jennifer, Destiny, David, Urist, Voidblade, Amanda, Fristad, and so many others.

These names, these faces, these people, would live eternal in his heart. But their time together was done. The spinning stopped. He opened his eyes.

Dark hair. Chestnut eyes. The smirk still unbroken. He kissed her, and after a blissful eternity, they drew apart.

“So,” she said. “How about it, then?”

“Hm?” He pressed, eyes glowing with warmth.

“The plains biome? The little farm? Giving away bread for free? Still down for it, or do you still have that wanderlust?”

Tyron looked back in the direction he knew civilization was in. Seth’s nascent villa, with a minecart track leading back somewhere populous. Then his head involuntarily turned, out toward the cold, stark peaks of a snow-capped mountain range. The sun drifted down towards it, rendering it in less and less detail as it went, but only increasing its mythic allure.

He cast an eye down at Kir, his smile creeping outwards. After a brief communion, he cocked an eyebrow at Rathina.

“Maybe one last adventure, to tide us over?”

She brushed a hand down his arm.

“I’m happy with whatever we do. So long as we do it together.”

She took a firmer grip.

“That okay with you?” She asked.

He leaned in and kissed her again. Soft, sweet, and endless. Then, at the end of endlessness, he took her by the hand, and they set off into infinity.

The minutes after the return to the server hadn’t been quite as chaotic as one might assume. By far the biggest uncertainty was what would happen to the linked Mencur-Besh, but that resolved itself quickly after their emergence on the forest clearing. At first the bodies of the individuals simply stood there like statues, but one by one they opened their eyes and returned to normality. At least that was what it looked like from the outside. Fire of course knew what was really happening, the collective had to decide which minds to put into bodies and which ones would have to be left to die.

Of course, death had a different meaning to a Mencur-Besh than it did to a human. When a Mencur-Besh died, all knowledge and skill amassed over its lifetime would fuse into the collective, making it available to all other Mencur-Besh. On rare occasions a mind would be kept around to be put into a new body, for example if it held a strategically important position in human society. With over two thirds of the Mencur-Besh population dead, body transfers were the norm instead of the exception.

Fire looked around the clearing, he spotted far fewer of the Eye-and-Claws operatives than what they had begun with, but as opposed to the Mencur-Besh, who were limited by their bodies, most Eye-and-Claws were players who could respawn now that Shadow allowed them to return home.

Off near the edges of the clearing Fire could spot Andras and Brad, who had made it out of the entire ordeal alive. They were in the process of organizing what little resources they had managed to retrieve from Nexus.

Right next to Fire were Lucy and Dr. Mercury, who were in the process of regaining their bearings.

Dr. Mercury spoke first: “So, where are we now?”

Fire explained: “This is my ‘second’ world, the so-called server. It generally operates by rules you are familiar with. Blocks, mobs, things like that. Though I assume this world was not what Shadow had in mind when she offered to take you to our world.”

Dr. Mercury simply nodded, then began fiddling with a handheld scanner, most likely curious whether it would still function.

Lucy pointed off into the distance where shimmering, black city walls were visible. “What’s that over there?”

“That’s Rockhaven, it would be this world’s capital, but this world is too sparsely populated for things like that to make sense.”

Lucy smiled. “Back in my world, I lived in the capital. Would it be possible for me to find a home here too?”

Fire thought for a moment. “If you want to stay on the server instead of the other world, that can be arranged.”

Now it was Lucy’s turn to contemplate.

After a minute of thinking she said: “I think for the time being I prefer this world, it plays by familiar rules at least. Do you think I could cross over later if I wanted to?”

Fire shrugged. “Most likely, but we’ll know that for certain once Shadow is back. But since you’ll be staying here for the time being, mind giving me your hand?”

Lucy’s eyes lit up. “Does that mean I’ll be an Eye-and-Claws member? Andras told me about the mark they have to identify each other.”

“Just hold still, this will sting for a moment.”

Fire knelt down and firmly grasped Lucy’s hand and pointed his index finger at its back. A faint glow began emitting from Fire’s finger, and once it made contact with Lucy’s skin there was a flash of red. Lucy flinched but otherwise didn’t react. On the back of Lucy’s hand was now a stylized red eye with lines like scratch marks behind it. The eye blinked once, then faded into Lucy’s skin.

Lucy giggled with excitement. “That’s quite a cool symbol.”

Dr. Mercury asked: “I assume I don’t need a mark?”

Fire nodded: “Correct, it only works in this world.”

Just as he finished speaking, the fabric of reality ahead of Fire split apart and from the gap, his sister materialized. He wordlessly hugged her, glad that she was here now too. But something was different about her, though in a good way.

Fire asked: “Entity’s dead I assume?”

To Fire’s side Dr. Mercury flinched. “I completely forgot about that. We almost dropped the ball on saving the multiverse.”

Shadow smirked and said: “Dead is an understatement after what I did to it.”

“Glad you made it back, Shadow.” Lucy said and promptly joined the hug.

After they separated, Fire informed his sister: “Things seem to be under control, and it looks like Lucy wants to go to Rockhaven.”

Shadow nodded. “Good choice, safest place on the server. Unless you go into politics that is, then I can’t guarantee for anything.”

Lucy laughed. “No plans of doing that.” She paused. “So, how do I get into the city? I assume I can’t just walk in.”

Shadow said: “That’s easy, just ask around among the Eye-and-Claws, several of them are from Rockhaven, they can get you into the city. From there, just look around and join a guild if one catches your fancy.”

Lucy nodded. “Alright, I’ll do that. Don’t want to keep Veronica waiting on her own departure. And Fire, Shadow, thanks for everything.”

Fire replied: “It was a pleasure having you around, Lucy.”

And with that Lucy walked away, going in the direction of Brad and Andras, the two Eye-and-Claws most familiar to her. Fire looked between Shadow and Dr. Mercury.

“Alright, Shadow. How exactly did you want to go about getting Veronica over to our world?”

Shadow replied: “That’s easy. I already created a body for her in one of our guest rooms-”

Dr. Mercury interrupted: “You can just do that?”

Shadow smiled. “Apparently, I’m still figuring out the limits myself. There is no other good way of getting you there. If I created a portal for you to go through, you’d end up paralysed or dead due to the crystal you put in your spine. No magic in our world to keep it working.”

Dr. Mercury raised a finger to the height of her face. “That’s a good point. But how do I get into that other body?”

“Ideally it should be as simple as opening your menu and logging out. You should know how to do that since the server automatically instils that knowledge.”

Dr. Mercury replied: “So like thi-”

She disappeared before she could finish speaking. That most likely meant it worked.

Fire said: “So, Shadow. It seems you learned a thing or two in the meantime.”

“You could say that. There are somethings we need to talk about, but not here.”

Without further words, both Fire and Shadow logged out as well.

###

Peter opened his eyes, stood up and stretched. The cut on his chin from Kay’s home invasion ached slightly, but the pain faded once he acclimatized to his human body.

He stepped out of his room and was immediately met with his sister. Even here in this world, something was visibly different, though it was very possible that he was the only one able to notice the difference.

Shadow said: “I already checked on Veronica. She’s asleep in the next room over, seems like the new body needs some rest to properly accept her mind.” She added after a small pause: “It also seems like some of my abilities are bleeding over to this world, this body feels far less dull and restrictive than before.”

They began walking down the corridor slowly.

Peter mused: “I’ll have to dig up some old contacts. I think the guy who helped Peter Miller disappear in favour of Peter Graves should still be around. He’ll be able to get her a passport and any other required documents. The doctorate probably won’t make it, but I’m sure she’ll earn another one in no time. Maybe multiple, who knows?”

The Graves siblings continued walking forward wordlessly, eventually reaching the staircase to the entrance hall. They sat down on the steps.

Shadow said: “So, those things I wanted to talk about. Have you ever felt the same way you felt right when I returned from the lab before?”

Peter had expected something along those lines. That particular feeling had struck him as odd as well, in hindsight.

“No, never. I felt hopeless or helpless before, but never quite like that. Never quite that hollow. Have you felt that too at some point?”

Shadow nodded. “When I found out that Claw took over, I almost lost myself to the Void due to that feeling.”

Peter asked: “You think it has something to do with the strings?”

“I feel like that would make sense. You saw them through the Entity’s memory. I saw them when… I ascended again. I suppose that would make me double ascended, but we can find a proper word for it later if we need to. As for my strings, I cut them before I killed the Entity.”

Peter sighed. “While I still have mine. And I have this feeling that the only one capable of cutting them is myself.”

Shadow leaned against his side.

She asked: “Something else. I feel like I want to become better at the whole… people thing. Nexus and the Shelter made me realize just how bad things can get, and if I want to help, I have to be able to understand.” She paused. “We should go across the border at some point soon, I need to see the situation with my own eyes.”

That seemed like a good idea, in fact he had wanted to go himself for quite some time. He was in a position to help, seeing that he was sitting on the Graves family fortune. He now needed to see how and where to put it to use. But as always, there were many steps between then and now, all needing to be meticulously planned out, but fortunately he was good at that.

After a few minutes of silence, Shadow asked: “What was with Claw by the way? He seemed less antagonistic, judging by how he didn’t attack us.”

“I got him to realize that he’s better off working with me than against me. I do plan on getting him out of my head eventually, and if he stands to benefit from that too then it’s all the better.”

Shadow said: “Glad that worked.”

Peter hesitated, he was about to ask something of his sister that she definitely would not like.

He said: “Shadow, I need you to give me a heart attack.”

“What?”

He took a deep breath. “This journey has broadened our horizons significantly, we know about other worlds, and I believe we are beginning to understand our own a bit better. The issue is that we absolutely cannot disclose any of this to my scientist friends, not without seriously stirring something up. During my conversation with Claw, I also realized that he is now developed enough that he could possibly stay in control indefinitely. He probably knows this too, but I don’t think he would want that. Claw wants to be his own person, separate from me. Taking my body would not achieve that.”

Shadow said: “Yes, but what does that have to do with me giving you a heart attack?”

“Claw is brought out by emotions. The scientists can use their technology to suppress my emotions until I find a way to get Claw out of my head. I cannot tell them about Claw’s development without mentioning our trip out of this world. Two thirds of the Mencur-Besh disappearing probably creates enough questions already.”

Shadow buried her face in her hands. “A heart attack allegedly induced by emotional stress would be a good reason for them to listen to your request for emotion suppression. I don’t like this one bit, but… at least you’re not infiltrating the Tower again.”

Of course, Peter did not like the plan either, but it seemed like the best way of guaranteeing the outcome.

He said: “So, we go about it like this…”

###

After explaining the plan to Shadow, they both got into a car and drove out into the night, down the long, winding forest road that connected the Graves Manor to the rest of civilization. Once they had left the mountains behind, they soon reached a larger road, and from there it was just a short drive on the highway until they reached the clinic located in the suburbs. Peter knew this particular clinic to be very reliable. They parked a short distance away in an alley adjacent to the clinic’s parking lot.

Peter undid his seatbelt and opened the door, then took a deep breath. “Alright, ready.”

Shadow looked at him uneasily, then counted down from three. When Shadow’s count hit zero the effects were immediate, a squeezing pain shot through Peter’s chest. He began making his way over the parking lot, about halfway he broke out into a cold sweat. Breathing heavily, he pushed open the clinic’s doors. The receptionist immediately looked at him with alarm.

Peter squeezed out between two breaths: “I think I’m having a heart attack.”

He then did the only bit of acting this plan required and stumbled over his own feet but caught himself before hitting the ground. Through half-closed eyelids watched as he was approached by hastily called nurses before true unconsciousness took him.

###

When Peter opened his eyes again, he was not in the clinic. He instead sat on the familiar wooden bench in the infinite black room. Next to him sat the Lady of Dreams, as she always did. Since Peter had entered the dream as a human instead of a Mencur-Besh, their usual size difference was no more, leaving them at almost the same height. Though as opposed to her usual calm demeanour, her light-grey eyes were overflowing with happiness when she turned to Peter.

“Peter!” She called out.

He chuckled. “Hello, my Lady. Good to see you again.”

The Lady said: “I’m so glad that you’re alive, that everything turned out fine. I don’t know what I would have done if I lost you.”

Peter opened his mind, thoughts flowed freely. He showed the Lady everything he had seen and experienced in the assault on the Tower and what happened afterwards.

The last few memories made the smile fade from the Lady’s face.

“Peter, I’m so sorry. I know it must be hard for you, making such decisions, especially at your own cost.”

Peter simply smiled. “It’s what I’ve always done. My life has been a long string of hard decisions, starting with deciding to keep going for Shadow’s sake after losing all of my friends.”

He thought back to his earlier years, before the server, before the scientists even. Then to the recent events, his initial group in Nexus, their bigger group after the jailbreak, and finally the Shelter.

He said: “I am just glad that you were there for me throughout all those years, my Lady. But with what comes next, we won’t be able to see each other for a long while. No emotions, no dreams.”

The Lady was silent. She knew the implications better than anyone, Peter didn’t have to say it out loud, but for some reason he felt like he needed to. As if by an invisible agreement, they each put an arm around the other. They remained this way until Peter felt himself begin to drift away from his dream and back to consciousness.

The Lady said: “This may not be our last meeting before you relinquish your emotions, but if it is… No matter how long it takes, I will wait for you.”

Just before he awoke, Peter replied: “So will I.”

The serenity of the dream faded, and Peter found himself greeted by a dull pain in his chest. He was in a hospital bed and there were several people standing around him. Two nurses, one doctor, and Anna, one of the scientists. Off to the side he could hear the door swinging closed as another person entered the room.

Peter deferred the question he was asked to the doctor, then turned his focus inwards. He needed to forge a plan, perhaps his riskiest and most uncertain plan yet, a plan that if it succeeded would shake up the foundations of their world.

The moon loomed high overhead, casting light everywhere. But as she walked away from the village, and into the dark, heavy-canopied forest, that didn't help Vera a great deal. The only light she had to guide her was the distant glow of redstone torches.

That was all Clarke had said. Follow the redstone trail and she could find out why she had to go out instead of sleeping through the night. Not that she minded too much. The distant groans of zombies, the inviting rattle of skeletons, and the scuttling shrieks of spiders promised the night might hold some fun after all.

She stopped beneath a towering brown mushroom, adjusting her blonde ponytail. and smirked as she equipped her flint-and-steel in one hand, and an ender pearl in the other. It would be nice to have an excuse to use her powers without one of the village elders getting mad at her.

"Stupid Yenthric," she muttered. "You burn one prized bookshelf…"

Vera wound back for a throw of the pearl, close her eyes, then let it loose. She felt the adrenaline rush through her and tried to follow the pearl's flight into the dark. She pulled out her shield, then started to run into the forest at full pelt.

"Three. Two. One…"

Crack! The pearl shattered and she immediately stopped running, instead summoning ice beneath her feet and sliding straight through the forest. Mobs swarmed from every side. Zombies lunged, skeletons fired arrows, creepers turned and began to flash. And she left every single one in her dust as she skidded from one redstone torch to the other.

Avoiding the mobs had become so natural to her that it almost had a weird meditative quality for her. Exactly what she needed after a pretty mundane day of tending crops, helping out at the forge, studying history…

If she had to hear about the war between the Third Legion and the Sovereign one more time, she would actually lose it. If she wanted to learn about that she'd just get the juicy stuff from Kami or Clarke when they visited on patrol. She did not need to know about Martin's disastrous economic policy.

She came too close to a river and had to jump over it. One of the drowned surfaced and hurled a trident at her. She twisted in the air to avoid, then with a strike of the flint and steel sent a fireball flying back. The waterbound zombie perished in a spurt of steam.

She kept moving from redstone torch to redstone torch until, finally, she arrived at the end of the trail. She left the forest and came to desert, where a redstone torch stood atop a sandstone pillar. A boy her age was waiting there, with round-rimmed glasses, curly black hair, and a surprising wide jaw. He grinned as he saw her.

"Hey Vera!" he waved exuberantly.

He noticed a spider crawling towards them over the dunes and drew his trident. He tossed the weapon leisurely into the air and it plummeted sharply onto the spider's head, followed shortly by a bolt of green lightning. He folded his arms and look impressed with himself.

"You've been practicing, Gareth," smirked Vera. "Maybe next time your village will stand a chance at the tournament."

"Oh, please no more!" He clutched his chest. "My poor heart just can't take your cutting sarcasm, Gwynevere."

Vera snorted at the use of her full name, then punched Gareth in the arm. He was from the next village over. Both of them had shown up at the same time. Just appeared out of nowhere about three years prior.

It was hard not to like someone when you shared a similarity that big, but it was also hard not to compete with them, too. And that they had, every year at the tournament of the eight villages.

"So, Clarke called you out too, huh? And here I was starting to think I was his favourite."

"You might still be, Kami invited me."

"She say what this is about?"

"Just that we'll learn our purpose in coming here."

Vera rolled her eyes.

"Why do they always have to be so vague? 'Come out here so we can tell you why we invited you out to the woods.' Yeah, I want a little more than that, Clarke."

Gareth looked at her like she was from the Moon and pushed the glasses down his nose to look over them.

"Vera, he was talking about our purpose. Like why we woke up in the forest."

Vera clasped a hand to her mouth. Even in the light of the redstone, it was clear that her cheeks were going crimson. Gareth started to laugh, and Vera started too.

"Oh my Notch," Vera strained. "I can't believe I didn't get that, I'm so stupid."

Gareth shrugged.

"Happens to us all sometimes."

He grinned again. Suddenly, they didn't have anything to say. Suddenly Gareth's eyes became fixed on the single lock of speckled grey in an otherwise completely blonde head of hair. It had come loose. He reached out and brushed it with his hand. Their eyes locked. Vera realised how close together they'd gotten in the course of the conversation.

"Alright kiddos!" Clarke called, fiddling with his shield.

"Sorry we're late!" Added Kami.

The two friendly Legionaries approached through the woods. But they weren't alone. A third figure. A stern, weapon-covered woman with greying black hair stood between them. Vera immediately realised this was Lupe, the seldom-seen leader of the Remaining. Vera had never met her before, and only rarely heard her name, but she somehow felt as though they had known each other a very long time.

Vera and Gareth bowed to the Legionaries, and Lupe began to speak.

"Right, I'll keep this quick. The world is changing. You've heard the rumours. Stories of cities rising out of the End, of strange manors built in the forests, villagers who lose their minds as their skin turns grey, undead flocking around an ancient desert overlord. Wars are starting, cities are being sacked. It's gotten so bad that some even say the bedrock beneath our feet is shifting deeper to get away from all the chaos up here. So far, we've been able to keep the eight villages safe from Illager raids, but I'm not sure we'll be able to keep that going much longer."

Lupe began to walk. Vera strained her eyes and made out the faint outline of a ruined village. She'd heard the wandering traders talk about it, and seen it mentioned in the history books: Sandshard.

"You see," Lupe continued, "The Illagers now have a leader. Or maybe they always did. We've gotten conflicting reports. Whoever he is, this Arch-Illager is now making moves. And, unfortunately, those moves are in our direction."

There was a clang as Gareth knocked his foot off the head of a dead golem, half-swallowed by sand. Lupe gave him a disapproving look and he limped nervously along. Kami patted him comfortingly on the shoulder, and Vera realised that she and Clarke had begun to flank them, as though they were worried they might run off… or someone might try to get the jump on them.

"And suffice it to say, while they have an army, there are only three of us left. And we're still good, the best probably," Vera shot a sceptical look at Clarke who confirmed it with a smug nod that make her smile, "We fought Herobrine for Carter and Anya, in their memory we helped David and Destiny take out the Second Sovereign, in their memory we helped win the Battle of Nexus… but we're getting old. We need a new Legion. A Fourth Legion."

They stopped outside an old hut, made of wood and mossy cobblestone. Sand had begun to pile up around the door, and part of the roof had caved in. The door was weathered and decayed. Still, in the light of the torch, Vera could make out a symbol: a diamond with the word "Legion" carved into it. She and Gareth stared at it like an old acquaintance whose name they couldn't quite remember until Lupe cut in:

"This is the part where you say, 'Where do we come in?'"

"Where do we-"

"Where do we-"

Vera and Gareth stopped, then after a moment of silent gesturing, Vera asked the question:

"What do you need us to do?"

The Remaining had kept them all safe for years. Of course, they'd help out.

Lupe smiled.

"Go into the hut."

The two stepped forward. Gareth pushed the door open with his trident. He looked in. On the other side, the floor had fallen away, revealing a cave filled with water.

"Looks like a pretty steep drop," he remarked. "Granted, water at the bottom. What's in there?"

"You'll know it when you see it," said Lupe with surprising nostalgia.

With that, Gareth shrugged, spread his arms and flopped forward. Vera laughed and jumped in afterwards.

They landed in the water, and down a tunnel, saw a new line of redstone lights. They swam in slow silence, every gulp of air bouncing off the walls and water a million times.

Finally, they came to a small, circular chamber, with a stone table lit by glowstone. There was a waterfall at the far end. It was pretty clear that something was on the other side, but the table called to them.

They waded up to it and looked at each other as its contents became clear. The table had two piles of objects, one at each end. Weapons, books, articles of clothing. Vera found herself drawn to the one at the far right, and Gareth to the one on the left. Her pile was crowned by a weathered bow. His had a broken gauntlet at the foot of it.

"So, do you reckon this is the thing we're supposed to know when we see it?" he asked.

"Yeah, probably… Do you think they wanted just one item, or the whole pile?"

"Might be good to take the whole pile just to be safe," Gareth muttered. "Hope this isn't a secret armoury, a lot of this stuff looks completely ruined. Shame, that gauntlet probably would have been pretty cool back in its day."

He pulled out a bag from his jacket and began to pile items into it. Vera looked at her pile and couldn't take her eyes off the bow.

"I don't know, this bow still looks pretty good."

She touched a hand to it, hoping to test the string. It quivered reliably as ever.

"It's at times like that, I really wish I was any good with a bow," said Vera.

She slung it over her back and turned around and came face to face with a pale, almost transparent face.

"That can be arranged."

Vera screamed and jumped back, pulling out her flint and steel. Gareth leapt into action, pulling out his trident and grabbing a sword. It had a leather handle and a faded gold centrepiece.

"What is it?" he asked.

Vera scowled at Gareth and gestured to the figure who had now appeared. A pale young woman, only slightly older than herself, wearing her brown hair back in a ponytail, and dressing in a grey tank-top and jeans.

"I don't see it, is it a bat or something?" Gareth asked, clueless.

Vera scoffed.

"No, the intruder girl who just jumpscared me!"

Gareth continued to stare blankly, clearly weighing his words in the hopes of not getting hit.

"Yeah, he can't see me, yet," sighed the girl. "Could you please tell him to pick up that gauntlet."

Vera looked back to the table and saw it glinting in the light of the glowstone.

"You seriously can't see her?"

Another examination of the pale young woman revealed she was slightly see-through. Or was it just a trick of the light. She began to rummage around in her pocket.

"No, sorry Vera," said Gareth, now clearly weirded out. "You didn't hit your head in the fall, did you? I've got a health potion on me if you need it?"

"No," Vera said. "I don't think so."

She pulled out a stone and threw it at the pale woman. It passed right through. The pale clenched her fists and assumed a fighting stance.

"You are so lucky I'm dead," said the pale young woman. "Or I would be beating the ever-loving crap out of you right now."

"Okay," Vera said. "Apparently, I've summoned a ghost. Good to know those exist."

Gareth started stroking his chin.

"A ghost?"

"Yep."

"Nope," interjected the pale woman.

Gareth, not hearing her, continued: "Is that why we're here?"

"Huh?"

"To summon the ghost? Maybe it knows something."

The pale lady groaned.

"I'm not a ghost, I'm you." She pointed straight at Vera. "First, I was Anya, then I was me, now I guess me is you… Vera? Yeah, he definitely said Vera. Pleased to meet myself. Tell your buddy to grab the gauntlet."

Vera's mouth opened but no words came out. Gareth started speaking again but Vera shushed him.

"Sorry, did you say Anya?"

The pale woman clenched her teeth and started to tap her foot. She kept looking at the pile with the gauntlet.

"Yes, yes, the leader of the Liberators, I just-"

"Then, does that make you-"

"-Yes, Destiny, who helped stop Martin and later killed the Entity. I teamed up with Freak, got stuck in the Void and then the Entity possessed me before someone, presumably Shadow, shoved me back into this world. That's why I'm a little more transparent than Anya was, and probably where you got that weird lock of grey hair-"

Vera snarled and jutted her head forward in confrontation.

"I like the grey lock."

"Okay but-"

"Clarke says it makes me look wise."

"In that case I was just joking, but please kid just hear me out!"

Destiny was now pleading, crying out for help. Her eyes were desperate. Suddenly Vera saw herself in the stranger's face. Gareth continued to look back and forth between Vera and the empty air. Vera drew back and nodded.

"The fact that I'm back means there's a new evil to beat. And I'm sorry kid, but it's down to you to help stop it."

Destiny stepped forward and pressed her intangible hands against Vera's shoulders.

"I thought this was a curse at first, but to be perfectly honest, I was in a pretty bad spot emotionally at the time. It's not a curse, it's not a blessing, it's exactly what we make of it. And I know this is a lot of pressure, and that you're confused, and scared, and isolated, but I will help guide you through this. Any question you have, I will answer. Does that sound good?"

Destiny had tears in her eyes. Vera, feeling as though she had been struck by lightning, nodded.

"Then I just need you to do one thing for me. A thing I have been waiting twenty years for. Please, ask your pal to pick up that gauntlet."

Vera walked over to the table. Gareth followed. Their footsteps echoed endlessly. Vera picked up the gauntlet and held the cold piece of broken metal out to Gareth.

"Take it."

"Is it safe?"

They locked eyes.

"Trust me."

He placed a hand on the gauntlet and immediately his eyes widened as he saw the ghostly Destiny. However, the pale apparition wasn't looking at them. She had her head turned to the figure beside her.

A man in a blue trenchcoat and a leather chestplate appeared, much more tangible than Destiny. If she hadn't known he was a ghost, Vera would have mistaken him for a real person. His hair was dark and messy, with stubble speckling his chin. He looked tearfully at Destiny, a smile creeping across his face.

"Hello David," said Destiny.

She wiped her cheek. He reached out and touched her arm.

"Hello Destiny," said David.

She wrapped an arm around his neck. He leaned in. Their lips touched, and they collapsed into one another.

Vera realised she had taken Gareth's hand like it was the most natural thing in the world. She looked at the two lovestruck ghosts and marvelled at how this had come about. A magnetism across lives? An instinct across ages? A scene ever-imitated?

Whatever grand narrative had guided her there, she was happy to be part of it.

Amanda knelt in the rubble. The others had left a long time ago. She had grown old. Only the light of a single purple lamp remained in the Tower’s ruins. The rocks cut her hands and bit her knees, but she kept straining to move them. Kept forcing her eyes to search for a sign of him. Anything.

She wrapped her hands around a large, black stone and began to lift even though it felt like her arms would sooner come away than the stone would move even an inch. Eventually, she gave up. That’s when the hand shot from the ground, brass and brilliant and burning, and grabbed her leg. Helix rose through the rocks as though it were water, purple fire streaming from his eyes like tears. She tried to scream, and then was dragged down through the stone into his scorching embrace beneath the earth.

###

Jennifer woke up in her house. Not Brine Manor, her own. A few cobwebs had grown. An enderman had placed a grass block in the middle of the living room, but it was unmistakably hers. She climbed out of bed and put a raw pork chop in the furnace. Through the window the sun, coloured like molten gold, beat down heavily. The pork chop finished, and she brought herself back up to full hunger.

She went to the door and stepped outside. All she saw for miles and miles was desert. The door slammed shut after her. She turned around, and on the other side of the door she saw the skeleton worker from the portal facility. He glowered at her, then the house sank into the sands. The sun beat down. She was alone.

###

I open my eyes, then shut them tight as the blizzard stings my eyes. Adjusting my hood allows me to see again. I am upon the Fields. The cold ignores my robes even more than usual, and I struggle to move. My very bones become glacial in their icy slowness. I hear the wind, but it is not the wind.

There I see a half-breed with a mace and a trilby, a crossbow bolt in his speckled green forehead. Here, a snapped thaumaturge’s wand, next to a familiar purple breastplate. Then the old Guild-master half-frozen in the lake. Ozzy burned to a crisp. David’s broken gauntlet. Warnado’s tattered robes. Destiny ever-fading. Fristad’s neck twisting still.

They lie around the battlefield as broken, blood-soaked statues. Slowly creeping. Wailing. Screaming. Keening. Why did I not help them? Where was the great and wise Astro when they died?

“What else could I have done?!” I shriek, tears streaming down my face.

###

“Tryon! Wake up!”

He lifted himself from the ground and rubbed the dirt from his fur. He felt clammy, almost feverish. His arms hung limply, and there was a pain in his side. Was that - he reached out to touch it - blood?

“Where are you, Kir?”

He saw the red blocks around him. The Nether. And yet, the Overworld’s moon loomed over him. He had to be dreaming.

“Where are we, Kir?”

Flame burst forth from a shrine. A ring of gold surrounded a burning red brick. Herobrine, his old enemy, reborn and rejuvenated. He grinned. He held one of his glowing, dark blue scythes in one hand. Kir sat snugly in the other, moulded to his hand as though it were the most natural thing in the world.

“We are at the end of your journey, Tyron!”

###

Shadow did not fall asleep like the others, she remained standing and stared up at Freak defiantly.

Freak stared right back. “Oh, of course. You don’t get tired, do you? But that’s not an issue. I’ll let you in on a little secret, Shadow. I may have needed to directly touch a mind before my takeover, but now I can just draw out your biggest fears right out of your mind by merely existing, no need to do anything more! Enjoy!”

Shadow barely registered the transition, so unchanged was the scenery around her. Everything was the same, except that Freak was nowhere to be seen. But then as Shadow looked around, it was as if she felt her heart briefly beat, only to stop once more.

Where Fire had collapsed was now the site of a blazing inferno, at the centre of which lay the body of her brother, a large silver blade impaling his torso. Shadow watched in horror as Fire’s flesh and organs burned up, leaving behind only an empty shell of scales draped over a skeleton.

There was sadness, then there was anger. Shadow had made a promise to herself, back in the command room. She was their apocalyptic insurance policy, she’d make sure that even if Freak managed to bring the worlds together, he wouldn’t be able to enjoy it.

Shadow prepared to feel the Void rising up inside of her, to take away all feeling and plunge her back into that absence… but nothing happened. That was when Shadow had a terrible thought. Fire’s death really was what would cause her to go over the edge, but this was not the real Fire she saw in front of her.

Shadow realized that her biggest fear was not simply losing her brother but being unable to help him when he needed help. He had done so much for her, even while he himself had suffered. All she had done during her time in Nexus was to destroy, and no amount of destruction could ever repay the life she had been gifted, even if it happened to save the world from a worse fate. She threw herself to the ground in despair, with no way out of the nightmare and no way to ever set things right.

###

Steve and Ozen returned from the expedition. They had conquered the Nether. Returned to the End. And Steve had finally learned the secrets of the Ocean Monument, while Ozen waited on the shore. Ozen sat astride a fully-grown Drake. Jennifer would be waiting for them. Mom, too. Maybe Mark would stop by like he said he would. Maybe not.

He threw a pearl as Brine manor’s roof rose from between the trees. It shattered and he stood before them. Mom, grey-haired, was sitting in her bench, waving. Dad slept, lying against a cushion on the other side of the bench, looking frail enough that a light wind much break him to pieces. Jennifer stepped outside. It had been weeks since he saw her, and though age had come upon them both, she was still quite beautiful. Out from behind her ran his son and daughter. Then at least two more sons for good measure. They hugged his legs and drew his body inside for dinner.

His soul remained without. He reached into his ghostly pocket and pulled out three grey skulls, and four blocks of soul sand.

“Is it all you ever wanted?” the skulls sneered. “Does it make you feel whole?”

He looked through the window. Jennifer pecked him on the cheek and returned to setting out dinner. His sons had a million things to show him. Dad had woken up and was distracting Steve’s daughter with a story more interesting than anything he could ever tell.

I feel empty. It is not enough.

“Then follow in his footsteps,” said the skulls.

Steve placed the four blocks. He affixed two of the skulls to the sand.

“This is what you need,” they told him. “What will always be.”

He placed the final skull. The Wither arose and rained black fire upon the Manor.

###

Fire found himself on the familiar gold-decorated white wooden bench, around him was only blackness. He slowly turned his head and was faced with a near-exact mirror image of himself, with the only difference being that the mirror image had pitch-black eyes.

“Claw.” He said.

Claw replied: “Other one.”

Neither of them said anything more, both contemplating the situation they were in.

Finally, Claw spoke: “I must say, I was not expecting this when he said, ‘worst nightmare’.”

Fire shook his head. “No, awkward conversations with my alter ego don’t exactly fit that description.”

Claw stood up from the bench and brandished his namesake at Fire. “Then why are we here?”

Fire thought for a moment.

“It seems like currently, my worst fear is letting you back in control, and once you are back out there, yours is to return to here.”

Claw suddenly laughed. “So, the phantom trapped us in an infinite loop?”

Fire simply shrugged. There was something oddly calming about finally meeting Claw face-to-face. He’d always been this unknown thing, a boogeyman almost.

For lack of any other topics, Fire asked: “So, how do you like the manor?”

Claw shot back: “Better than the cage, that’s for sure.”

“You know that it was you who built the cage, right Claw? Just like I built the manor.”

Claw huffed. “Don’t give me the ‘it’s all in your mind’ speech, I wasn’t even a proper person until the Entity brought me out.”

Fire raised his hands. “I didn’t intend to.” he added: “But now that you are a person, you’ll listen to reason.”

“Not from you, other one.”

It was almost funny, the mirror analogy proved to be true on more layers than physical. Fire stood up as well to face Claw.

“I’m not really the other one, Claw. You aren’t either. That’s because we are the same.”

Claw huffed again. “Really? The ‘not so different’ speech?”

Fire shook his head, memories flooded out from him and into their shared mindscape. A classroom, a city apartment, a lecture hall, an empty warehouse.

“I meant what I said. Back when I was younger, I was how you are now. Headstrong, defiant, even a bit selfish. You came into existence when my bad tendencies were at their peak, further fuelled by the trauma of having lost my friends. It took a lot of work to get to where I am now, and even still, the temptation to go back is always there. A lot of things would be easier if I did.”

Claw stared at Fire. “Then why don’t you go back, if it’d be so much easier?”

“It’d be easier in the short term, not in the long term. The biggest lesson I learned from living five thousand years on the server was that if you live that long, you cannot ignore the long term. Not for your own sake, and not for the sake of others. You see, if you only live a hundred years, you can do all manner of ‘evil’ things and die before the consequences affect you. But if you live long enough you will see the effects of your actions in the world, and they will come back to you, and often in ways you don’t expect.”

Claw clutched his head. “Gah, stop making sense damn it!”

Fire chuckled. “The reason I’m telling you this is because I reached that conclusion on my own, now I’m helping you reach it too. We are the same after all.”

Claw glared at Fire for a few moments, even raising his hands as if to strike, but gradually a look of resignation settled on his face.

“Alright, alright. What’s your point?”

Fire took a few moments to contemplate his next words. “I don’t hate you Claw. I hate that you came to be in the first place, but that’s hardly your fault, it’s mine. My point is that we can find a way out of this situation, but we can’t be enemies for that. Besides, you already helped me against Freak once, back when you gave me that memory proving that it was him who usurped the Entity.”

Claw sighed. “I suppose I did. But what do I get out of it? I’m sure as hell not content sitting here in your mind for the rest of our life, even if the manor is better than the cage. And I’m not content with fading out either.”

When given the question “what would you tell your younger self”, many people would give advice on how to live life. This situation was similar, though not quite the same. Fire had to show Claw that there was a path he hadn’t considered, one that would help them both.

“That’s where the long-term thinking comes in. During my time in Nexus, I discovered some… concerning things about myself and about Shadow. Once this situation is resolved I plan to do something about these things, find a solution, and now you are part of that solution too. You might have to endure for a while longer, but not forever.”

Fire extended his hand. He let his thoughts flow freely for Claw to pick up on what he meant, what he had seen, and what he planned. Claw contemplated, then nodded and shook the hand offered to him.

Claw said: “Alright then, Fire. Just one question remains: How do we get out of here?”

Fire replied: “Look outside through our eyes, our opportunity is about to present itself.”

###

Weariness was like a weight upon me, dragging down my eyelids, threatening to tear me apart if I did not succumb. I could not keep my sword-arm raised for longer than a second, but I struggled on.

“You know, the slumber is supposed to be a mercy.”

Freak now swayed before me, level with my eyes, breath like corpses. I turned away from the repellent stench and fell on my front.

“It doesn’t actually need you to be asleep to work. A waking nightmare could be fun, too.”

I wrenched myself forward, away from the phantom, into the inky void with its yellow flames. A second lunge brought my fingertips into contact with the firesteel armour of Fire, still warm from his last overcharge. The armour slipped away as Fire tried to pull himself up. With my subsiding eyes I saw his own flicker from red to black, and then snap shut. He collapsed and tried anew.

“Ah, this one I couldn’t have predicted. He’s so afraid of Claw getting control, he triggers the transfer of power by accident. Unfortunately, without the Entity to save him, Claw is so afraid of losing control he hands it back to li’l old Pete. The coin flips away.”

He lifted me up by the scruff of my neck, the talons grazing my skin. I saw the wound I’d left on his forehead sealing up. The blood remained like a crack in his nose.

“Listen, I’m being real nice right now by giving you a chance to pass out on your own. I haven’t come across someone able to resist me like this in a while, so consider it an apology for writing you off as the weak one. But don’t misunderstand, when I decide so, you will enter my domain.”

He was right. I could feel his spell run across my mind like a spider looking for a crack in a wall. Sooner or later, he would find one. But not yet, I gritted my teeth and continued to harden my mind against his efforts.

“Very well. A spider, I like that image.”

My eyes briefly shot open as I envisaged the arachnid, now with Freak’s face, bite into my mind, spreading venomous fear throughout. My head fell forward.

All was blackness. North, South, East and West revealed only darkness. I recalled my training and reshaped it. Now, it was a dark hallway, then, I was at the end of it, a door behind me. Only I had the key. Simple rules. Whatever Freak wanted to throw at me, it would come directly from the front.

I restored my heavy, obsidian armour. Apotyre, my blade returned to my hand. Voidfire flared in my eyes. Whatever he had sent would overpower me eventually, but I would give it a challenge.

“Come then, Phantom Lord,” I strain, forcing myself to say it aloud as well as in my mind. “Send me your worst.”

Freak scoffed. His voice seemed to echo from out the walls. Thorn-filled roots started to spread across the walls.

“It’s really not up to me what you see, Kay.”

The briars receded.

Suddenly, a footstep. Then another. A brisk, stumbling pace began, with the feet sometimes sliding rather than lifting fully across the ground. And glowing through the dark, a lone purple eye. I recognised it immediately. My armour started to fade, my beard receded, voidfire snuffed out.

“No, it can’t be,” I insisted, “It’s not you, Hamish!”

My defences returned, I envisaged a lamp. I caught a glimpse of him as he once was. Of his ochre scarf, his short black hair, his heavy trench-coat. He slipped back into darkness.

Another lantern. Light glinted off a glassy purple eye. Half his face and one of his hands was gnarled and black and twisted. He wore the armour of a Divine officer, one gauntlet discarded to unsheathe a taloned hand which burned anything it touched. A light golden sabre sat snugly in the other. As he had been on the bridge. Hamish grinned wildly at me.

Back into darkness.

“Hello Kay,” he sneered.

I summoned a final lantern. It revealed no one. The point of my sword dipped.

A full-grown Endling, with teeth like swords, leapt from the shadows. All of him was gnarled and burned and smoky. His talons swiped down not to cut but to grab. The burns on my neck screamed out anew.

I opened and locked the door, staggering into my office. The fire burned, the wallpaper was green, my desk was just as I left it, but this was no comfort. Already, his talons slammed into the door, tearing away the wood.

“What do I do?” I ask.

The Book’s fluttering mass of pages cocked its head.

“Other than join me in death?”

I went up to its armchair. The door rattled.

“Don’t grow a sense of humour, now. You must have noticed something I missed.”

“I am dead, Kay.”

“Yes, and it’s my fault, but what did Freak say?!”

The Book glared at me.

“He said he did not choose what you saw. Meaning…”

It rolled its hand in expectation.

“...He’s using my own fears.”

“Hamish is no interloper.”

“He’s a local!” I howled with laughter.

I looked down at the Book. Voidfire began to spread across it.

“Thank you, Book,” I said. “You always were magnificent.”

It glared back in silence, and then was gone. Crack! Hamish’s hand went through the door. I moved, quickly, knowing my window was limited. I envisaged Freak in the Book’s place, but he was nothing more than a shell, unmoving. So, I opened one eye in the waking world, and saw him dangling before me again.

“Freak,” I oozed, aloud and in my mind. “Would you spare me a moment of your time?”

He shot to life in my office.

“What do you want?” The phantom asked.

Realising he was in an armchair he adopted an aloof smile and leaned back slowly. He scrunched his features and looked over at the door Hamish was destroying.

“Oh, this is where she sat,” Freak nodded. “And advised you. Are you lonely in here, Kay?”

I pulled out a bottle of whiskey I remembered enjoying one time and poured us both a glass.

“I wanted some company, Hamish will break in momentarily. I don’t intend to wait out eternity with him, so I’ll probably just off myself. Give you one less mind to worry about tormenting.”

I laced my tone with acid. He needed to believe me. Hamish tore a hole large for his glassy purple eye to look through.

“How considerate,” Freak smirked. “You’d best hurry up then, I won’t let you die once I’m a god.”

My nostrils flared and my eyes burned.

“I have time enough,” I said. “I wanted to compliment you on your spell. You really have gotten to the thing I fear most.”

Hamish rattled the lock, then drew back.

Freak lounged back. His arms extended to impossible lengths as he stretched.

“Well, I can’t take full credit for that, can I? You see-”

“-Yes, getting the mind to produce its own worst fear, very efficient. Of course, that must also feel a little impersonal, mustn’t it?”

Freak glared and sat forward.

“I’m on a tight schedule, I’ll put my own spin on it later.”

“If I live that long.”

I heard a sound like sprouting in the real world. I felt cold roots wind about my wrists and restrain them.

“You will.”

“Blast, there goes that plan!” I laughed nervously.

A strange look spread across Freak’s face. I mustn’t have been very convincing.

I mused: “It must be strange though, finding what your subject’s afraid of, but not knowing why?”

“A little, but I have eternity to learn all that.”

I smiled coldly as I heard Hamish’s footsteps pounding down the hall. He was going to charge his way in. I clapped the Phantom Lord on the shoulder.

“Well, it might help you to learn that as much as I fear being tormented by Hamish for all eternity, that is eclipsed by how much Hamish would hate being trapped in here with me.”

Freak’s eyes widened and the door exploded. Hamish’ burning, black hands wrapped around his face. My eyes shot open.

I slammed into the floor as Freak swung away from me. Smoke was rising from his face, and I could see Hamish still wrapped around him. The darkness withdrew and the torches turned back from yellow to orange. The leader of the Mencur-Besh was still next to me. I grabbed his shoulder and shook him.

“Fire!” I screamed.

His eyes shot open.

###

Fire leapt up at the howling phantom in a mighty spiral, then severed the fleshy limb on his back from the rest of his body. The limb and its near-unbreakable wall of talons immediately began to shrivel away into nothing as, while Freak himself hit the floor in a continued howl. For a few moments he seemed to grapple with an unseen figure, until he made a motion like throwing and then struck the ground nearby. He rose, feeling his face for burn marks which did not exist.

“Sorry, Fire, you have my undivided attention.”

Meanwhile, Kay looked up from his efforts to wake a trembling Shadow and sighed:

“I need to invest in a more durable nemesis.”

Fire rushed at Freak, launching a burning, overhead swing of his zweihander, only for the phantom to turn intangible and invisible at the last second. Freak then became solid again, standing atop the edge of Fire’s blade and clawing at his visor. Fire swung the sword back up at the last moment, throwing Freak away from him. The two then engaged in a flurry of blows, Fire dodging and swiping as the Phantom Lord phased through every blow.

Away from this duel, Kay continued to shake Shadow. Her eyes were now open, but she was still seized by terror, looking this way and that.

“Shadow, wake up! Come on, I know I’m not your favourite person but-”

“-Where’s Fire, is he safe?”

“No, he needs your help.”

“Fire, where are you?”

Kay gritted his teeth and looked around for Astro, hoping another wizard might be able to help more. He then heard a warping sound.

“What in tha Great Underking’s Beard happened ‘ere?”

My eyes lit up. Urist stood over me gawking, where Voidblade was already looking around and nodding at the scene.

“Urist, start getting people back on their feet. V, get out and help Fire.”

“Understood,” said the enderman.

He teleported away and narrowly missed Freak’s head with a spinning swipe of the halberd. Urist’s eyes ping-ponged back and forth between Jennifer and Astro before turning the other way and shaking the fallen Tyron. Kay looked back to Shadow.

“Peter needs you.”

The tiny mage’s eyes became clear, then began burning with newfound determination. She floated to her feet and hovered a short distance above the floor. Shadow balled her fists as her hair began floating upwards.

Meanwhile, Freak parried and phased through an endless torrent of attacks from Fire and the teleporting Voidblade. The phantom cast an eye over at the slow resuscitation of the rest of the party which had come to slay him.

“You know, Fire,” he sneered. “I was quite enjoying our duel, but then you had to go and cheat by inviting this hyperactive beanpole.”

Freak feinted a parry then turned intangible, leaving Voidblade to stagger through him. He shunted the enderman aside. Fire swung again, but Freak caught his blade in a nest of indestructible, extended talons. With his other hand, Freak swung up and caught Fire on the forehead.

“Take a rest, little hero,” cackled the phantom.

However, his laughter died on the vine as Fire’s eyes flickered from red to black, then back again. He did not fall. He wrenched his sword from Freak’s grip and sent the stunned phantom spinning.

Phasing through another strike from Voidblade, Freak steadied himself, gearing up to extend his arm out and pierce Fire right through his insolent chest. How dare he resist!

A blackness fell over him. He looked up. Shadow had floated higher, her skin beyond darkness and her eyes like stars. A pulse emanated from her, first darkening everything it crossed, but once it passed it was as if the contrast on reality had increased. Colours were more intense, sounds clearer. Freak was violently pushed back into physical space from his ethereal state.

“Hah!” he scoffed. “Contesting me for control of the local reality, very well. If I cannot be ethereal, then let’s see what I can’t do in the physical world!”

He shot an arm out past Shadow and cut the air above her. Hundreds of spiders and scorpions and other poisonous beasts cascaded over her.

He had no time for triumph or even a snide remark, though, as a dwarf-operated diamond mace immediately collided with his jaw and sent him reeling. Two glowing yellow teeth flew from his mouth before dissipating in the air and regrowing. A quick glance revealed the entire group back on their feet. Overhead, the storm of worlds became still fiercer. The mechanism’s defences were still operational.

“Very well,” Freak grinned. “Let’s do this.”

A great storm of battle erupted in the throne room, to rival that which unfolded overhead. Rose hurled wave upon wave of knives while Amanda swooped this way and that to fire rockets. Freak blocked all these by summoning strange stone birds into the air. Jennifer and Voidblade circled the melee, looking for ideal moments to hurt Freak with a well-timed strike of the halberd, or to put some room between him and an ally with an explosive impact from the ghastbone bow. And in the centre a great ruck had formed as Freak slashed to and fro at the other champions.

Fire and Tyron proved most able to go toe-to-toe with the Phantom lord, hacking away with the Entity’s zweihander and Kir respectively. However, as much as they tore away at the phantom’s body, Freak always managed to avoid a decisive blow by contorting his body as though it were that of a serpent, or by manifesting some fleshy limb to push him out of the way.

Only shortly behind them was Steve, who caught Freak’s every blow with his impossible shields and swiping away with Excalibur. Kay clung closely to Steve, trying to remain out of Freak’s line of sight until he engaged the adventurer, then bursting out with a strike of the sword or a heavy punch.

Urist followed a similar tactic with Astro. As the wizard flew around at low altitudes, trying to find a person to shield, or a limb to break, Freak sent out briars to creep along the ground and bloom into thorns which would strike him from the sky. Urist, however, had seen what had been done to Herobrine’s party by these briars, and closely followed these creeping strands of death, crushing the thorns with his mace before they could do harm.

Shadow’s role may have seemed less active to an onlooker, but every time Freak attempted to push the boundaries of his influence, she was there to push back with greater force. Still, the phantom had considerable strength that could not be quelled in the metaphysical realm, so Shadow occasionally used conventional spells to assist the others, burning away Freak’s limbs or magically enhancing her allies.

However, the storm above continued to rage. The yellow lights shone brighter. And Freak only seemed to grow stronger and bolder.

A briar shot out and pierced Fire’s breastplate and, while not piercing his ribcage, left a large gash across his chest. A fleshy limb caught Rose’s knives, then spat them back out, striking her in the leg. Freak carved the air and out jumped a huge, black wolf who began to maul Urist until Kay and Amanda came to his rescue. A blow from his talons split another of Steve’s shields and sent him flying. A second blow would have killed him, had Astro not summoned three closely-packed shields to stop Freak. And every wound they inflicted on him seemed to have less and less of an effect, knitting back together faster and bleeding less when open.

“Okay, killing him quickly so we can get to the mechanism unopposed clearly isn’t working,” opined Tyron over the telepathic network maintained by Kir.

“You’re right,” agreed Fire as he cut through a horned, lion-headed beast which dissipated into smoke thereafter. “So long as the machine is operational, he’ll only get stronger and I hate to say it, but I’m not sure we can keep pace. Jennifer, Steve, get to the switch.”

With a shattering noise, Jennifer arrived at the machine and began to hammer away with two enchanted diamond pickaxes.

“Back to plan A, I guess,” answered Steve.

Herobrine’s son then bashed Freak in the face with his shield, then threw an ender pearl over at the obsidian shield guarding the mechanism. However, a stone bird twirled into its path, dropping Steve into a patch of briars which he hurriedly began to block with his shield.

“I’m getting real sick of him doing that!”

“Hang tight Steve,” instructed Fire, narrowly dodging Freak’s latest attack. “Jennifer, can you break the machine alone?”

“Just a sec…” The sound of obsidian shattering rang out. “Crap! There’s at least twenty layers of this stuff! Alloyed sheets. I can only break one at a time, I need backup.”

Shadow swooped to and fro above the battlefield, trying to get a good shot on the briars harassing Steve, but being perpetually harassed by Freak’s extended talons, fleshy limbs or summoned beasts.

“Urist?” Fire asked.

“Out of commission,” answered Astro.

The wizard similarly lurched around the battlefield, carrying the dwarf under his armpits in search of a safe spot to heal him.

“Aye, me arm’s broken,” confirmed the dwarf hazily.

It occurred to Fire that he might have to pull out a trump card. They needed a ringer. And that ringer might just be Claw. Unfortunately, that would mean he couldn’t coordinate the others.

“Rose?” he tried.

The assassin steadied herself, and focused. A single dagger came shooting out in a burst of energy, the sharpest she had ever thrown. It shattered against the obsidian alloy, leaving only a superficial scratch.

“No dice,” she said aloud.

“Guys, have idea,” chirped Kir, surprising even Tyron.

A few moments later, the plan was fully relayed. Kay ran forward and launched a flying punch at Freak. The Phantom Lord dodged easily and turned to strike Kay in the back, only for one of Amanda’s rockets to explode against his head.

With his concentration broken, the stone birds began to flicker out of existence. Shadow fired out her disintegration beam and burned away the briars around Steve, who immediately pulled out an ender pearl. However, this time, instead of throwing it at the mechanism, he threw it at Tyron.

The second Steve materialised, he threw Excalibur to the Dragoknight, before throwing a second pearl at the activation mechanism and rematerialising there. Tyron caught the blade with his free hand and assumed a dual-wielding fighting stance.

“Now!” Tyron roared.

Shadow and Astro landed behind Fire and immediately began to channel their energy into Tyron, joining Kir in enhancing his reflexes and taking up the duty of maintaining the telepathic network. Tyron’s eyes and the vortex on his back shone like beacons, and blue light pulsed through his veins, so bright it even shone out through his fur. Icy tendrils wafted from the surfaces of Kir and Excalibur, and rocks rose from the floor to build a set of mighty stone wings on Tyron’s shoulders. He ascended from the floor, Kir held forward and Excalibur drawn back for a downward thrust.

Freak’s neck snapped back into place, and he rounded on the source of the shadow which had now fallen upon him. Steve and Jennifer hammered away at the obsidian. Rose, Kay and Voidblade took up positions around him as Amanda circled. He heard the sound of flames igniting and glanced back to see Fire rise on his flaming wings. As he arose, he saw Astro and Shadow behind several layers of shields, still channelling energy into Tyron. Freak chuckled.

“Never to be outdone, are we, Pete? You couldn’t even let the furball have the high ground?”

“And you can’t go ten seconds without running your mouth, Freak!”

Freak ran a set of talons up his face as though pushing up a pair of non-existent glasses.

“No, and in a little bit, I’ll never have to go that long again!”

A taloned hand burst out from either side of Freak’s elbow and began to soar straight at two targets: Steve and Jennifer. A sickening grin spread across Freak’s face. Then, a brilliant blue flash. Unable to see, Freak lurched forward as his two new limbs were severed from him in quick succession. He retracted the bleeding remains, and as his eyes cleared, he saw ice spreading across them. New talons broke through, but he still felt the chill. He looked out at Tyron, who was already gearing up for another assault.

“Very well, little hero, let’s have-”

Before Freak could finish his thought, Tyron’s wings had beaten, propelling him forward along a path of ice rapidly forming before him. Kir caught him on the leg, then Excalibur on his hip. Ice began to creep. He moved to scrape away the ice, when - boom! - Fire’s zweihander came down on his wrist, scorching his flesh. He leapt away from the flame. Still, the ice crept.

Not willing to wait for another attack, Freak shed his arms and formed new ones, these each having three branches, each ending in a hand that was more weapon than organ. He rushed at Tyron and swiped down with his right arm, only for his new claws to stick in one of his wings, which bent forward like a shield. Freak lashed out with his left arm, yet more talons branching off from it, now creating weapons for the sake of weapons in the hope of finding some flesh to hit. He could feel the fear pouring into him from all around. How could his body not match this level of strength?

In a surge of energy, Freak found the ever-branching arm spiralling away from the rest of him. Rose had sent up a spray of daggers, and a spare one has stuck in his torso. Ice crept over it.

Freak snapped his neck to move out of the way of Tyron’s next slash of Kir, only for Excalibur to catch him on the knee. He rolled and evaded another slash from Tyron, only to be greeted by Voidblade’s halberd piercing his neck. He attempted to lash out with his remaining arm but found the ice had stuck it in place. Kay’s blade shattered the limb, then the General grabbed Voidblade’s arm. The two teleported away just before Freak’s new arm could cut the air and douse them in poisonous bogwater, resplendent with leeches. Freak straightened up just in time to see Fire’s reflection in the murky surface.

The Entity’s zweihander pierced his chest and Freak immediately manifested small tendrils to reach from his back and begin to lash away at him. They cut armour, picked away scales, drew blood, but still the great leader of the Mencur-Besh held firm. As Freak thrashed and contorted his body, all Fire did was slowly shuffle his feet into a new position. The phantom cracked his head around like an owl to look Fire in the eye. Before he could speak, Fire smirked.

“Not me you should be looking at.”

Freak turned just in time to see Tyron, like a missile of ice, stone and diamond, shooting down a path of ice towards him. First Kir cut him, then Excalibur. Then Excalibur, then Kir. Across the torso, across the head, arms, legs, every piece of him. Fire’s boot shunted him from the blade and the assault only became more intense. And from every wound upon his smoky skin, ice formed faster and faster. He couldn’t move his legs, then his arms, until finally, it was creeping up his face. With Shadow contesting him for the local reality, he had ceded the aethereal and relied upon his body. And his body, despite all the fear in all creation reinforcing it, had failed. Ice spread across his eyes, and he saw his enemies breathing a sigh of relief. The blows stopped.

“Is he down?!” Steve called out.

“For now,” Tyron gasped, keeping his swords raised.

Steve exhaled sharply, then continued to slam his pick into the obsidian.

“Hope it hurts,” Kir trilled in Freak’s mind.

But Freak had no interest in the sword’s petty revenge. His eyes drifted over to the shield dome protecting Astro and Shadow. He surveyed the little mage with hate, thinking on how she had shed her form to contest the Entity. Very well. Then Fear would mimic Entropy.

He looked up through one of the portals and saw a large, pillar-like structure in the midst of a city coming to rest above the Tower, a blazing white inverse to Nexus. Freak cast his mind out to the people of the city, and felt their fear, anxieties of war, inquisition, the mundane terror of being, and he began to fashion a vessel of it.

A small appendage like a scorpion’s stinger sprouted from the back of his skull. He angled it above him, so as to best crack open the cocoon that he was.

“Um, guys…” Amanda called.

Freak struck down. Ice, skin, skull all shattered. Down and down until nothing remained to break. And from the destruction of his body emerged a skeleton of briars, around which smoky flesh and glowing, golden fear began to entangle and disentangle. An ever-changing tangle of fear. He struck out with talons like rays of sunlight.

Astro and Shadow’s shield dome shattered. The two mages went flying. Tyron’s wings crumbled, and his swords lost their frosty aura. Fire stepped out, a jet of flame spewed from his hand and Freak simply caught it and made it sturdy as a rope. With a tug he hurled the Mencur-Besh aside, bowling over Rose and forcing Voidblade to teleport Kay away. Amanda’s rocket glanced harmlessly off his shoulder.

Freak smiled and it stretched like a dread horizon.

“Know this, I am Fear.” He began to howl with laughter. “And I am all that awaits you!”

Fire only just flew out of the way of fear’s glowing talons, which were nose each half a metre long. He steadied himself against what remained of the staircase. Voidblade teleported on to the ring of the staircase above him, holding Kay’s forearm. The two crouched down.

“What do we do now?” Asked the enderman aloud.

When Freak broke Shadow and Astro’s shield that had disrupted their telepathic communication network, and Kir was still trying to keep Tyron’s reflexes at full capacity as Freak bore down on him. The cloud of smoke had not yet cleared where the two mages had stood. Fire threw a concerned glance where he assumed his sister to be but was soon forced to focus on the battle at hand.

His eyes shot to the activation mechanism. Steve and Jennifer mined away even more frenetically than before, but there were still several layers of obsidian alloy to go. Steve saw one of Freak’s briars creeping toward him and equipped his improbably efficient shield. He just about managed to block the thorns while still ensuring his pickaxe struck true.

Fire called out: “No matter what, we have to keep the Brines free to break through to the switch.”

Voidblade nodded and Kay stood up.

“Very well, first the briar, then the Freak,” he proclaimed with some of his old bravado.

That was when Freak’s gold-and-black arm shot out to strike the staircase. Voidblade grabbed Kay again and they teleported away, trying their best to work in tandem as Kay had once done with the Book. Fire only just glided off to the side. The phantom’s talons pierced his armour and cut through the scales on his arm. As he landed, he realised it was time.

“Let’s see if you took our talk to heart.” He murmured.

Fire’s eyes dimmed before turning black entirely. Claw surged forward, zweihander at his side, winding up for a large upward cut.

The glowing phantom slid back, grinning away unfazed. He batted Tyron aside and shrugged off a blow from Amanda.

“Hey buddy! Didn’t expect to see you here! Pete must be getting pretty desperate, huh?”

“Shut the **** up, Freak!” Claw roared.

He then launched into a series of ruthless swings, Freak managed to avoid some but the sheer speed that Claw attacked made sure that occasionally he landed a hit, each time tearing away more of Freak’s freshly formed nightmare-flesh. The pace with which Claw attacked was unsustainable, but a Mencur-Besh’s definition of unsustainable was different to that of many others, and Claw intended to show just how great the margin was.

Freak flashed a grin and thrust his arms up. Claw struck out at his exposed flank, and the mixture of gold-and-black seemed to unravel, allowing the blade to pass through unharmed. Freak then brough his talons down, shattering the ground and forcing Claw back. He moved to thrust forward, when suddenly - Crack!

A shield shattered against Freak’s arm, staggering him, and making him miss. Astro flew out from the smoke and immediately began to pelt Freak with spells to little effect. Then the smoke cloud exploded outwards until it dissipated, revealing Shadow and a small yield dome protecting the fallen Urist. A disintegration beam shot from her hand and struck Freak full in the chest. The phantom took a step back, clasping the wound as it healed. Claw profited from this and struck him across the jaw with the zweihander. Black blood spilled from Freak’s face as he reconstructed his signature grin.

The phantom wasted no time in attempting to regain the advantage. Tyron threw a wall of earth and Freak cut through it. He unspooled his right bicep to allow Rose’s daggers to pass through without serious damage. He shot his arm out into the air to route Amanda. He sent razor-sharp tendrils out from his back to pursue Astro.

Voidblade and Kay appeared behind him and the enderman thrust a spear at the same spot Fire had stabbed so shortly before. A gaping mouth formed and bit the spear clean in half, and a tendril shot out and slammed into Voidblade’s helmet. Kay severed the tendril and turned to catch Voidblade. However, as he willed the wounded enderman to teleport, Freak rounded on them.

The phantom leered down and drew back the talons stopped of his left hand. A single downward thrust would reduce both of them to bloody smears on the ground. Kay looked down at Voidblade and saw purple blood dripping from the crack on his helmet. The enderman thrashed to and fro with eyes scrunched shut. The General turned back to Freak and braced for death. The phantom struck down.

The talons stopped. Freak howled. Kay looked up to see Fire standing over him, clasping the Entity’s zweihander. The blade had passed between the two central talons and cut halfway into the Phantom Lord’s hand, sending black blood pulsing every which way. He looked back and Kay saw black eyes. His own widened.

“Claw?!” he yelped.

“Communications back online!” chirped Kir with only a fraction of his usual enthusiasm.

That was when Astro swooped down and lifted him away. Kay looked back to see Shadow do the same with the injured Voidblade. Tyron, Rose, and Claw entered into a fierce melee with Freak, with Amanda circling above.

“Is that Claw?” Kay asked telepathically.

The wizard set him down and scowled.

“Yeah, looks like, keep your **** together. Claw’s small potatoes now.”

“Careful, remember that I could have killed you back at the hill. But we have bigger problems than the past now,” said Claw as he cut deep into Freak’s leg.

“Claw friend?” asked Kir.

“Really not the time, Kir!” stressed Tyron as he just about pulled Kir out of the reach of a maw which had formed on Freak’s shoulder.

Kay rubbed his leg and reassumed a fighting stance. Nearby Shadow set down Voidblade and, after planting a protective rune around him, began firing more disintegration beams at Freak.

“Don’t worry, I’m not complaining. We only got out of that dreamscape because I bit the bullet and worked with Hamish.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

Astro’s eyes collapsed into a squint and his jaw dropped open. Amanda swooped down to glare dismissively at Kay after yet another rocket bounced off Freak without effect.

“Did you hit your head more than usual?”

Kay frowned and tried to explain himself, suddenly chewing his lip as he tried to remember the dream through the fog of battle.

“No, the charm Freak used just made us imagine our worst fears. I just used my training to get Hamish to do what I knew he would: attack Freak.”

Astro’s eyes widened. He looked at Shadow, then Kay. He spoke aloud.

“What happened?”

“It was weird, I just wanted to startle him, but Freak started thrashing around like Hamish was physically there. Like he was actually hurting him.”

Astro laughed nervously and glanced at his rings.

“Shadow, please tell me if I’m wrong, but could it be possible to reactivate Freak’s spell, just on me?”

Shadow replied: “It’s been active this entire time. I’ve been contesting Freak over local reality so he couldn’t imprison us again. I could put some additional effort into it, maybe you could manifest something yourself that way. Just be wary that if I do that, I can’t help you otherwise.”

“Alright,” Astro laughed breathlessly. “Um…”

“Whatever you’re planning, do it fast!” Interrupted Jennifer. “We’ve still got four sheets to go, and that phantom keeps looking really angrily at us!”

“It’s not much more fun over here!” snapped Rose.

Astro grunted and relayed some final instructions.

“Okay Kir, when I give the signal, make sure everyone can see what I see.”

He then turned to Kay.

“And I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but I need your advice. Talk me through how to do this.”

Kay’s face suddenly shone with hope.

“Great,” he grinned. “Tell me about the dream we’re working with.”

As Kay began to explain to Astro how to best manipulate his nightmare, the fight raged on. Freak dealt Tyron a blow on the leg, dodged a blast from Shadow, then struck Rose backhandedly. The assassin went flying and slammed into a bookshelf. She seemed to shred through the wood and bindings, vanishing from sight in a cloud of pages. Just as the Phantom Lord tried to shoot off a gloat, he found himself blade-to-blade with Claw.

As the other combatants struggled to stay standing, Claw and Freak entered a duel for the ages, the ultimate hunter against the personification of fear. Meanwhile, as much as it pained her to do so, Shadow stopped firing spells to support her brother’s flipside, and intensified her efforts. Darkness deepened, lights intensified, it was as if reality was filled to the brim with itself, threatening to burst.

Freak, however, only seemed to grow stronger. Claw made a strike that was too predictable, and Freak caught the zweihander between his talons. His smile widened to impossible lengths. He retracted the talons on his other hand and struck Claw in the face. And then again, and again.

“Do I have an angle on you now, Claw?! What do you truly fear, now, huh?!” howled the Phantom Lord.

He stopped the barrage and extended his talons once more.

“The Entity’s not here to protect you now, Claw. There’s only one thing left for you to fear, and that’s me,” he panted like a dog faced with a meal.

Amanda fired another missile at him. It struck the side of his face and forced him to flinch. He glared after her, vowing to pluck her straight from the sky next time.

“Just admit you’re scared, and I’ll let you go.”

“I don’t need the damn Entity anymore, and I don’t need your mercy either! I am Claw! I am a Mencur-Besh! And I. Fear. Nothing!”

The phantom’s neck cracked.

“Such a shame.”

He drew one hand back for the killing blow and raised the other to block Shadow’s expected spell. The disintegration beam came and singed the skin of his arm. He hardly even felt it.

“I was starting to like you, Claw.”

Then, just as he started to thrust forward, he noticed a green glow to his right. His jaw dropped just in time for a crackling ball of energy to slam into his side and blow open his black-and-gold flesh. He roared and skidded across the floor, finally stopping himself with his talons.

“Woah!” Tyron yelled.

“What just hit him?” Jennifer asked alongside a craning of her head.

Astro stood behind the ruins of the staircase, a single hand raised in the air.

“Show ‘em, Kir,”

Freak looked up.

A man of average height with messy dark hair and stubble stood across from him. His shoulders were draped in a dark blue jacket, and a leather breastplate clung tightly to his chest. On his wrist, a black, mechanical gauntlet crackled with green electricity.

“No way!” Amanda shouted.

“David?!” squealed Steve excitedly, almost missing his swing.

David, boyfriend to Destiny, slayer of the Sovereign, heir to the Third Legion, stepped forward, and began to speak.

“Hey Freak, been a while. Remember when you stabbed me? Good times. I hear you’re the guy who killed my girlfriend, is that true?”

The phantom forced a grin.

“Well, your death did the hard work, I just gave her that last push.”

David scrunched up his eyes and clicked his tongue, then started slowly walking forward. No one knew how to react.

“Oh, that’s just awful Freak. I really want to kill you for that. I’m bound to make a stupid mistake rushing you after saying that. But, of course, I’m not the one you’ve pissed off the most.”

Astro raised a second hand.

In the corner of Freak’s eye, he glimpsed the flowing of a ponytail in flight. He turned to defend himself, only for an icy javelin to strike him through the eye. Before he could even howl in pain, his assailant held out their other hand and the temperature in his face rapidly increased. The icicle skewering Freak’s glowing face began to evaporate, scorching his face with steam.

As the Phantom Lord screeched, Destiny landed on the floor. She summoned an icy sword and a fiery buckler shield, then took up a fighting stance. Claw and Tyron had begun to close in. Shadow continued her efforts to contest local reality, and Kay continued to enthusiastically guide Astro through his summoning.

“Didn’t Destiny normally use a bow?” Tyron asked.

“Yeah, but you should have seen her use the sword-and-buckler arrangement back at the portal facility. She did some serious damage,” explained Astro.

“She was a real menace, we can agree on that,” elaborated Claw.

“Miss me, Freak?”

“Like a headache,” he chimed.

He lifted his hands from his face and revealed the wound already healing.

“You’re almost as creative as me when it comes to torturing folks, you know that Dez?”

The shade of Destiny didn’t respond, she just circled around to David, Tyron, and Claw, who had now interposed themselves between Freak and Shadow. Shadow, of course, stood in front of the ruins behind which Astro was doing the summoning. And behind that, Jennifer and Steve continued to break through layers.

“Just three more layers!” Jennifer promised.

David and Destiny’s shades instinctively touched hands. Drifting above, Amanda averted her gaze in dejection as she remembered what she had lost.

“So, this is what you have for me?” Freak laughed. “Tyron-on-ice, Claw, and then two ghosts? Those were the big desperate trump cards you came up with?”

The phantom lord began to add additional branches of talons to his arms once more. Briars began to emerge from his feet and spread out across the ground.

“The ghosts aren’t even substantial reinforcements! Look, I’ll halve the benefit they provide right now.”

Freak thrust his arm out at Amanda. It hurtled forward like a spear, unceasing, unquestioning. She was moving so slowly, and the reach of the talons was so wide! She realised she could not evade. She popped off one last firework at Freak’s head, hoping it might buy someone an opening, then closed her eyes. Astro clenched his fists.

“Stop!”

Boom! Freak’s talons struck a magical shield which exploded on impact. His talons broke. Magical shrapnel shot down alongside Amanda’s rocket and showered Freak in pain. He looked up.

A shade of Warnado floated in the air. He had one arm wrapped around Amanda’s shoulder, which he was already using to maintain a second shield. His other arm was being used to hold a colossal demonic hammer.

“Hammertime, dork.”

He swooped down to strike Freak on the head and all hell broke loose.

Shadow fired her disintegration beams with reckless abandon, all the while advancing her attempts to wrest control of the local reality from Freak.

Claw continued his relentless onslaught, only barely taking enough caution to keep himself safe.

Tyron slashed out with Kir and Excalibur. He summoned spikes of ice and walls of stone.

David and Destiny’s shades were the great unit the others had heard so much about from the Remaining. Here Destiny planted an icicle in Freak’s side, allowing David time to charge. There, David finally rushed forward with the gauntlet pulsing with energy, blowing away Freak’s flesh and allowing Destiny a whole new opening for assault.

Amanda swooped this way and that in a campaign of harassment, while the shade of Warnado unleashed an onslaught of sorcerous and demonic powers. He summoned energy weapons of all varieties. He shot demonfire. He opened small dimensional rifts.

And now standing atop the ruins of the staircase, Astro held his hands aloft like the Prophet on his hill. His eyes were closed, and his grin was wide. The ruptured stars containing worlds now loomed larger and closer than ever, shining molten rays of fear down into the Throne Room. The terrible winds, too, had reached down, and Kay roared over them, conveying words of encouragement and command into Astro’s ear.

Freak fought with interminable strength and speed however, dodging sword and spell and chainsaw. He conjured terrors from the air. He stretched limbs out to kill. His talons just seemed to grow longer and sharper. His briars crept further and further across the floor and stabbed their thorns out at anyone then could. Until, finally, a decisive encounter came.

Claw swiped at Freak, and the Phantom Lord drew back for a strike. Only, he found his arm gripped by a powerful demonic hand. Claw swung again, this time at Freak’s gut, and he unravelled the flesh to avoid the blow. However, as it relaced itself, David leapt forward, his gauntlet crackling with energy, and blasted away a chunk of Freak’s gut. He tried to retaliate with his free arm, only for Tyron to summon a pillar of rock to encase it, reinforced with ice by Destiny. Amanda and Claw helped Warnado with his arm, and David ran to help Destiny and Tyron. They had him trapped.

He looked forward and saw Shadow slowly advancing, reality unravelling at her fingertips, small rifts opening and closing like black lightning.

He realised what she was about to do. Unlike the Entity, he was not her opposite. She could destroy this form, at least for long enough to disarm the machine. He roared like a beast of old, refusing to be beaten like this. His briars stabbed into her, but they had no effect, simply disappearing into the Void. He needed another target. His briars crept elsewhere.

That was when Astro raised his hands all the way above his head, and then fell to his knees bringing them back down. A figure in a waistcoat and a white shirt fell from the sky and flopped onto Freak’s shoulders. He had an old almanac on redstone circuitry in his hand.

“Okay, Book, let’s do this!” said Fristad through gritted teeth.

He touched a hand to Freak’s head and lightning shot through the Phantom Lord. He froze rigid, a look of fury trapped on his face. Shadow continued to charge her spell.

“Just one more layer!” thought Steve and Jennifer in unison.

A glorious hope began to burn in the party of remaining heroes as they continued hammering away at the obsidian.

Atop the pillar, Astro continued his summoning. The wind of the storm lifted his hair like the death of gravity. Kay continued to propose new helpers.

“Is there anyone else out there?”

“I see… Bokane… No, Wise One, a king of the Realm.”

“Can he fight well?”

“Not really, he’s about ninety.”

“Then why did you mention him?”

Astro laughed triumphantly.

At that moment, Kay’s heart froze. He saw a briar creeping along the staircase’s remains like a snake. The end was about to blossom into a-

“Look out!” Kay screamed.

He ploughed into Astro, throwing him from the ruin. The point struck him in the gut, cracking armour on the front, then piercing through the back. Blood ran. He collapsed.

“Kay!” Astro yelled, running to the fallen General. However, his attention was immediately forced back in the opposite direction by another scream.

“Helix!”

Astro turned to see all the shades he’d so carefully summoned vanished in smoke. Freak stopped shuddering and clarity re-entered his eyes, then fury.

Meanwhile, panic entered Shadow’s gaze. She loosed the spell, sending the ball of unmade reality spiralling at Freak.

Freak sensed the otherworldly fear and felt renewed strength. He swept one hand to the side, hurling Claw and Amanda from him. Then, with no support from the shades, Tyron’s stone restraint was easily shattered. Freak scrambled aside to avoid the ball of rifts, and it grazed his hip. The rifts slowly began to spread across his side, but it was like ants spreading across a mountain. Too slow and too small to matter.

Freak began to advance shakily.

“Well done, you guys really had me scared there.”

He deflected a blow from Claw. Then, wincing, he unleashed a second blow. It struck Claw’s firesteel breastplate. The zweihander went flying from his hand, and the alloyed metal warped, then burst apart. He landed flat on his front, unmoving.

“Not scared, really, moreso… concerned. Like I couldn’t remember if I’d left the stove on or not,” he swerved lightly to avoid Amanda’s rocket. “But it was a mundane bit of excitement at least.”

He reached back to grab the teenage girl’s wing in flight. She turned back to snarl at him. He laughed and she tried to hit him with her crossbow.

“Tiresome creature.”

He hurled Amanda over in the direction of the activation mechanism. She slammed into a bookshelf and then crashed in a heap on the floor.

The sound of skittering stones turned his head. Kay had hauled his way over the ruins of the staircase, coughed blood, then collapsed against the rocks.

“That’s how I’d describe most of you, to be honest.”

He stepped over the staircase ruins and found Tyron limping in front of him. He raised a fist and briars struck the swords from his hands. Kir trilled in desperation, and Tryon tried to grab for him, but Freak would have nothing of it. He stepped on the sword until it almost cracked. The Dragoknight hissed and bared his fangs and claws. Freak retracted his own claws, gritted his teeth, and then struck Tyron in the face.

Tyron skidded to an unconscious halt at the feet of Astro, who now ran his hands back and forth as though smoothing out a clay ball. Freak smirked at the near-childish gesture, and then Astro thrust his hands out. A complete release of energy. It struck Freak head on. An attempt to shatter the very structure of Freak’s body. The Phantom Lord felt the weight upon him, and it made the unreality spreading glacially on his flank all the more sapping, but it did not harm him.

He stepped forward, and Astro slid back. Freak grinned. He stepped forward again. One of Astro’s rings burst from exertion. And they continued to do so with every step Freak took until…

“Three, two, one… And that’s your reserves used up.” Freak sneered. “Do you really want to risk using your own internal battery, Astro?”

The wizard continued the barrage. Freak sighed. His eyes felt heavy. He stepped forward. Astro collapsed.

Only one remained before the Brines, that tiny, awful mage who had made all of this possible. She tried tearing another rift into reality, but as Freak approached that quickly became an impossibility.

“I suppose I should thank you. If not for that little tear in reality you made, I’d be nought but a humble torturer.”

He smirked. The storm was now behind him, pushing him toward the activation mechanism. Up above, the Tower’s white mirror looked like a needle ready to pierce flesh, carrying disease and cure all at once.

“You must be furious that the Entity isn’t here. You’d found your opposite, a true equal, with only experience separating you! Instead, it’s just little old me. How about you let that anger out, one last time, before it ends. You’ll have an eternity to fret!”

Shadow obliged, tearing a gap into reality but being forced to stop just barely short of Freak’s body, then followed up with a disintegration ray that Freak only barely registered.

As Shadow made her final stand, Steve and Jennifer exchanged a look. A look which said ‘Only one of us needs to break the last layer…’

“Jennifer,” Steve said. “If Shadow goes down-”

“-Steve,” she insisted. “You don’t even have a weapon.”

He struck the obsidian. The cracks spread. He tried not to wonder if he was behind or ahead of her. It could only be so much of a difference, he told himself. But, of course, it could be. It had all gone so fast they had no way of knowing.

A pale imitation of the Sunbeam struck Freak from above.

“I have the shield. And it’ll take him longer to get to you.”

“Yeah, a second or two longer!”

Shadow drew her amorphous blade and plunged it into Freak’s chest. He laughed.

“And those seconds have to count!”

He struck. The cracks spread. It would only take a few seconds longer than he had. An eternity in miniature.

Reality solidified around Shadow, metaphysically keeping her in place.

Steve looked up at Jennifer.

“I love you,” he said.

He swung his shield around to meet Freak’s talon. It splintered immediately but by that shield’s queer miracle he was unharmed. He cast aside his pickaxe and equipped a shield in either hand, charging into Freak.

The phantom staggered as the wood struck his chest. Steve grinned. Seconds won!

Two quick strokes. They shattered. Freak slashed upwards and caught him on the brow. Steve fell back into his nightmare. Freak smiled at his power regained, the last of the mage’s interference suppressed. He smirked down at Steve.

Crack! Jennifer’s pickaxe broke through the seal! A simple lever sat before her, begging to be turned. She thrust out her hand. The lever seemed to slip away. She hit the floor. A briar had wrapped around her leg and pulled her away. She equipped her bow, but before she could get an arrow there were briars all over her, covering, crushing, smothering… She passed out.

Freak approached the broken defensive dome and leaned against it. His toothy grin had faded into a cold smile. With everyone dealt with, all he had to do was wait for his moment in every limelight until the end of time. He could afford to enjoy one last quiet moment. He savoured the music of the storm, the spectacle of the molten rays of light, the gentle dance of the scar through which the Entity had entered and exited Nexus. It was serene, beautiful, a perfect calm before the-

He heard armour rattling and whirled around. He saw the girl, Amanda, thrusting out a hand for the mechanism. He lifted his hand and stretched out his talons, only for something to stop him.

There was a pressure all over Freak’s hand and much of his upper body. At first it seemed to come from nowhere, then he saw its source: That living shadow the eponymous mage carried with her had taken hold of him. Freak scoffed and moments later became translucent, depriving Wodahs of anything to grab onto.

Something snapped. Amanda had her hand on the lever.

Click!

His heart stopped. The music of the winds stopped. And nothing else.

The molten rays of fear remained. The ruptured-star portals above remained as close and huge as they had been a moment ago. Everything had just been paused. Even the little scrap of deteriorating reality on his side seemed to have stopped. He choked down a laugh.

“Okay, I’ve been meaning to ask, what’s the big plan now?”

“Well…” Amanda said, nervously. “I don’t know.”

He tasted the fear on her. Complete uncertainty. Majestic!

“Did you just not think past this point?” Freak cackled “Or did the others count on someone who knew what they were doing lasting to the end?!”

Amanda tried to back away, but Freak became solid again and grabbed her. Wodahs grabbed him again and he shone an intense, fearful light on the shade’s entire form, rendering her powerless. He lifted Amanda.

“Allow me to expose, by a simple demonstration, the error in your plan.” He pressed a talon against the mechanism. “I just flip the lever back, like so.”

Clack!

Something was wrong. From one moment to the next the worlds in the sky had disappeared, in their place only the blackest nothingness remained.

Laughter rang out, laughter that was not just heard, but permeated every sense. The source of this laughter was Shadow who now stood upright a short distance away from Freak. With each passing moment it became harder to make out her exact shape, even Freak’s supernatural senses revolted against themselves as they tried to perceive that which, by all sane and even most insane sets of logic, simply could not be. The only parts of her that were clearly visible were her eyes, burning like red suns.

Freak recoiled away but stumbled as the patch of non-existence rapidly spread across his legs and crept further upward.

He said: “Well… I never liked this body anyway. Back home to the dreamscape it is.”

What remained of his body began fading out as its owner’s consciousness slowly drifted out of existence, but just as he was about to disappear entirely, a radiant light began manifesting around the tattered remains of Freak’s body, pushing him back into being.

Another voice spoke, one that was familiar to many of those present, but both Freak and Shadow heard it for the first time.

“You will not slither your way out of this, Freak!” The Lady of Dreams screamed.

As the nothingness spread further across Freak’s body his futile attempts at struggling slowed down and came to a stop. When only his head remained, Shadow leaned in and placed a hand-like appendage of pure Void on Freak’s face.

“What is it, little Phantom Lord? Scared?”

Those were the last words Freak heard before the world folded in on him.

They stared up into the infinite blackness and not a single one of the worlds that had been so close moments before remained. It took a few moments for the realization to settle in. They had won. The road to victory had been paved with many difficulties and near-misses, but they had made it to its end.

Jennifer was the first to break out of her post-victory daze when, after the briars released her, she noticed that the patch of nothingness that had consumed Freak was currently in the process of slowly devouring the obsidian floor tiles.

She called out: “Guys, we should probably make tracks.”

Before anyone could respond, the scenery around them had shifted and they found themselves in the re-fortified ruins within the Tower’s outer walls. The area around them teemed with activity. Shelter logistics personnel had moved in and was now ensuring that wounded soldiers received medical attention. Tower prisoners were held in temporary cells. According to the radio chatter the fighting was over, save for a few individual holdouts.

Some of their party were already recovering. Amanda stood off to the side, looking very small as she gazed up at the broken peak of the Tower. Steve’s eyes were open, but he couldn’t yet wake his body back up all the way. Rose, Urist, Voidblade and Tyron all showed signs of recovery, stirring, and groaning on the ground. Astro lay propped against a nearby wall, his head jerking this way and that as he muttered beneath his own breath. Kay continued to bleed from the gut as several medics took notice. Fire’s body, whether Peter or Claw had control, remained unresponsive in its shattered breastplate.

“That was rather sudden, Shadow,” commented Steve as he shakily returned to his feet with the help of Jennifer.

Shadow looked very satisfied with herself, her physical form still a mass of Void. The main difference to any point before was that now looking at her did not turn minds inside out, instead her dark form had something calming about it.

She replied: “It feels like I can finally breathe after spending my entire life in a musty cave. All this time the Entity or Freak were opposing me, now I don’t have to fight anymore to be myself.”

“Very good, welcome to the open air,” yawned Rose with a cat-like stretch and an unpleasant click of the back. She ran her fingers over the four red wounds Freak had left on her face and walked off toward a nearby supply chest. “Someone get me a potion.”

“Congratulations!” trilled Kir, more obviously impressed.

Tyron rolled onto his side and accompanied it with a pained thumbs up. He had one hand pressed against his nose, now considerably flatter since Freak punched him in it.

“Glad you’re feeling better,” he wheezed. Then, as a medic ran over and placed their glowing hands against his face. “Ooh, that’s the stuff.”

A portal opened in their midst and out stumbled an exhausted looking Veronica Mercury, still wearing her light powered armour. She looked around, quickly scanning each of the faces she was presented with.

She muttered to nobody in particular: “They really did it.”

Then, louder she said: “You really didn’t give me much time there, like… what? Thirty seconds maybe?”

Fire jolted awake after a Mencur-Besh administered him a particularly potent healing potion. He looked around, and after spotting Dr. Mercury he gave her an appreciative nod. “Thank you for assisting us.”

Voidblade then asked the question that many of them had: “Now that this is done, how do we get back to our worlds?”

Shadow responded: “I’ve got an idea or two.”

From one moment to the next Shadow’s eyes began intensely glowing. From her feet outwards, bright lines and runes began manifesting on the floor, spreading first slowly then faster and faster until they raced towards the horizon. The lines shifted, offshoots splitting away and knotting together into a bundle in the middle of the Tower’s courtyard. At their densest point, a brilliant ray of light shot up towards the sky. The column of light grew taller and brighter with each passing moment, reaching a stop at several meters in diameter. Off in the distance, more such pillars of light were visible in regular intervals.

Before anyone could ask what this was about, everyone simply knew. The pillars of light were portals that would take them back to their home world, or the closest fit, if there was no home world to return to.

“Woah,” said Amanda.

Shadow grinned, causing a bright rift to appear where her mouth normally was.

Astro’s muttering ceased and his half-open eyes settled on the injured Tyron, who still lay opposite him. He laughed, but halfway through it turned into a cough. Or the other way around.

“I take it we won,” Astro smiled.

“I think so,” answered the Dragoknight

“Who should I be thanking?” He squinted at the black skies above. “Shadow? Great work!”

Shadow shrugged. “Amanda was the one to flip the switch.”

Astro’s lips parted meaningfully, and he shifted his head over to the teenage girl.

“Thank you, Amanda.”

Amanda, who had returned to looking up at the Tower, glanced back over her shoulder. Gratitude flashed across her features, then was covered back up by the descent of her brows into sadness. She looked back up at the Tower. Unreality had begun to eat through the bronze outer walls, and creep down the edges. The swollen horizon seemed to be crumbling under its own weight.

Astro allowed his own attention to drift from her. He slid over Rathina and Seth rushing down to Tyron as Glowstar settled on a nearby rooftop. Rathina immediately dropped to the ground and lifted Tyron’s face to her own, embracing him.

Brad the Eye-and-Claws operative had made his way to Fire, reporting the capture of General Issa, who was currently being escorted out of the Tower alongside her civilian employees.

Then, Jennifer appeared in Astro’s field of view. She was helping Steve awkwardly pull his armour off without disturbing the massive bruises on his arms, only for Ozen and Drake to run in and collectively bear-hug him, causing the seasoned adventurer’s eyes to water with pain. Jennifer caught a glimpse of Wolfric calmly entering and made sure to playfully ruffle his hair.

Voidblade and Urist could next be seen talking with other soldiers of their unit, Urist much more enthusiastically than Voidblade but the difference was smaller than it would have been a few weeks ago. Rose uncomfortably sipped a healing potion behind them, still mustering her sly almost-smile despite the pain.

From behind the pillar of light emerged Lucy, having just come through the Tower’s outer gate. She wasted no time giving out hugs to everyone gathered, ending with Fire and Shadow, who she then urged to tell her the details of the battle against Freak. While Lucy stood and talked, Wodahs took over on hug duty, making full use of the many appendages she had available in her current state.

Over in a nearby square Astro saw a small crowd of figures forming. Dinnerbone sat on a nearby awning, strumming his ukulele without commitment and occasionally rubbing the wound on his forehead. The hunter chieftains showed off the many trophies they had won in battle. He spared a breathless nod to his own friends, bloodied but alright, as they slowly escorted the wounded Herobrine over to their location. The Blind Watcher boomed and thundered in joy, lavishing praises on his own and the Shelter’s leadership from afar, the Wraith hobbling slightly before the pack.

Astro wasn’t even that annoyed to see Vacar of Arcation trade boasts with Tauto Chrone of the Brotherhood in a fruitless attempt to impress Lupe and Kami. In the background of this little tableau, he saw a bemused Clarke testing the bindings on the wounded Glibby.

His eyes glid across Shadow, her Coven had found her and were in the process of somewhat awkwardly swarming her while still maintaining a respectful distance to their exalted leader. It seemed that Iridia, Pallas and Danann had made it out of the deeper sections of the tower, though Danann was currently missing an arm. Talita was at the very forefront, caught somewhere between reverence and smugness, and if Astro had to guess what she was saying, it probably was something along the lines of “See, I told you you were a god”.

Then, suddenly, a glimpse of a torn red scarf drew him straight to his feet. Suddenly he remembered the briar piercing Kay’s gut, pushing through the back, blood showering out of him. He ran across to where the medics treated him and began to flail around for a good look at his one-time friend’s face, or stomach, or anything. He heard voices in a tangle as medics tried to ask him to calm down, and others spoke to each other and somewhere in the midst of it all…

“...Again, very sorry about this, I should have seen the bloody thing sooner. Almost got Astro. Cost us the shades, I think… It was all quite fast-moving, you see.”

“Kay?”

“Astro?”

Kay gently brushed one of the medics aside as though he were opening a curtain. Astro looked away from his face and saw the skin on his stomach slowly knitting back together. One of them was even finally having a look at his leg after he’d refused to get it checked for so long. With slight annoyance Astro finally met his gaze.

“You’re alright, then?” he managed.

Kay’s lips curled into a smile.

“We both know the answer to that, but thanks for asking, despite everything.”

Astro felt an involuntary warmth and allowed himself to smile back.

Suddenly a hand clapped him on the shoulder.

“Lap Dog!” boomed Herobrine. “Fire tells me the training I gave you proved most helpful out there! Excellent work!”

He had one arm wrapped around Aaron, the other pressed against Fire’s shoulder. Fire seemed quite at ease, understandable since he lacked the innate cultural awe most people felt when interacting with Herobrine. Kay shuffled uncomfortably into a more upright position he considered more General-like.

“I’m not the one you should be thanking, master, I just did what you taught me. Astro expanded the playbook entirely, found a way to make shades from Freak’s nightmares.”

Herobrine’s fingers curled tightly around the Wizard’s shoulder, and his cocked his eye in admiration.

“Did you now?” Herobrine stroked his chin and smiled. “Well, we must chat about this some time, Wizard. You and your Guild have quite impressed me. Such ingenuity should not be spent carrying corpses in Acrisius.”

Astro’s entire mind seemed to explode outwards as he realised the implications. Aaron’s eyes widened until it looked like they might implode under their own weight. Was his exile ending?

“I - I don’t know to say…”

“Thank you, will suffice,” winked the Blind Watcher. He turned away, letting go of Aaron and steadying himself on Fire. “A shame about the corpses we must carry today, however.”

Lucy spoke up with some hesitation: “We were unable to get an accurate count, but more than two thirds of our forces are dead.”

A silence fell across the group.

Tyron raised Kir.

“To the fallen,” he said.

Everyone else raised their weapons and echoed him:

“To the fallen!” they called.

A more reverent silence fell across the group as they began to remember all those who had fallen, seen and unseen. That day and since the beginning of the conflict. Ozzy the Selvan; Moderator Viking; Lieutenant Raphoe; Besta of Arcation; countless Mencur-Besh, all merged for that day but who had all been individuals before it, and so many more… Warnado, the demon-sorcerer who had learned so much, and won so many of their hearts, only to be taken so suddenly and cruelly. From his perch on the awning, Dinnerbone suddenly squinted and began to count the members of the leadership on his fingers with considerable irritation.

“I hope there’s an afterlife here,” said Seth.

“Would that be good, though?” frowned Ozen. “Wouldn’t they, y’know, be in the wrong afterlife?”

“How alienating would that be?” said Steve. “I mean, even beyond the difficulty of potentially not seeing your loved ones, or at least, not the right version of them, you’d be dealing with a whole other conception of paradise or punishment or whatever. Unless, I suppose, there is one universal creator, or the Prophet’s adherents were right about the ‘gods of many worlds’ idea-”

Jennifer patted him affectionately on the head.

“-Getting a little high-concept there, sweetie.”

“Sorry,” Steve chuckled.

“That said,” Jennifer thought. “Can you do anything about that?”

She was looking at Shadow with a slight pleading.

Shadow replied quietly to avoid being heard by her worshippers: “Nexus does not have an afterlife, but all that means is that people’s ‘souls’ or equivalents are floating around somewhere in one of its outer planes. I suspect the Entity’s plan was to absorb them along with everything else, so not even the dead would go to waste.” After a slight pause, she continued: “But I think I can create something like an afterlife, not enough to house the dead forever, but sufficient to let them return to their worlds.”

For a moment Shadow appeared distracted, as if focusing on something that wasn’t there.

“I think I did it, you shouldn’t have felt that unless I did something terribly wrong.”

Jennifer said: “Didn’t feel a thing.”

Voidblade, with unexpected energy pointed to the portal and called out: “Look!”

Small motes of light were gathering in the upper sections, slowly gaining in intensity and once their glow was strong, submerging themselves in the beam. At first there were few, but gradually more and more motes appeared and soon a steady stream of them flowed into the portal. And soon, faces began to appear, visions of ecstasy as they were released from their captivity in Nexus. Humans, endermen, villagers, pigmen, a million peoples no one could name or recognise.

One of the motes ran past Steve, and for brief instant he could have sworn he saw Fristad’s face materialise and wink at him. A tear ran down his cheek and he squeezed Jennifer close to him. Lupe let out a startled, joyous laugh as she saw David swing by, sneering playfully. And for a faint moment, Kay and Fire exchanged a speechless look as a shape resembling the Prophet and his bodyguard stopped to offer them a respectful nod before passing on into the light. Shadow simply looked on in satisfaction, the visuals simply confirming what she already sensed.

They let the motes of light drift by for some time, appreciating them like a long-awaited snowfall. Until…

“I’m telling you, he’s alive!”

“No, no, you’re not doing this to me!”

It was Amanda, struggling against an excited-looking Dinnerbone, who had her by the arm.

“I can sense the Heroes, and he wasn’t there!”

“Then, where is he?”

“...I don’t know. I don’t think Warnado127 is in the dimension anymore. You said he exploded?”

“Yeah! In a cloud of demon-fire!” Amanda snapped. She choked out, “Just like his dad.”

“Okay, yeah, that doesn’t sound great…” Dinnerbone lifted his hat and frantically massaging his skull. “May… maybe it’s you, maybe you’re the real Hero of the Prophecy! I kind of get a Hero-ey vibe off you!”

“I’m not a part of your dumb prophecy!” she screamed. “I was there to help Helix, and now he’s gone!”

“Listen here, kid,” Dinnerbone yanked her by the arm. “You don’t know what that thing showed me!”

At that moment Kay moved in to push Dinnerbone back while Astro and Jennifer swept in to put an arm around the teenager’s shoulder.

“Cool it off, Bone,” called Herobrine.

Kay said, less diplomatically: “I swear I will rattle your bloody skull if you don’t back off right now.”

“I’m not going back with nothing!” Dinnerbone raised a fist emphatically.

Suddenly a dagger stuck into the wall between them. Rose glowered over from the side.

“Then go back with your life, while you still have it,” she warned.

Dinnerbone went very pale, then looked at Amanda and hung his head.

“I’m sorry.”

He backed off into the corner and began to tune his instrument. Herobrine came up and began to massage his shoulder reassuringly. Tyron and Kir also approached with some reluctant comfort.

Kay turned around.

“Amanda, I know I have no right after all I’ve done, but my offer to Helix stands, you are welcome back with me…”

Amanda was staring up at him in disbelief, mouth open and eyes narrowed. Unable to take the force of her reaction, Kay turned his head away.

Fire spoke up: “Kay, I know why you’re extending that offer and I know that at the bottom of it you mean well, but with what happened… and might still happen. It won’t work, not really.”

Kay nodded, then turned his eyes back to Astro. A ring of merciful, pitying wrinkles had formed around the Wizard’s eyes. He couldn’t bear to look at them much more than he could Amanda’s.

“My apologies, you’re absolutely right.”

Kay withdrew and looked up at the crumbling Tower, its branches folding in on themselves as the Void dismantled their dimensional structure. Astro blinked and cast his eyes over to the companionable sadness of the Guild, then looked back down at Amanda.

“You could come back with us,” he said.

She didn’t look up.

“Sure.” She shrugged off Jennifer and Astro. “Whatever.”

She took two steps forward, then turned back to hug Jennifer, crying openly. Rose came in tentatively and found Amanda gripping her even more tightly. Then, finally, she let go and pulled back. Her fingers shot to her face, then scraped the water from her cheeks.

“Okay,” she said. “Thanks, Astro, sounds good.”

She shot him a sincere smile, then walked into the Guild’s number. Secret put a hand on her shoulder and Tass began a tentative conversation that would inevitably cascade into torrential one-sided chatter within a few minutes.

Shadow turned to the rest and said: “We should probably think about going back to our worlds now, won’t be long until this place starts properly collapsing. I’m slowing it down, but Nexus is crumbling under its own weight.”

At that moment, Herobrine spoke up.

“Yes, we probably best. Come on Bone, Guild. Let’s rally the troops and head back home. I imagine the Shelter’s leadership want a few moments alone.” he walked up to Fire, “It has been an honour.” They shook hands.

The Blind Watcher then took his forces and left for another nearby portal. Dinnerbone smiled apologetically. Ozen and Wolfric bid farewell to Steve and Jennifer. Rathina briefly embraced Tyron, then went away with Seth and Glowstar. The Remaining followed with them, though Lupe briefly stopped.

“See you, friends,” she smiled wryly.

Kir trilled happily.

And so, they found themselves left alone. The ones who had found themselves in Nexus, scattered and confused. Who had fought their way through the Tower. Who had escaped their clutches at the village, founded the Shelter and fought a war for the freedom of all worlds. They who, ultimately, had won the day. They stood in silence.

Rose was the first to approach the portal. “Alright, it was nice doing this with you. Let’s see what changed in my world in the meantime. Doubt my old employer is still alive with me gone. Might open up some opportunities for me. Might try the whole cult leader thing myself, Shadow has certainly given me the taste for it. Maybe I’ll become immortal, who knows?”

“Rose,” Tyron groaned. “Please don’t become a cult leader.”

Rose laughed. “It’s a lot more normal in my world, still illegal though, but that never stopped anyone.”

Rose then lightly tossed a knife, which embedded itself in the ground at Amanda’s feet.

“There, I threw a stiletto for you. Satisfied now?” She said playfully, before walking straight ahead into the portal.

A few moments after Rose was gone, Voidblade slowly stepped forward, clearly intending to leave next.

“I think I know what awaits me back home, and I think with what I experienced I might be able to make a difference. There might be a chance at peace, maybe even at reconciliation.”

He patted Urist on the shoulder, then smiled with surprising sincerity at Lucy. He turned to look at Fire, the two simply exchanged a nod and soon after Voidblade disappeared into the portal as well.

It seemed like Urist was the next one to say goodbye. His previous enthusiasm drooped into melancholy as he thought on where he would go back to.

“It’s been an honour fighting with ye. Though I do na want tha return to me world. Shadow, can ye make it so this spits me out anywhere but home? Between before and now, I’ve had enough fighting an’ heartbreak.”

Shadow replied: “Calm, peaceful world it is then.”

“Thank ye.” Urist simply said, then too walked into the bright column of light.

Tyron stepped forward next, holding Kir flat across his palm. However, he didn’t go straight for the portal. Instead, he went up to Astro. A furry green hand landed on the wizard’s shoulder.

“Well, buddy, it’s been a ride.”

“It certainly has. But it looks like you’ve got your happy ending.”

“You don’t seem to have done too bad yourself.”

He squeezed Astro’s shoulder then tilted his head over to Amanda.

“I mean, you’re going back in great company.”

Amanda sniffled and managed a heartfelt smile. She came up and wrapped her arms around Tyron. She rested her hair against his breastplate and looked up into his luminous blue eyes.

“You don’t think I should go with Dinnerbone?”

“Not if you don’t. Do you?”

“No.”

“You owe Dinnerbone nothing,” agreed Kir. “Can’t hold you to Warnado’s duty.”

“Then, I’m going to need you to keep an eye on Astro for me. He’s a little old and silly, he’ll need someone to keep him out of trouble.”

Amanda nodded: “I think I can do that. Keep him away from all that ‘stupid tribal crap’ he keeps complaining about.”

Astro feigned outrage with an open mouth and Tyron laughed. The Dragoknight leaned down and kissed her on the crown of the head.

“Alright, I’ll speed it up a little bit. Steve and Jennifer, you know I love you guys. And you keep that beautiful little enderdragon safe. Lots of head-pats and treats for him!”

“Well, if we have to,” sighed Steve.

“Keep safe, Tyron,” smiled Jennifer. “I hope you and Rathina are very happy together.”

Tyron rounded on Fire, Lucy, and Shadow.

“Shadow, of all the people in the group who could have attained god-like power, I’m glad it was you.”

Shadow replied with a chuckle: “Talita just left me alone Tyron, don’t start with the god talk. But thank you, I’ll try to make the best of it.”

“I’m sure you will,” Tyron reassured her warmly, then approached Fire.

He held out his hand.

“Fire, thanks for everything. You were the second-best commander the Shelter ever had.”

“Was close contest.”

“Not just of the Shelter, but the Tower too, thanks to Claw.” Fire paused, having suddenly realized something. “In hindsight, the Prophet saying that I’d command the forces of life and death makes a lot more sense now.”

“Don’t dwell on it, big guy,” Tyron clapped him on the arm. “You came through when we needed you.”

“Did what heroes do,” Kir chirped supportively.

He turned to Lucy, pointing an accusatory finger.

“And you, don’t think I’ve forgotten about you!”

He reared up, forcing a scowl. Then he shrank back down and chuckled.

“You are the most scarily productive person I’ve ever met. Please, promise me you’ll get some rest once this is all over.”

“It’ll be the first thing I do. I might not have been in combat, but it sure feels like I was. The only reason I am awake right now is because I want to spend some more time with everyone.”

“I forget to mention that you are the sweetest person in the multiverse. Never change that. It’s been a pleasure knowing you.”

He drew her in for a brief hug, then stepped back. He cast his eyes around the group, then finally they came to rest on Kay. The General had his eyes averted, cracking his fingers. He looked timidly up.

“Kay,” said Tyron. “I’m going to miss our heart-to-hearts.”

Tears flooded the General’s eyes, and he ran forward to hug Tyron. There was a loud crash as their breastplates connected and they struggled to stay upright. Tyron cackled in surprise and patted him on the back. Then, just as suddenly as it had begun, Kay withdrew, swiftly drying his eyes.

“Thank you being my friend, Tyron.”

Tyron didn’t say anything for a bit.

He ultimately settled on a calm: “Stay safe, Kay.”

“Never stop trying,” elaborated Kir.

Tyron walked up to the pillar of light and reached out a hand to touch it. He cast one look back, and a smile spread across his face one last time.

“I’ll never forget this.”

He closed his eyes and fell forward. The light engulfed him. He was gone.

Kay cleared his throat and stepped out, rubbing his eyes as he did so.

“I’ll try and keep this brief. Steve, Jennifer, Astro, Amanda, Fire, Shadow, and Lucy, I’ve treated you all abominably from start to finish. No apology I can offer will make up for that, so I shall endeavour to prove it by action. Hopefully by the time the next Astro is kidnapped and taken to Nexus, we shall see a better run of things.”

A tear ran down his right cheek and another began to well in his left eye.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me…”

He nodded awkwardly, then turned toward the portal. A shield formed in front of him.

“No,” Astro said. “Not letting you away with that.”

Shadow explained: “You can’t leave through this portal either, you are from a different time, so you need to go through the one you entered Nexus from. I will take you there once it’s time.”

“Ah,” Kay said. “In that case, I suppose I should get a little more specific.”

Shadow closed her eyes and began to scan for the portal matching Kay’s signature in the rapidly crumbling world of Nexus. Kay, meanwhile, shambled up to Steve and Jennifer, gritting his teeth and readjusting his hair.

“I’m sorry I tried to kill you in order to get into the Tower’s good graces.”

“That’s okay,” Jennifer sighed. “You were just as confused as us.”

“And about the failings in my plans that led to Fristad being out in the open, and the infantry being caught off guard by the Tower’s Endlings.”

“You couldn’t have accounted for everything,” Steve forced himself to admit. “Fristad in particular wasn’t your fault, I was just… grief is a funny thing.”

“And about sending poor Raphoe to threaten you.”

“Less excusable,” Jennifer said.

“Yeah, that was pretty messed up.”

“And trying to separate you so as to be able to better control Steve, and for teaming up with the Book, and letting it try to kill you both, and for-”

“-You can stop, Kay,” said Steve.

“Apologies really don’t begin to cover any of that,” Jennifer maintained.

Kay nodded tremulously. The two adventurers before him had shifted from uneasiness into steely determination. This was a bridge he had burned and attempts to ford the river completely would not be looked on kindly.

“I know. What I really want to say is, you were both an asset to the team. I enjoyed shooting the breeze with you in the village, Steve. And Jennifer, you walk a line between practicality and simple kindness that I wish I could replicate. I wish you both the absolute best.”

He hung his head and began to walk away. Steve and Jennifer frowned, then exchanged a look. Their features softened.

“The officer’s lounge was a good idea,” conceded Steve. “A lot of good memories in that place.”

More hesitantly, but no less sincerely, Jennifer added: “And thanks for pulling that dream voodoo on Freak, you got us out of a jam there.”

Kay stopped. He turned his head, meeting Jennifer’s gaze. He then flicked his eyes over to Steve.

“Thanks.”

He went up to Fire. He opened his mouth, but words wouldn’t come. His tongue rolled uselessly around. As he looked into the Mencur-Besh’s red eyes, he realised how wide-ranging it all was. Specific instances, general attitudes, too much and too little to weave together. And yet, he had forgiven him time and time again, ever-patient and ever-worthy of respect. Once more, he threw himself on Fire’s mercy:

“I really am sorry about the door I broke,” he managed. “And of course, the - the reason I broke it.”

“Can’t change much about the fact you tried to kill me, but at least you went about it in a way that didn’t force me to shoot you. If I had, we probably wouldn’t be standing here, you being alive did enable us to get Herobrine on our side after all.”

Kay swallowed and it felt like gravel. He deserved that.

“That is a fair response… I have a knack for dressing up ugly situations with pretty words,” he said. “I’m sorry I tried to kill you and thank you for allowing me to continue to help in what ways I still could. You were a venerable leader, and the most patient man I’ve ever met.”

“For lack of a better word, knowing you has certainly been interesting, Kay. I wish you the best for what’s ahead of you.”

Kay averted his gaze and stifled a desperate smile of gratitude. He brushed past Shadow, toward Lucy.

“Shadow, I’ll say to you on the way out. Lucy, thank you for your diligence. I should have trusted you better, it was entirely pettiness, would have saved Astro a lot of stress as well.”

Lucy replied: “I… might have lost some sleep over the whole situation back then. In a way I’m glad it’s cleared up.”

She fell silent after that.

Kay moved on to the last two, the ones he’d dreaded the most. He came to a stop before Astro and Amanda. He forced himself to look up.

“What I did to Helix was unforgivable. If I hadn’t built him up and then betrayed him like that, he’d still be alive…” He wiped his red, raw cheeks with his scarf. “Thank you for trusting my friends, I assure you they’re much better than me.”

“Sure.”

She said it simply, coldly, and then went back to lean against a nearby wall. She looked at Astro who gave her a pained look which said, ‘whatever you have to say, no one will judge you’. She sighed.

“You’re a parasite, Kay. You choose people because you know they’re better than you, and you leech off their goodness. If you want to change things so much, to be better, just leave them alone. Have a nice life.”

She began to fiddle with her crossbow, and Jennifer came up to put a hand on her shoulder. Kay’s heart felt like it was fit to burst from agony. Agony he knew he had earned. He bowed his head, scrunched up his eyes and turned to Astro. He opened his mouth…

“I’m really going to miss you, Kay.”

His eyes shot open. His breath stopped. Astro’s face was covered in a sad smile. A tear ran down his cheek. His arms spread wide. Kay took him and held him tightly.

“I swear to you, I shall do everything in my power to change things,” Kay promised.

Astro clapped him on the back and broke off the hug. His smile was unbroken. Tears streamed down both of their faces.

“You know how much I want to believe that, Kay.”

Kay put his face in his hand and rubbed intensely. His fringe had separated into strands on his forehead. His cheeks remained redder than ever. He threw his arms wide and turned his eyes to the infinite, black sky.

“Alright, Shadow, I’m ready.”

Nothing happened for several moments. Kay looked at Shadow with a mixture of expectancy and apology.

“We will go once everyone else has departed.” She said.

“Oh,” said Kay. “Alright.”

He drew aside a little deflated, though reminded himself that it had been presumptuous. After all, it would have interfered with Shadow’s ability to say goodbye. He cursed himself that little bit more.

Steve stifled some derisive laughter and approached Fire. Jennifer went up to Amanda.

“Thanks for everything, Fire,” Steve said, offering his hand.

Fire took the hand offered. “Likewise, Steve. I’m glad to have had you and Jennifer at my side.”

“We were glad to be there,” he turned to Lucy. “Sorry we never got to finish our D&E campaign.”

“That’s okay, we had fun with the one session we had. It had a good conclusion if you ask me.”

Lastly, to Shadow: “Hey, thanks for quoting that poem. I really need to start reading more.”

Shadow replied: “Glad it helped, I read it a long time ago, but the concept stuck with me.”

Meanwhile, Jennifer stooped down and clapped Amanda on the shoulder.

“Hey, you’re sure you’re going to be okay out there?”

“I will, Jennifer. Stay safe.”

They hugged, and as Jennifer disengaged, she took Astro by the sleeve.

“And you, be a little less harsh on yourself, okay? You’re a good guy, don’t be afraid to remember that every now and then.”

He beamed like an excited child.

“It’s a deal.”

Jennifer and Steve broke off and approached the Portal. The light glimmered before them, bathing their features, and reducing them to silhouettes. Their hands touched.

“I’m glad I knew you people,” said Steve.

And in a flash, they were gone.

Amanda walked over to the portal, continuing to fiddle with her rockets and crossbow. Astro approached the others, shooting respectful nods to both Fire and Lucy. His wide grin had settled into a satisfied incline of the lips. He stopped before Shadow and stooped down to hug her. She stabilised her form as he did so, looking effectively normal for the time being.

“It’s been really nice talking to a mage on my level,” he said into her white hair. “Well, miles above my level, but you know what I mean.”

“The feeling is mutual, Astro. I just wish that we could have avoided what the whole Coven situation did to our friendship.”

“The Coven certainly made things worse, but I’d already screwed it up with my own stupid bitterness and suspicion. I’m sorry, I should have been there for you when the Entity got Fire.”

He shot an apologetic look at Fire.

“And thank you, Shadow, for letting me back in after all that.”

“I’m glad it worked out in the end, despite everything.”

Astro grunted and drew himself up with difficulty.

“And of course, Fire, thank you for your leadership. Lucy, thank you for your tireless work.”

He looked back over at Amanda expectantly. She raised the crossbow and fired a rocket into the air. Golden sparks rained down. Looking at the falling sparks seemed to re-energise her, and she managed a smile.

“Fire,” she said. “Tell the Lady I say hi.”

“I’m sure I’ll meet her in due time, we have a lot of things to talk about.”

“Oh, I’m sure you do, like, uh, when you’re taking her out for a proper dream-date. You guys would be really cute together.”

Shadow stifled a giggle and nodded in agreement. Fire simply shook his head with a smile, clearly amused by the prospect.

Astro exchanged a final meaningful look with Kay, and then went up to Amanda. He let his hand fall on her shoulder, perhaps to guide her, perhaps asking to be led. He looked and felt dreadfully old.

“Shall we?”

She wordlessly stepped forward. The portal flashed, and they were gone.

Lucy approached Dr. Mercury, who up until now had been watching from the sidelines. “I hear you’re going with Fire and Shadow to their world?”

Dr. Mercury replied: “Seeing as my own world no longer exists, it’s one of the few good options I have left.”

Lucy briefly contemplated, then turned to Fire. “Would it be alright if I came along too? I’m in a similar situation, no world to return to. From what you’ve told me your world would be a lovely place to live.”

Fire barely waited for her to stop speaking, as if he had waited for her to ask. “Of course, you can come with us, it’s the least I can do. After all, I did show up at your door and took you on a grand adventure simply because I had a good feeling about you.”

Lucy’s smile widened. “So, let’s go!”

As they turned towards the portal, Shadow said: “After I take Kay to his time, I’ll stay behind in Nexus to make sure it collapses fully. I won’t be long, time flows quickly here.”

That was all she needed to say, Fire, Lucy and Dr. Mercury fully turned towards the portal and passed into the bright beam of light. Now only Shadow and Kay stood within the Tower’s walls.

“So, just us…,” Kay said, frowning. “Shadow, I would… like to apologise. I used half-legitimate concerns about your abilities to justify antagonising you when we should have been working together. It was motivated by lust for power, habitual paranoia, and what can only be described as a rather pedestrian bitchiness. For what it’s worth, I am deeply sorry.”

Right after Kay finished speaking, the environment around them shifted. They now stood in a great canyon made from red sandstone, their feet almost immediately sunk into the sand as they landed. A waterfall cascaded nearby, though the lake into which it fell had crumbled away into the infinite black. Within touching distance of them was yet another portal, visually identical to all the others, but this one would lead Kay home. Not just to his world, but also to his time.

Shadow replied: “I’ve already said what I thought about your royal escapade, I don’t think there is a need to repeat it now, especially since I’m about to send you off and never see you again. Kay, you have done a lot of bad things in your time here, but also some good ones, and I can’t ignore that. You are a thoroughly complicated person, but I think you know that best yourself.”

Kay scoffed.

“I wish I could say I understand myself much better.”

He sauntered up to the edge of the collapsed lake and looked into the Void.

“Shadow, I’m not going to pretend I’m in a position to advise anyone anymore, but please believe me when I say I’m worried for you.”

“I somehow doubt that, but go on.”

He kicked a stone off the edge and into the pit.

“That level of power… I held only a fraction of what you have now and all it made me want was more. More power meant more control after a long time of feeling like I could control nothing. Now, you seem to have gotten your powers back under control by gaining uncontested control of Nexus... Am I making sense? Probably not. Just, as advice from a man who did it all wrong: let it end here. Please.”

He lifted a hand to his face and Shadow got the impression that he had started crying again.

Shadow thought for a moment. “No, I can see where you are going with this, but this is only the beginning for me. Though, we are similar in one respect, we are both in conflict with fate. My battle has been going on for a long time, though I did not realize that until recently. As for your battle, it begins the moment you step through that portal. Whatever you did and will do, I wish you luck fighting fate.”

Kay exhaled deeply and then turned. He offered his hand to Shadow with an echo of his old pomp.

“I wish you luck as well. Here’s to our eventual victory over fate!”

“We can both hope for that.” Shadow said.

She then took his hand and gently, but firmly pushed Kay towards the portal. He did not resist, and moments later Shadow was alone in the canyon, perhaps alone in Nexus.

While Glibby and the surrendered endermen were being restrained, Shadow gathered her Coven. They were about to descend into the science-focused section of the Tower’s underground, where the density of the anti-magic lamps was much higher than anywhere else.

She gave her instructions: “Danann, Iridia, Pallas. You will each command a third of the mages we have here, your main task will be to sweep any side rooms and corridors we come across. From what Fire told us there should not be as many lamps in the rooms compared to the corridors, few enough to overwhelm with a focused effort. I’m less debilitated by magic suppression, so I will accompany the main martial force on their push.”

The Coven mages answered with a united “Yes Master!” and divided themselves into three groups. Some Vanillan mages joined them as well, but others seemed to prefer going with the push force.

Only a moment later, Fire walked up to her, still visibly reeling from the battle. This had been way too close for comfort.

He said: “I expected a lot of things from Glibby, but not for him to throw me across the room. Whatever strength potion he is on, it can’t be safe.” A flask appeared in Fire’s hand. “Speaking of…”

One after the other, Fire downed several potions, strength, speed, resistance, and several others. He finished with a healing potion that sent a violent jolt through his limbs, restoring him back to fighting shape.

As they walked towards the staircase, Kay approached Shadow.

“Shadow, I know I’m the wrong person to say this but…” He cleared his throat and rolled his shoulders. “Are you holding back? That guy was crazy for sure and Thaumaturges are tough, but they’re also just tough. He was not in your weight class.”

He suddenly didn’t seem to know what to do with his hands, stroking his chin, then scratching his head before settling on planting them on his hips.

Shadow stopped, contemplating. “Back at the Shelter I tried using Void magic, and it seems that now with the Entity gone any damage I do to reality is permanent. But that’s not really it. I… suppose I have been holding back. Making absolutely sure not to hit any of our people would be what I’d like to call the reason, but that’s not it entirely either.”

She was not entirely sure when it happened, but somehow, she had developed a sort of mental block, the kind that is only possible when someone’s magic is as interwoven with their existence as hers was. What was it? Was she afraid? Shadow clenched her fists, now was not the time for hesitation, she was an ascended archmage, a far cry from the scared little girl she had been at the start of her life!

With renewed resolve Shadow turned to Kay, demonstratively sending a wave of luminescence across the runes in her skin.

“No more holding back from now on. We need to see this through.”

Kay hesitated a moment, running a tongue along his teeth, then a grin exploded across his face. Shadow could tell it wasn’t wholehearted, though. It was the same grin he used back during the election.

“I’m glad to hear it, Shadow,” he said. “Hit them hard.”

They continued towards the staircase, joined by Tyron, Rathina, Amanda and Warnado. Shadow threw a look at her apprentice, he responded in kind.

Warnado said: “Let’s go, we have Tower butts to kick!”

He started shadowboxing as they moved on. In the corner of her eye, she saw Tyron swallow a laugh as he recognized the moves he taught the demon-child.

And with that, they descended the staircase. Down at the bottom the battle was already in full swing. A row of earth Mencur-Besh pushed itself through the hallway, then splitting apart to make room so the other Shelter soldiers could aid them in the attack. Shadow immediately felt the heavy magic suppression field projected by the lamps, three to five of them were affixed to each segment of the corridor wall.

Their group surged forward to join the battle, Tyron and Fire at the forefront, cutting down any Tower troops in their way, Rathina, Warnado and Amanda weren’t far behind. The malleable blade flowed into Shadow’s hand, taking the shape of a long dagger and she joined as well. Almost immediately she was locked in battle with a Tower soldier several heads taller than her, but the difference in size only amounted to Shadow having a better angle to stab through gap in the soldier’s armour.

Then, for just a moment Shadow felt the oppressive aura of the lamps disappear, only for it to immediately return, but before it did, a surge of lightning cascaded across a group of Tower soldiers. A quick look confirmed her suspicions. The Mencur-Besh mages were casting synchronous spells to temporarily overwhelm the lamps and using the gaps to attack. She’d be ready for the next one.

More and more enemies fell to their onslaught, three cloven apart by Fire’s zweihander here, two more executed by demonfire weapons there, several more trampled underfoot by the Shelter troops’ relentless advance.

The others flashed into view around her in a swirl of battle. Warnado put his hand on Amanda’s shoulder, allowing her to fell a giant with an endless stream of aethereal bolts. Kir trilled with excitement as Tyron disarmed an officer. Kay brandished his sword atop a fallen lamp, ushering on the hunters and his handful of remaining loyalists. Lupe stood back-to-back with Komplex, the Brotherhood fighter with two swords and a diamond skin, shredding their way through a particularly dense knot of Tower soldiers.

Shadow felt a shift in the ambient energy, the lamps would fail in a few moments. She catapulted herself into the air, then once the window arrived, let loose a wide-sweeping disintegration ray.

After a while, the enemy reinforcements became a trickle and then dried up completely. Room after room was secured by her Coven mages, several times there had been a Tower mage waiting in ambush among groups of civilian personnel, but just as often had the civilians decided to take the intercom announcement to heart, and quite literally kicked the partisan mages out of the door.

Ahead of them the corridor widened almost to the size of a cathedral, at its end sat an absolutely massive circular gate comprised of several interlocking segments, like the aperture of an oversized camera. Off to the left was the inactive frame of an equally large portal, according to Fire any sensitive off-world materials deliveries were shipped directly into this part of the Tower without going through external portal facilities. This also explained the behemoth of a gate, it made sure that anything that went further did so because it was allowed to.

Fire said: “The opening mechanism is on the other side. Can you tell us if there is anything guarding it, Shadow?”

Shadow expanded her senses beyond the door. She had expected an assortment of Tower soldiers, but that was not what she saw. Instead, the other side of the gate was packed to the brim with zombies and skeletons. There were no magic-suppressing lamps, or any other light source on the other side. She could engage the mechanism magically, but another fight would break out immediately after.

She said: “There’s an army of undead on the other side. We should take a few minutes before we open it.”

Coven mages fanned out, providing healing to anyone who needed it. Despite their clear victory, they had taken losses as well, nowhere near as many as during the battle outside, but a combination of fatalities and troops staying behind to secure their retreat had diminished their numbers significantly. Nonetheless, the soldiers they had left were of elite quality, and were currently taking up defensive positions.

“Ready?” She asked.

Shadow was met with series of nods and raised thumbs. She reached out beyond the gate and flipped the switch. With a hissing sound the gate’s arms disengaged their interlocking mechanism and very slowly slid apart. The moment the arms were far enough apart, undead already tried forcing their way through, slowly at first but as the gaps widened the horde came streaming in.

Warnado stood at the forefront, wielding an oversized demonfire chainsaw in each hand, cackling uncontrollably as he dismembered undead after undead. Even with his enthusiasm, the dead were too numerous to be easily pushed back. They crashed into their ranks, clumsily grabbing, and biting at whomever they could reach. The undead mercifully did not leave behind corpses, instead disappearing into puffs of smoke as they died again.

The Shelter troops held fast, the combined strength of their soldiers and mages allowed them to slowly advance further into the corridor. Sadly, it was never that easy. Shadow soon felt the presence of more lamps, and a look ahead confirmed her feeling. Further towards the back of the undead host were skeletons with magic suppressing lamps chained to their ribcages. Next to them walked, not shuffled, skeletons equipped with tower shields and spears. It became clear that the mindless horde was only the vanguard.

The moment they lost the support of their mages, they were pushed back. Shadow didn’t have to think twice to know what this meant, she needed to do something, or they’d all be dead. She took a wide stance and commanded her robes to change shape. As comfortable as their normal form was, what she was about to do required significantly more leg freedom than they allowed. Her pitch-black robes quickly morphed into brilliant-white gi, a slightly-darker-than-should-be-possible belt wrapped around her waist as a finishing touch.

If she understood the lamps correctly, they could only suppress magic that was out in the open, otherwise her magic-powered muscles would have failed the moment she stepped foot in the Tower, now it was time to find out just how far she could push this loophole. Shadow launched herself forward into the undead horde, throwing a punch at the first zombie she encountered, the moment her fist connected she pushed as much energy as she could into the contact surface. A shockwave exploded outwards from the impact point, tearing through the zombie and several standing behind it.

With practiced movements she flowed from undead to undead, delivering explosive punches and kicks as she went. Wodahs assisted where she could, but due to the poor lighting conditions, she was unable to do more than crush the occasional skull during the bright flashes of the explosions. Behind Shadow, Shelter forces began pushing back against the undead, immediately filling the gaps she created, leaving no room for the undead to form large groups. Warnado revved his chainsaws with renewed vigour and followed shortly behind Shadow, cutting up anything that wasn’t outright destroyed by her.

As Shadow advanced, she encountered more resilient undead, zombies wearing diamond armour, the skeletons with tower shields. Some of them did not go down in one hit, requiring multiple focused attacks, despite the explosive force. They were guarding the lantern skeletons, naturally. Instead of fighting the tougher undead head-on, Shadow leapt up and forwards, directly on course to the cause of their problems. The first lantern skeleton was crushed beneath the force of her impact, multiple more fell soon after. With quick punches the lanterns shattered, and the crystals contained in them were turned to dust.

Just as Shadow stood up to continue her rampage, she realized that while she had been crushing the lanterns, the tower shield skeletons had surrounded her. Several spears pierced through her torso. Unfortunately for the skeletons, this did very little actual harm to Shadow.

She quipped: “Fire had the right idea. It really isn’t a fight until I get impaled by something.”

The skeletons, entirely unfazed by her comment, simply held their spear in place. Shadow brough her foot down on the ground hard, unleashing an explosion that rocked the walls, shattering both her assailants and their spears. Shadow wasted no time in pushing further into the horde towards the next group of lantern skeletons. However, it turned out that this set would prove to be a little more challenging. Instead of the normal-sized zombies that guarded the previous group, this one was guarded by a hulking giant of a zombie, its arms were long enough to simply swat her out of the air if she tried her previous manoeuvre again.

Before engaging, she took another look behind her, the Shelter forces were faring much better, now that the first set of lanterns was destroyed. Fire swung his zweihander in wide, flaming arcs, cutting down undead by the dozen, right next to him was Tyron, using Kir to attack while shielding himself with his stone wings. Shadow turned forwards and delivered several quick punches to clear the way towards her target, the shockwaves sending the lesser undead flying.

The giant zombie swung at her with surprising speed, Shadow did not evade the punch, instead meeting it with her own. The force of the explosion blew the zombie’s hand backwards and even made Shadow lose her balance for a moment, preventing her from capitalizing on the situation. Before returning to her foe, Shadow first had to clear out the horde that was rapidly closing in around her. Each stomp only bought her a few seconds before new undead replaced the ones she had just killed. She needed full access to her magic back, and fast.

Her next punch did not create an explosion, instead a shower of white mist erupted from the impact point, freezing several undead solid. That was the key, as long as they did not die, they would not disappear. Shadow rapidly threw more punches, creating a solid wall of frozen flesh and bones around her. The undead behind the wall began climbing but were slowed down significantly. Shadow ran up to the giant zombie, the moment she got close enough it threw another heavy punch at her. This time she leapt over the decaying fist, landed on it, and ran up its arm, each step creating an area of necrotic ice.

The zombie was unable to react when Shadow froze its head with a chop to its neck. It was not dead, but now Shadow was in a prime position to destroy the next lanterns. Moments later, the skeletons lay shattered in a cloud of purple dust.

“Alright, now for you.” Shadow murmured as she turned back around to face the giant zombie.

She launched herself upwards to deliver a high kick to the zombie’s frozen head. The resulting shockwave completely vaporized the zombie’s body and carried on upwards until it reached the ceiling, which promptly collapsed in on itself, the debris crushing many undead where it fell. Instead of revealing a layer of rock, the hole in the ceiling lead to a wide-open room, which prominently featured a glowstone chandelier. It looked suspiciously like an arena. Only moments later the unmistakable lamenting screams of agitated ghasts echoed throughout the hallway.

From a distance she heard Kay call out: “Oh Mods! I hoped I’d never see that place again.”

Tyron yelled: “We breached their Dangerous Containment area, prepare for more mobs!”

And just that moment a group of seven blazes descended down the freshly torn hole, sparks already flying off their rapidly rotating rods, quickly developing into fireballs.

Now again in full possession of her magic, Shadow flew upwards and back to the main battle line. While she could definitely wreak havoc now, her first priority was preventing additional casualties. The relentless barrage of blaze fireballs harmlessly bounced off a shield Shadow projected, instead shooting towards the undead horde, creating small explosions where they impacted.

Shadow commanded her Coven: “Go on the offensive, I will take care of shielding!”

She did not have to say it twice, Danann immediately levitated upwards and began his own barrage of fireballs, Iridia followed up with a series of electrical discharges directed at the blazes, which proved to be both highly conductive and highly vulnerable to electricity.

A ghast descended through the hole in the ceiling, but Wolfric promptly shot it down with a magic-enhanced arrow, the only fireball it managed to shoot was deflected by Tyron and sent off into the far reaches of the corridor.

They soon had pushed up far enough that one of their fast-builders was able to pillar up and plug the hole in the ceiling, allowing them to focus on the undead hordes once again. Said hordes had only gotten stronger as time went on, while there were still plenty of weak undead around, a significant number of them had been replaced by armed and organized skeleton soldiers.

Off in the distance Shadow saw the purple light of a lone lantern and decided to take care of it before it would become a problem. She landed in preparation for having her flight cut off and traversed the sea of bodies in multiple long and quite literally explosive leaps. When she got closer, she was surprised that it was not a skeleton carrying the lantern this time, this lantern was carried by a man, though with his withered face he could have passed for a zombie, were it not for the fact that his skin was not green. As soon as he spotted her, he immediately put down the lantern on the ground next to him and instead raised his fists. Two rings of disembodied, pale, slimy hands began to rotate around his robed form.

He called out: “You! You wanna throw hands? Cuz I’ll throw HANDS!”

Shadow had no time for this man’s gimmick, instead of replying she simply ran forward and punched him in the torso. The explosive force immediately scattered his limbs in all directions, only his head fell down in place. Shadow crushed the lantern underfoot.

Just before his miserable existence was ended by a disintegration ray, the man’s disembodied head muttered: “Damn… she got hands.”

With the last lantern shattered, the Shelter troops redoubled their efforts and pushed forward. Suddenly Shadow felt a strong magical signature ahead, a green glow flared up in the distance. Far back in the corridor now floated a skeleton with glowing, green eyes wearing a dark cloak and a weathered iron crown. In its right hand was an obsidian staff, at the tip of which a glowing green cube hovered. The skeleton’s other hand was raised like a claw, as if clutching some invisible object.

Shadow had been around for long enough to know a lich when she saw one, and even if this one might operate by different rules than the ones she was used to, it certainly was not to be taken lightly.

A raspy laugh echoed throughout the corridor, the lich clasped its hand shut, and in a shower of embers, five skeletons with shields and spears appeared, reinforcing the horde.

Shadow’s Coven had moved forward in the ranks and were now actively bombarding the undead with spells. A fireball found its way towards the lich, but instead of striking it, the flames were absorbed into the glowing cube at the tip of the staff.

Danann called out to his fellow mages: “It’s absorbing the spells, don’t shoot it!”

Shadow yelled: “Focus on the horde, I’ll take care of the lich!”

She soared through the air, rapidly approaching the lich. Upon closer examination, there was a faint distortion in the air around it, a physically protective shield if Shadow interpreted its magical signature correctly. To test this theory, she yanked the skull off a skeleton she flew past and hurled it at the lich with full force. As expected, the skull was stopped and a pulse of green flashed across the shield.

Strong enough that I can’t break it with brute force, not without Void magic. Shadow thought.

When the lich didn’t take any immediate action to fight her, Shadow took the opportunity to speak.

“So, you’re one of the Tower’s off-world allies. I assume you’re not interested in surrender like the Ape?”

The lich replied: “I slew a whole world's worth of heroes, I slew the sun, you will not stand in my way.”

Shadow sighed. It was always the same with these arch-villain types, though at least this one at least had the courtesy of being forward with its intentions.

The lich swung its sceptre and the green cube at its tip seemingly split in two, the copy flew at Shadow at high speed, taking her by surprise and striking her in the leg. Bones shattered and muscles tore, leaving the leg hanging limply. She’d fix it later, there were more pressing matters.

Shadow unleashed a barrage of energetic orbs on the undead surrounding her, if she couldn’t fight the lich directly, she would do her best to thin the horde, maybe the shield would weaken if the staff’s energy was used to summon more undead.

Another green cube came flying in Shadow’s direction, but this time she was prepared, projecting a shield of her own, dissipating the blast. Another swathe of undead fell before her. The lich raised its hand and dozens more armoured undead appeared from thin air. Shadow felt no change in the shield’s energy, either she was wrong, or this was not enough.

The Shelter forces were drawing closer by the second, Kay and the hunters had pushed far into the undead horde, but before he could get the idea to launch another suicidal attack, they were joined by several Mencur-Besh.

Shadow gathered a ball of compact fire between her palms and sent it towards a dense group of undead, which was promptly reduced to ashes. More embers, more reinforcements, still no change in the shield. However, it seemed that the lich was no longer content with his passive role, with a flash of green, several identical copies appeared everywhere throughout the horde. The copies were not shielded, but apparently possessed full offensive capabilities. A barrage of green cubes went flying towards the Shelter troops.

Some missed their mark, others were absorbed by shields, but most of them struck true. Each hit enough to dismember, if not outright kill. Several of their frontline troops, among them at least one Mencur-Besh, were killed. The undead horde surged forward to exploit this newfound weakness.

Shadow grit her teeth. Two could play at that game. She summoned up projections of herself all over the room. Just like the lich’s copies, they did not possess the resilience of the original, but they were enough. Several projections swarmed each lich, attacking and blocking its shots. Shadow continued her assault on the horde in the meantime. Fireballs, lightning, wither magic, disintegration rays, every offensive spell she had.

Gradually she noticed a change, as the lich summoned more undead and created copies of itself the shield remained the same, but the frequency of its attacks lowered, it was clearly being pushed to the edge of its capabilities. The Shelter forces had pushed forward almost to Shadow’s position. With the lich this close, it became more difficult for her mages to protect against the incoming cubes.

Shadow saw Danann float upwards to get a better angle, just before he was about to cast his spell, a green cube struck him in the chest. Blood sprayed out as his arm and a good part of his shoulder were ripped from his body. He immediately dropped downwards in shock. He was barely caught by Iridia, who immediately projected a shield sphere and desperately tried to stop the bleeding. Shadow lost sight of the two when a group of earth Mencur-Besh pushed their way through the undead.

The lich was straining, maybe now was the time to try to break through its shield. But Shadow would need more than her fists if she wanted to exert enough force.

She yelled: “Fire!”

Her brother replied: “Yes?”

“Give me your sword!”

Without hesitation, Fire tossed his zweihander in Shadow’s direction and immediately resumed his attack on the horde with his claws. Shadow caught the sword telekinetically and gripped it firmly. The damn thing was twice her size and probably weighed as much as she did, but such physical limitations were for those without a way around them.

Magic surged into Shadow’s muscles, steadying the zweihander. She swooped downwards towards the lich, winding up for a huge swing. The blade connected with the shield, a radiant wave of green rippled across its surface, but it held. When the lich shot another of its cubes at Shadow, she took a page out of the late Ender’s book and teleported, using the previous momentum of the sword to prepare another swing. Another impact on the shield, another wave of green light.

Shadow attacked again and again, each time the shield turned a bit opaquer, but its integrity held. While plummeting downwards again, Shadow examined the shape of the shield now that it was visible. That was when she finally saw it. The shield protected the lich, but for it to be able to cast spells, the cube at the tip of the staff needed to be outside of the shield. Shadow put all her strength into her swing, but as the zweihander collided with the shield, she let go. The reaction force catapulted it into the horde, impaling three zombies together as it impacted. Shadow reached out towards the cube, her left hand clasping down around it.

“Nice staff.” She taunted the lich as her fingers dug into the cube, which shattered moments later in a violent explosion of emerald sparks.

Shadow’s left arm was in a similar state to her leg, hanging down uselessly, but she only needed one arm for what came next. She delivered a devastating strike to the now unprotected lich, a second explosion ringing out as she made contact.

The moment the lich’s bones were scattered through the room, it seemed like the horde lost some of its cohesion, now no longer commanded by the lich’s unifying will. Within minutes, the Shelter troops had wiped out the remaining undead.

After they had made sure that there were no more enemies near, they regrouped. Shadow took that time to repair the damage to her body she had sustained during the fight, which thanks to Nexus’ energy density went quickly, back home the same would have taken her days.

This time Warnado was the first to approach her. He grinned. “Wow, Shadow. You went through at least three different anime character archetypes in just a few minutes. Didn’t know you could fight like that.”

Shadow smiled at her apprentice. “As opposed to the megalomanic pile of bone dust over there, I used my millennia of life to try a lot of things. Overreliance on a single thing gets you killed, especially as a mage.”

Nearby, Kay was talking with Fire and Tyron. He asked: “Well, now that Glibby and the Tower’s ringer are out of the game, how bad do we reckon the last stretch will be?”

Tyron cocked his head: “Distance-wise, it shouldn’t be long until we’re at the machine. Difficulty-wise, we’ve one major obstacle ahead, but the emphasis is definitely on major.”

Fire nodded. “The bedrock golems, there will be no small amount of them down here. Sadly, I don’t know anything about their capabilities. They encountered one topside but that didn’t tell us much, other than that they’re extremely resilient and have some sort of ranged attack, similar to Shadow’s disintegration ray.”

Shadow and Warnado joined them. Shadow asked: “Any other threats?”

Fire replied: “We’re entering the absolute inner sanctum of the Tower’s science division. These people are quite devoted to what they’re doing, so we should expect at least some resistance from them. However, they shouldn’t be much of a problem, especially compared to what we faced already. The golems are the main issue. On the positive side, no more lanterns from here on out.”

Tyron asked: “Something about sensitive equipment, right?”

Fire made a wide sweeping gesture. “This entire inner research area is encased in a protective structure to shield it against what is being done in the adjacent magic facilities. Most equipment is not affected by magic, but there are some things that can be disrupted by even the energy gradient the lamps create. They must have been quite desperate to deploy that lich down here.” He paused. “Then again if the machine activates, all of that research equipment would be worthless.”

Shadow expanded her senses once again, hoping to see whether there were any immediate threats ahead.

“I can’t see past the walls, whatever they have in there, it’s good. Sadly, that also eliminates our emergency plan of teleporting into the machine’s chamber. I am not risking a blind teleport, not into a room with that many dimensional crystals in it.”

Tyron said: “Time to move then, the soldiers are as recovered as they can be.”

He raised his hand and gave the signal to move out. The Shelter soldiers returned to formation, this time their lines were protected by a series of shield bubbles projected by the Coven mages that were still with them. Shadow joined her mages in the middle of the formation, reinforcing the barrier with a shield of her own.

They took off at a fast marching pace, always vigilant for anything hiding in side paths or doorways. For the first few minutes they encountered nothing, only their own footsteps echoing through the halls.

Their first encounter with resistance, if it could be called that, was a lone scientist bursting out from a door, brandishing a makeshift energy weapon before being quite literally swatted out of the way by a Mencur-Besh. A few more scientists tried attacking them this way, but they all met a similar fate.

Shadow instructed her mages: “Stay vigilant, we know for a fact there are more dangerous foes here.”

As if on cue, flames erupted from a side path ahead of them, rolling over their barrier harmlessly but obscuring their sight. When the smoke cleared, a red-robed mage with white, fuzzy hair floated ahead of them. Between his hands hovered a blue orb, six more orbiting him at the height of his torso. This had to be Archmage Wisp. Wisp was flanked by four armoured scientists, each carrying what looked to be energy rifles. The group wasted no time and attacked.

Wisp and the scientists wasted no time and immediately attacked. The initial shots from the scientists deflected off the Coven’s barrier, but several of Wisp’s orbital orbs surged forward, their combined impacts shattering it. The look on Wisp’s face was anything but confident, more like desperation and barely suppressed panic, a cornered coward was a dangerous foe.

Archers and mages immediately returned fire, taking out one of the scientists before Wisp could raise a shield of his own. Shadow broke formation and flew towards Wisp. With a hand gesture, one of his orbs disappeared and reappeared as a barrier around Shadow, stopping her dead in her tracks. A containment spell. Not a second later Fire and Tyron found themselves similarly imprisoned.

“No fair!” She heard Kir cry out.

Shadow wasted no time in trying to undo the spell holding her in place. This wasn’t the first time she’d been subjected to something like this, these spells always had some kind of release mechanism. While she inspected the nature of the orb around her, the Shelter forces below charged. Another scientist fell, this time to a blast of demonfire from Warnado.

Their advance was promptly halted by Wisp summoning a strong wind blowing them back. Only Mencur-Besh held their ground and slowly advanced against the storm, taking fire from the two remaining scientists. Some of the hunters clawed their way forward by plunging pickaxes into the walls and pulling themselves along, but they were too slow to meaningfully approach Wisp.

Kami had taken charge of the Coven mages in creating a counter spell, twirling her staff, both to direct the mages and to fling showers of magic towards Wisp. The gale force winds slowly mellowed down, giving their soldiers another chance of attacking. Several arrows flew towards the scientists, many of them charged with magic mid-flight by Wolfric. Wisp tried deflecting all of them but could only focus on so many at once. Several struck true and moments later, Wisp was alone against the Shelter troops. With a now definitely panicked look on his face, he wildly flung spells at whoever he could.

Several of their soldiers had not been prepared for such an explosive onslaught of magic, they could not take cover fast enough, and died a gruesome variety of deaths. One was incinerated on the spot, two struck by lightning, several more succumbed to a sudden surge of gravity.

Moments later, Shadow finally figured out the containment spell. With three quick pulses of magic, the orbs holding her, Fire and Tyron. Even with them released, Wisp’s ceaseless barrage of spells claimed more and more lives. But before Shadow could mount a counter offense, several wither Mencur-Besh began sprinting towards Wisp, completely unaffected by his spells due to their innate magic immunity. Wisp retreated back into the side corridor he came from, still wildly firing off spells.

Kami yelled: “Go ahead, we’ll handle him. Wolfric, you’re with me!”

In a joined effort with the Coven, Kami and Wolfric projected a shield across the side corridor entrance, making it possible for the soldiers to pass. Sadly, they had to do so over the bodies of their fallen comrades, an activity that their soldiers had become intimately familiar with over the course of the past hours.

Even if they wanted to, there was no time to catch a breath. Just a few corridors down they encountered their next threat. It was a bedrock golem patrolling the halls. The moment it spotted them its head swivelled around and its cycloptic eye began glowing as it charged towards them.

“Shields!” Tyron called out.

As opposed to Wisp’s attack, this time their mages had time to properly reinforce their defences. The death ray dissipated on the shield and sent glowing aberrations rippling across its surface.

“How do you kill something made from bedrock?!” Screamed one of their soldiers.

That was the question, wasn’t it? Apparently Herobrine had done it topside, but they had no Herobrine down here, or anything comparable to his bedrock sword. Fire’s zweihander came closest, but at the end of the day it was just a regular weapon, even if it had been used by the Entity in the past. Of course, Shadow could do it with Void magic, but was the risk of collapsing local reality worth it? Not currently, Shadow decided.

Instead, she answered the golem’s attack with one of her own, a disintegration ray aimed at its eye with pinpoint precision. The golem stopped for a moment, but then resumed its charge.

The golem battered through their shield and ploughed through their ranks. They were able to scatter fast enough that only a few were trampled, but this was not sustainable. If they couldn’t kill it, they had to make it unable to hurt them. Shadow concentrated and summoned a magical cage around the golem, the same kind she had captured Silver and Kay with. The golem threw itself against the walls. At first they held, but after the third bash they started deforming.

She called out: “We need a better way of keeping it down, anyone got an idea?”

The female hunter chief yelled back: “Topple it and pin it, it’s too massive to get back up. Done it to plenty of monsters before.”

The hunters got in formation, looking to Shadow’s mages for help.

“We need a low barrier, like a rope. We make it charge and trip, then bind it in place so it can’t throw its weight around.”

Pallas and Iridia, the sole remaining members of Shadow’s channellers, nodded to the hunters. They started by projecting a thin line across the corridor, then progressively reinforcing it to become stronger. Meanwhile the soldiers moved forward to get some distance on the golem. Only Shadow remained close.

“Ready.” Said Pallas.

The male chieftain roared: “Release the beast!”

Shortly before the golem could throw its weight against the cage again, it disappeared. The golem immediately began its charge towards the assembled hunters, its eye glowing intensely again.

Shadow thought to herself: “If I won’t use Void magic, I’ll just have to make use of my other strengths.”

The moment the golem fired its ray, Shadow teleported directly into its trajectory. The red light burned through flesh and bones, but only got about halfway through her torso when it was stopped by an opposing force. Shadow focused as much energy into her physical form as she could, keeping the ray from erupting out of her back. At this moment, she was very glad that she did not feel pain from physical injuries.

The golem continued its charge unperturbed, completely ignoring the forcefield. It wound up for a running punch against one of the hunters but caught one of its disproportionally stubby feet on the magical tripwire. The golem slammed into the ground with force, even slightly embedding itself due to its unnaturally high mass. The hunters were quick to act, driving metal spikes through the stone floor and attaching enchanted chains to tie the golem down.

Initially the golem buckled and thrashed, but soon was completely immobilized, its head unable to turn far enough to do harm.

One of the hunters let out a satisfied chuckle. “Just because we don’t have all that fancy stuff you other worlds have doesn’t mean we’re dumb.”

Iridia quietly muttered: “Nobody said that you were…” but then let the hunter have her moment.

Pallas turned to Shadow. “We’ll guard this thing, if we find a way to kill it, we’ll join you up ahead.”

Shadow nodded and flew forwards, quickly catching up with the push force. She landed next to Fire. “Tripping and pinning seem to work. They don’t seem to be significantly stronger than your standard iron golem.”

Fire acknowledged Shadow with a nod, apparently in the middle of a conversation with the Mencur-Besh collective. Kay stood nearby somewhat awkwardly, intentionally at a distance to his loyalists.

He averted his eyes from Shadow. “Uh, Shadow. Would you mind covering up the anatomical showcase? It’s a bit disturbing.”

Shadow glanced downwards, the hole in her torso was still there, only slowly beginning to mend itself. She commanded her clothes to cover the hole in the meantime.

“There. Thought it’d be a good idea to take the beam, so it won’t hit anyone else.”

Kay nodded slightly exaggeratedly. “Right, good. Good thinking. Did something similar myself, once…”

Their numbers had significantly dwindled, between people dying and staying behind they only had a few dozen soldiers left, including anyone higher up in the chain of command. They had to be close now.

Two minutes of marching later, their next opponents presented themselves. At first it looked like more golems, but instead it was two scientists wearing large, enclosed exoskeletons. They did what every opponent before them had done as well, that was attacking immediately. One of them approached at high speed, but before coming close to the foremost soldiers, the scientist raised his arm and an energy tether attached to the ceiling, allowing him to swing up and over, detaching to slam down, crushing two of Kay’s loyalists, then immediately jumping at a wall and somehow running along it. The second scientist attacked with a similar strategy, always staying out of reach, and only going for actual hits in opportune moments.

Shadow pointed at one of them and fired a disintegration ray, only for it to be directed around the exoskeleton and strike the wall behind the scientist.

She yelled out in frustration: “Is everything here equipped to counter me?!”

Then she thought back to the village when she met Dr. Mercury. Suddenly it sounded like a much more logical possibility that people had in fact developed countermeasures to some of her magic. She sighed, they couldn’t have thought of everything.

Suddenly Kay pulled on her sleeve. “We need to get to that machine! Our people can handle these two.”

As if to prove Kay’s point, Rathina lunged forward and cut into one of the exoskeletons, severing a hydraulic line and leaving the scientist with only one usable arm.

She yelled: “You go with them Tyron, we have this!”

Shadow raised her hands and dense smoke spewed forth, completely obscuring the view into the corridor ahead of them. Six figures dashed through the smoke, one of them being Shadow herself, the others were Fire, Kay, Tyron, as well as Warnado and Amanda.

A short sprint later the corridor took a bend, even if they looked now, the scientists were too caught up in combat to notice someone had slipped past them.

Warnado said: “So, now that Titanfall One and Two are out of sight, the machine has to be close right?”

Shadow chuckled. “You know, Warnado, there’s something you should know.”

The demon child tilted his head. “Yeah, what’s that?”

“I get most of the references you’re making.”

Warnado’s eyes went wide as saucers. “Whaaat? I don’t even get those myself!”

Amanda lightly punched Warnado in the shoulder. “I thought he just likes to spout random, endearing nonsense. Couldn’t have guessed that there is a deeper meaning.”

“Golem ahead!” Kir screeched in their minds.

At the end of the corridor was another large gate, several sizes smaller than the previous one but still massive. In front of said gate stood a bedrock golem who just now noticed them and began charging its eye. Shadow projected a shield in front of them as they ran to close the gap, deciding that taking the brunt of the attack was something she only wanted to do once. The red beam dissipated against the shield, and they continued forward. Once they got close, a cage slammed down around the golem, halting its own charge. However, the Tower had one last nasty surprise in store.

The walls behind them exploded as five bedrock golems came bursting out of adjacent laboratory rooms.

Kay screamed: “Cage them, Shadow!”

“Can’t!” She replied. “Only so much energy in this place!”

Now was the point when Shadow decided that the danger outweighed the risk. She looked deep inside of herself, slowly and carefully bringing the Void to the surface. Just before it could break its shell, she heard Warnado’s voice.

The quarter-demon spoke with conviction, just like he had done before fighting Glibby. “I have this.”

Warnado was already halfway across the corridor.

“Helix, no!” Amanda and Kay screamed in unison, then briefly looked at each other, Kay shrinking visibly. Both ran after Warnado, followed by Tyron and Fire with a brief delay.

Warnado’s pursuers were suddenly pushed back by a wave of demon magic, a barrier of lava manifested from nothing to block their way.

Warnado said: “I’ve never had anything like this my whole life. Trust me.”

As he spoke, demonfire erupted from the gauntlet and spread all over Warnado’s body. It quickly took the form of a body, limbs, horns. It was the same form he had taken after Fristad died.

Warnado’s voice rang out again, deeper and distorted, but undeniably his: “Come get some!”

The golems obliged and shot their beams right at Warnado, the demonfire burned brighter on the impact points but otherwise refused to react. He grabbed the nearest golem by the head and slammed it into the wall. Another one struck his demon-form in the jaw, and he responded by punted another one into the opposing wall.

Shadow turned around. She had her own golem to take care of. Once again, she reached for the Void, and this time it broke through. Her hair lifted, her skin went beyond black, her eyes gained their distant-stars quality. This was not like when she found out that Claw had taken over, she did not feel empty. There was a different feeling, one that could be compared to walking on eggshells. She felt the fabric of reality strain against every bit of her body, one wrong move and it would tear.

Shadow slowly raised her hand to point above the imprisoned golem’s head, which seemed to have given up its escape attempts, its automaton routines wholly unprepared for what they saw. A thin blade of nothingness extended from Shadow’s hand before it moved downwards, gliding between atoms like a knife through butter. The two disabled halves of the golem hit the ground with what should have been a loud bang.

However, the impact of bedrock on obsidian was quiet in comparison to the noise that came from behind Shadow. With a thought, she pushed the Void back, and the restrictive pressure of reality was gone. She did not have to turn around to know what happened, but she did nonetheless.

Behind them the entire corridor had collapsed, it was now filled with rubble from the ceiling and the rock above. The implications were clear.

“Helix!” Amanda cried out.

Kay muttered to himself: “He just… brought the ceiling down.”

He gaped, touched his fingers to the goggles on his head, then pulled Amanda in close. She offered only the most token resistance, pressing a hand to his breastplate, then letting it fall.

Both Fire and Tyron were silent. Shadow knew that her brother had at least a dozen things he could say to try to console Amanda, but in reality none of them would achieve that goal, and he knew it too.

Amanda pushed Kay back with marginally more force. He backed away as though he had dropped a fine glass ornament. She looked off at the rubble.

“The gauntlet exploded…” she whimpered.

Shadow felt the sadness of loss as well but decided to suppress further mourning until everyone was safe, the machine had priority. Shadow and Fire approached the gate. Fire almost routinely placed his hand on the scanner next to it, no reaction.

“She wiped the biometrics data, figures.” He said. “Up to you now, Shadow.”

Shadow took a deep breath. She once again reached for the Void, this time only bringing it close enough to shift herself slightly out of sync with the rest of reality. She floated straight through the gate, dismissing the Void as she emerged on the other side.

In all honesty, I was a bit disappointed, having returned to my throne so soon. I expected the dreaded Herobrine to put up more of a fight, especially since this particular one was apparently a god as well. I chuckled to myself. There were no gods in Nexus, no matter how much they claimed to be. I could have killed him like the others, but why deprive myself of many potential future meals of ‘godly’ fear?

I took a look at my throne room. It had not changed much since I took the Entity’s place, the scratches and bloodstains were still in the same place, just some scorch marks had joined them when the rebel leader Fire escaped. The scar that had ejected the Entity was still above the throne, bigger now and visible to the plain eye. I could have closed it, but it was harmless to me, and it added to the ambiance, so I didn’t.

It wouldn’t be long now until the rest of the rebels came barging in. I was honestly a bit surprised when they showed up with an army that size, but if anything, they played right into my hand with the panic they spread through the Tower, every droplet of fear strengthened me.

Speaking of fear, it was time I laid the first brick of my very own empire. I decided that walking was for those who had no other option and floated around my seat. Behind the throne was the all-important switch that controlled the machine. The good doctor was locked in the same room as it, but completely powerless, unable to do anything because of the countermeasures she had designed herself, talk about irony!

My hand came to rest on the cold obsidian of the switch, pressing down ever so slightly. Before I made the final push, I decided that this room needed a better view of what was to come. With a wide sweep of my claws, I decapitated the throne room, the ceiling now only rested on the spiral staircase up to the observatory. A flick of my wrist and it tore off, sliding down the outer walls of the Tower with a delightful screech, before coming to rest on top of a roof some distance below.

Above me was now the clear night sky, stars, moon, and all. My hand came to rest on the switch again, this time I flipped it without hesitation. It fell into place with a loud clank. At first it seemed like nothing was happening, but of course that was not true. A great ripple went through reality, though I may have been the only one to feel it in its true intensity.

The stars in the sky slowly gained in size, because they were not stars at all. They were worlds, thousands and thousands of worlds, all now drawn towards Nexus. I floated upwards and came to rest on the shattered tip of the observatory staircase.

I laughed and kept laughing. Soon all would be Nexus, and Nexus would be mine to terrorize!

###

I pull the sword from my opponent and a black flame consumes him. My eyes slide shut, the energy bundles within me, and with a thrust forward of my wrist I send the burning man flying back through his fellows. He slams into the barricade so hard he cracks the stone.

We have ascended the stairs and continue to fight our way through to the Entity’s throne, but it is slow going. They make us pay for every inch of ground, and though our objective is at the centre of the floor, we only seem capable of spreading further around the edge. What may well be the last sunset of all creation casts its dying rays in through the high-arched, empty windows behind us.

Above my head, arrows fly, and mages sling spells. Drake the Enderdragon swoops low and snaps at the heads of Tower soldiers with playful glee, while his older fellows follow through and kill them outright.

On the ground, Vanillan and Shelter troops fight fiercely. Sword locks with spear locks with halberd, until the crack of a rifle or thud of a crossbow bolt sounds and armour clatters to the ground. In a bloody ouroboros, a pigman warrior screeches in pain or triumph as he decapitates an Endling whose talons just tore open his stomach.

Gunsmoke perfume sears my nose, stings my eyes. Weapon screens against armour. Squelch of boot. Snap of bone. I am buffeted this way and that by war as it is and ever was and always will be.

A glance in each direction reveals a new awesome and terrible sight of battle. This way, my Guild fights their way into a bathhouse, blood staining the water. That way, Ryan and the moderators try to hold back the charge of several bedrock golems, staffs barely slowing their titanic adversaries.

In one direction, I see Voidblade teleporting this way and that to guard a red dragon who has fallen under the weight of hundreds of arrows. He lops off limbs, slashes at faces, kicks in knees and chests and skulls.

Another way Fedwin the Tinkerer pulls levers from his seat on the back of a headless iron golem, contending with one of its bedrock brothers. Below the brawl, the Arcation priesthood pass ropes between the legs of the enemy behemoth, trying to avoid the precise blasts of its great, red eye.

And atop the barricade the Tower has erected to impede our process, I see Rose hurling daggers this way and that. They cascade from her hands in great arcs, each blade finding a man to slay until they are stopped by a twin-sided axe head large enough to cover a man. General Forgelight, the Tower’s great ideologue, sweeps the barricade with his mighty weapon and forces Rose back.

“Keep heart, men! The final unification is upon us!” Forgelight screams, swinging his axe up and striking the ceiling.

However, the figure he cuts is more desperate. One of Rose’s knives has implanted itself in his thigh, blood oozes from it. And Ozen’s powerful arms are clamped around his neck and under his left armpit, trying their best to restrain his movements.

Again, Forgelight strikes, splitting open a rank of Gaian riflemen. Cossack only barely staggers out of his reach. Another swing threatens to kill an approaching starry-scaled dragon, but I summon a shield just in time. It cracks, the dragon falls dead. Forgelight rears up, he swings once more, but this time it stops.

The axe-head has connected with a large, rectangular wooden shield. Steve holds it, dressed in the strange grey armour of his adversary. He sticks his head out from behind the shield and grins. Behind him, Jennifer finishes pulling back the string of the ghast bone bow.

The arrow strikes Forgelight in the chest, piercing his armour nearest the heart. He falls from the barricade and slams into the ground. General Issa sounds the order for them to fall back to their next line. I heave a sigh of relief.

I pull back from the fighting and approach one of the great, arched windows and speak into my radio. I catch Steve’s eye and gesture for him to join the same frequency.

“Urist, what’s the situation, did you find Herobrine?”

“We’ve found him alright. Looks like he located a path right into tha Throne room.”

My heart soars. If Herobrine could punch through, that might put an end to the whole thing.

“That’s fantastic!” I yell.

“Crack open the wine cellar, Urist, we’ve got this in the bag!” Steve joins.

Urist is silent.

“What’s wrong, Urist?” I ask.

“He mighta ran into Freak, didn’t go well for Herobrine. We found him on tha ground, asleep, tossing and turning, like he’s havin’ a nightmare. The others who were with him… less said tha better.”

I struggle to find the words to respond with. I looked over at Steve. He has an arm around Jennifer’s shoulder. He nods firmly at me. She stares at me with stern but respectful eyes. Their implication is clear. With Herobrine gone, I am next in command of the upper assault. The decision is mine. I ball up all the courage I have in me.

“Okay, Urist, here’s what we’re going to do-”

Rubble cascades past the window, and associated dust fills my lungs and clouds my eyes. When I can finally see again, I become aware of a gentle tremor which has seized the room. Discarded weapons begin to skitter along the floor, all in one direction. Something like the sound of an earthquake strikes my ears and I flinch, a far-off booming that sounds all the more dangerous for its distance. My skin begins to prickle, the very flakes of my skin now feel a pull upon them. Again, all in the same direction, into the heart of the Tower, toward the Throne room.

“No…” I breathe.

Suddenly I see it in the corner of my eye. The horizon has begun to curl upwards. A terrible wind rises and begins to hurl dragons and mages across the sky. The stars stretch and grow until they rupture, leaving burning, yellow holes in the sky which only swell further until one can see the worlds on the other side. Rolling hills, scorching mesas, endless oceans.

A white-hulled airship tumbles through one of the ruptured stars. In the seconds before the terrible winds disassemble it and hurl its crew to the ever-shrinking borders of creation, I see the True Court’s crest. Within the star, I see the distant peak of the Citadel of Mojang. Finally, it hits me.

All of creation is collapsing into this one point. The Entity’s plan is fulfilled, and Freak will profit by it.

There is a hand on my shoulder. Steve is looking me in the eye.

“Astro, what do we do?” He asks me again and again.

Aaron comes up and asks me the same thing. And Jennifer. And Ozen. And Tassadar. Ray. Fedwin. Ryan. A vortex of questions, soon to become screams once that thing finishes its plan.

There is a distant chuckling. The questions stop. I am granted a moment’s respite. I look over to my saviour.

Forgelight rises, leaning on his axe. Blood runs from his mouth. There is a brief respite from the questions.

“At last…” he wheezes. “Comrades, our labours bear their final fruits: Convergence is achieved!”

He laughs and looks around. His jaw hangs looser than natural. His eyes are glassy. I can’t tell if he can see us.

He uses his axe as a crutch and hobbles over to the window. I back away. Rose looks at me, eyes burning with hatred, begging my approval. I gesture for her to hold fire.

“Marcus, Marinus, Issa, is it not as beauteous as I promised you?”

He now gazes over the approaching horizon. Mountains seem to swell up, crushing villages between them. For a second I think I catch a glimpse of the Shelter’s entrance amidst a shower of collapsing jungle trees and shattering scaffolding.

“Ender, Ape, surely even you can see the… merit in this,” he spits out blood and begins shaking as he tries to lift his axe, “nnngh, most g-glorious union.”

He raises the axe above his head, his eyes glowing with triumphalist rapture. He starts to stalk an unseen prey, slow and arch-footed despite the creak and clatter of his armour.

“I thank you, Entity, for your help in getting us this far… but Nexus is of my making. I am Forgelight, the unifier!”

He swings down, and to prevent injury to anyone I magically strike the axe from his hands. He does not seem to notice, however. He cackles on his knees, delighting in his imagined glory.

“Then, it is done…” he looks up at Jennifer and sneers stupidly. “No, Issa, I am no traitor… You would have done the same.”

This is enough for me. I give the signal to Rose. She flicks her wrist and the luminary’s head rolls onto the floor. My respite is over.

“What do we do?” Steve asks again. He sounds like a lost child.

I feel my eyes begin to well with tears, so I slam them shut.

“I don’t know, all is lost,” I think.

“We wait for orders from below,” I say. “Brace for new instructions.”

The machine’s brass bulk dominated the room, its hatch was closed and the cables that connected to it radiated enough warmth to distort the light around them. All this was evidence enough that Shadow was too late, only further consolidated by the waves that rippled through the fabric of reality.

In the centre of the room stood a large chair facing the machine, this chair now slowly turned around, revealing Dr. Veronica Mercury wearing the lightweight powered armour that served as a platform for her additional limbs. However, she looked far from the evil scientist about to gloatingly confirm that Shadow was indeed too late. No, she sat slumped deep into the chair, her eyes only half-open. In the first few moments she barely seemed to notice Shadow standing in front of her. Once she did, her posture straightened out, if only slightly. Dr. Mercury looked on silently like a convict at the chopping block who had accepted her sentence.

Shadow slowly began walking towards her. “The Entity’s gone, you know.”

Dr. Mercury took a few moments to process what she just heard. She blinked. “How?”

“That talk you and Claw had about the crystals and how I’m similar to the Entity. Freak listened in and manipulated our friend Destiny into helping him remove the Entity from this world. He’s running the show now and his plan is only slightly better than the Entity’s.”

This fully woke Dr. Mercury up from her daze. Her eyes opened properly, and she stood up from her chair.

Shadow asked: “For how long has the machine been active, and how long until it does irreversible damage to other worlds?”

Dr. Mercury answered: “Roughly half an hour since activation. For the first worlds to be pulled close enough to merge, it will take six hours at the very maximum.” She paused. “How did you get in here?”

Shadow walked past Dr. Mercury and inspected the machine. Within it thousands of dimensional crystals resonated with the static grey in their centre, each crystal tethered to a world, slowly reeling it closer to Nexus.

“We launched an assault on the Tower and pushed our way through. We’ve also got people topside clearing a path to the throne room. How did you not know this?”

Dr. Mercury walked to Shadow’s side. “I have been locked in here for the last few days. I was told to make sure that the machine works, but at that point I knew its true purpose already. I assumed the Entity wanted to keep an eye on me.”

Shadow asked: “So, I assume there’s no safe way of deactivating this thing?”

“There is not, at least from here. The only way is through the switch in the throne room, tampering with the machine will most likely lead to failure. Nexus collapsing in on itself and taking the other worlds with it, that kind of failure.”

Shadow nodded. “I assumed as much. Anything special about that switch?”

Dr. Mercury pointed to some blueprints on a table. “The switch has protective obsidian panels that can be used to cover it in case someone tries what you’re trying at the moment. You’d need to break those to get to it. Of course, that doesn’t stop anyone from turning it back on. And with Freak there to guard it… I can’t imagine how strong he’ll be, even if he only stole a fraction of the Entity’s influence on reality.”

That left them exactly where they were just moments ago, even if they managed to flip the switch back, Freak could just activate the machine again. With the Entity they had been opposites, order and chaos, fear was an entirely different beast. Shadow didn’t even know if she could harm Freak at all, especially now.

“So, that’s it, huh?” Shadow asked.

“Yeah,” Dr. Mercury muttered. Her face took on the same defeated look Shadow had seen on her when she first came in.

Trying to think of something else other than their impending doom, Shadow looked at Dr. Mercury. She was different from the scientists they had met earlier, none of that undying devotion that made them throw their lives away in desperate defence. It was true, she knew the real story behind the machine, but that couldn’t be everything.

She asked: “So, how’d you end up here?”

Dr. Mercury shrugged. “Same way most people do. My world was one of the first to be absorbed. Of course, we didn’t know that at the time, from our perspective nothing changed. Just that there were suddenly people telling us to join them. Some of us were distrustful, that’s when they shifted to ‘join or die’.”

Shadow made a gesture at the various pieces of research equipment in the room. “Did you learn this here, or back in your world?”

Sitting back down in the chair, Dr. Mercury sighed. “I soon realized that the worlds the Tower conquered were similar to what I was used to, just most of them were much bigger than mine, and so empty and simple. The most they had in terms of technology were pistons and redstone, with some steam-driven machinery and high magic strewn in between. My world was different. I mean no disrespect, but it might be hard to imagine just how different.”

Shadow said: “Try me. I think I know where this is going. Besides, my world is very different too.”

She projected a chair for herself and sat down in it. It felt wrong to have a conversation about someone’s personal background while the clock was ticking down, but she had a feeling that this was important, and it was not like there were any better options.

Dr. Mercury began: “My world was a small one. Once you walk enough, you end up where you began. As for its inhabitants, we didn’t really have people living simple lives like you see in most other worlds. Everyone pursued some discipline, whether scientific, magical, or both. My father was a fourth-paradigm thaumaturge, my mother was a storage technician. I got my father’s last name because they both agreed it had a better ring to it. But that’s beside the point. I grew up helping my mother lay cables and set up crafting systems in people’s homes, then back in our compound I assembled runes and matched elements with my father. As I grew up I started getting into interdisciplinary automation design, as well as programming, the two go nicely together. Still not lost?”

Shadow shook her head. “I’m familiar with the concepts.”

Dr. Mercury continued. “Alright. So, the year I turned twenty was when our world was absorbed. Our settlement initially refused to join but was quickly forced to surrender. We didn’t have much in the way of weapons, at least none that could defeat that many soldiers. Both my parents died in the struggles. I later heard that other parts of our world had similar success in resisting. The thaumaturges couldn’t even agree what their discipline is exactly, so they couldn’t really mount an effective coordinated defence. Many of the various factions of industrialists tried using their tools as weapons, with limited success. The blood mages either immediately joined or fought to the death. Even the followers of draconic evolution failed, the Entity simply wore down their shields. The only ones who might have had a chance were the equivalists of old, but that trade died out generations ago.”

So far that seemed very in line with what Shadow had heard from other survivors she had talked with. Useful individuals were recruited, rebellious ones were killed, the rest was left in the Nexus wilderness to figure things out for themselves.

She asked: “So, how did you go from there to running the Tower’s science operations?”

Dr. Mercury reached behind her neck. “That is a bit of a jump, I admit. The Tower’s organizational structure was a bit different back then, a lot more low-tech, anything more complex ran on some kind of magic. The people from our world were what would eventually become the science division. It wasn’t all bad for us, we more or less were allowed to continue doing the things we did, just that we now had someone above us giving orders. You have to remember, with Forgelight’s prosperous unification propaganda we thought we were working towards something great, even if some of the methods employed were questionable. I was assigned to be a research assistant to a more science-minded Tower mage. Over the years we revolutionised the Tower’s internal communication and dimensional monitoring.

“One day I was taken to the side, and they introduced me to a long-running project that had hit a stall. It was this damn machine. The mages were stumped and were now looking for new insight. I of course took it as a challenge. At that point I was too far in, too close to the Entity’s notice to ever have any chance of quitting and living to tell the tale.”

Shadow asked: “Fire told me you had some personal projects too, correct?”

Suddenly Dr. Mercury seemed nervous. “Yes… those. You see, back in my world I always wanted to found my own discipline, just like the different industrial disciplines branched from one. I got the opportunity here, in my spare time when I was part of the machine team, before I got promoted to leader when… when my predecessor was absorbed by the Entity.”

Shadow raised her eyebrows. “What was the field?”

Dr. Mercury looked down. “Arcano-neural interfaces, but most know it as technological necromancy, but that’s just one of the applications. Corpses can be implanted with pre-programmed energy crystals that control the bodies. I know about the implications-”

Shadow interrupted her: “You don’t need to justify yourself to me. My moral compass points towards my brother almost exclusively. If he died, I probably would destroy everything.”

After taking a sigh of relief, Dr. Mercury said: “I know, I saw what happened at the portal facility. But thank you for understanding. I get where people’s apprehension to using corpses comes from, many worlds have afterlives, but Nexus is not one of those.” Another deep breath. “However, one useful thing came out of my research that isn’t morally dubious.”

Dr. Mercury stood up and turned around. She pointed at the back of her neck, where a green crystal was prominently embedded in her armour.

“This crystal is connected to my spine and allows me to control my armour. I haven’t put anything like it in anyone else, it’s still experimental.”

The conversation had done little to distract Shadow from the situation, she just couldn’t stop thinking about whether they were missing something.

Shadow said: “So, you did a lot of research on me and the Entity. You’re sure there’s nothing in there we could possibly use against Freak now?”

Dr. Mercury suddenly stood up and started pacing. “Well, we’d need to make the machine permanently unusable, but for that I’d need to open it up… which I can’t do while it’s running…” Her head shot up and she looked right at Shadow. “I’d also need your help.”

“What do you mean when you say you need my help?” Shadow asked.

Dr. Mercury ran over to a diagram of the machine’s insides and pointed. “The machine works by amplifying the influence of the sample of the Entity’s void plasma in its centre. That’s what causes it to pull on the crystals. In theory, if I could switch it with your equivalent, we could instead make the machine collapse Nexus, and only Nexus.”

Shadow was slightly sceptical. “That works?”

“I did enough research on you to know that it will, or at least that it won’t harm any other worlds. Trust me, I lost a lot of sleep thanks to you.”

Shadow laughed, more awkwardly than intended.

Dr. Mercury walked over to a cupboard and started rummaging, after a few moments producing a perfect sphere of glass, which she handed to Shadow.

Shadow eyed the sphere. “So, I just cut a piece of myself off and put it in there?”

Dr. Mercury answered: “Look, I came up with the plan while telling you my abridged life story, I don’t pretend I have all the steps figured out.”

“Alright, I will try it.”

Shadow focused on the Void like when she phased through the door, this time concentrating the effect on her left hand. Her palm passed through the glass. Once inside she pushed the Void to the surface, disintegrating her hand and leaving behind a vaguely hand-shaped gap in reality. She then, very carefully, tried separating this part of her from the rest of her being. The gap shivered when she pulled her hand back, but soon stabilized into an irregularly expanding and contracting sphere. Her physical hand quickly reformed. Shadow handed the sphere to Dr. Mercury, its contents complied with the movement without ever touching the glass.

Dr. Mercury clutched her head. “Ugh, it never gets any less headache-inducing.”

Shadow said: “So, now that’s done, how do we proceed? We collapsed the corridor behind us to get rid of the bedrock golems, how do we get to the throne room?”

“Oh, that’s easy.” Dr. Mercury said and pulled something from a holster.

“This is a portal device that I created, it’s based on the readings I have of you and the Entity. It should allow you to bypass the shielding structure.”

She demonstratively made two portals appear, one directly in front of her, another across the room, then walked in through one, and out the other. Shadow expanded her senses to see how it worked.

She mused. “Huh. Temporarily making a section of space fold to connect to a different one, not a novel concept but I haven’t seen it applied before.”

Dr. Mercury asked: “Do you want it?”

Shadow shook her head. “No, you using it taught me everything I needed to know about how to replicate it.”

“Good. For everything to work you need to make sure that the machine is switched off and stays that way for a while. I will remain here until I can make the switch. It might be good to tell your allies not to attack me on sight once I portal out of here.” Dr. Mercury said.

Shadow turned to the gate. “Thank you for helping us with this, Veronica.”

Shadow conjured up a portal through the gate, just before she was about to step through, Dr. Mercury spoke again.

“So, Shadow. Once this is over, would you consider taking me to your world? I’d like to continue my studies, within the moral framework of your world of course.”

Shadow briefly thought it over. “If you help us pull this off, you have more than earned it.”

Dr. Mercury quickly asked: “Just one more thing, now that the important things are agreed on, what’s up with the gi?”

Shadow glanced down. She had completely forgotten to transform her clothes back into her robes, which she promptly did.

“Just seemed more appropriate for what I did while coming here, I can give you the details once we’ve left this place behind us.”

With that Shadow stepped through the portal and emerged on the other side of the gate.

On arrival, she saw Amanda atop the rubble-pile, shifting those stones she could. Kay stood a ways back, non-committally turning over rocks with his sword and refusing to look up. Tyron chattered into the radio in dour communication with their forces. And, of course, her brother, Fire, knelt on the ground, his zweihander balanced on his knee, a look of profound helplessness in his eyes, all paths in his plan were exhausted. At the sound of the portal opening, all looked up at her with expectation.

Shadow took a breath. “The machine is already running, but Dr. Mercury is helping us shut it down, and Nexus along with it. We need to get to the switch.”

No further words were needed, both Amanda and Kay immediately vacated the rubble, Tyron joined them at her side. Fire snapped out of his trance, suddenly presented with a new option after none remained. Shadow opened another portal, this time to the last reported location of the topside forces. They had little time left, but they would use it to the fullest.

They arrived in the hall through Shadow’s portal. First, Tyron Dragoknight, hero of Minecraftia jumped out, his sword Kir glowing in his hand. Then came Kay Mandy, the ruined General, wincing as his leg struck the ground and trying to disguise his hobble as he backed away to make room for others. Amanda followed next, barely seeming to notice her own arrival, contemplating a small shard of brass in her hand. Fire, leader of the Mencur-Besh, strode out immediately after, nimbly stepping around the grieving teenager in search of other leadership. And, lastly, she emerged: the mage known as Shadow, her white hair and black robes flowing softly as she moved. Behind her the fabric of reality nestled back into its resting state as the portal vanished.

Tyron raised his eyes to the hall’s high ceiling and couldn’t shake the feeling that the buttresses and chandeliers were sneering down at them. To him, the building's architecture fluttered between indifferent monumentality and a malignant intimacy, as though the inhabitants were insects, and the building a cruel child. All of it only served to make the staircase at the hall’s end even more immense and insurmountable. He shuddered, then found his gaze dropping suddenly as Kay ran past him.

“My lord!” he yelled.

All the new arrivals found themselves taken aback at the sight before them. Blood spattered the walls and tattered bodies lay everywhere. Soldiers moved back and forth, trying to clean them away. Amanda jolted back into awareness when she saw Dinnerbone lay slumped and twitching on a rattling chest. A large, dented set of obsidian doors hung open at the far end of the hallway, the scorch marks and gun smoke scent of TNT fresh upon them.

Their friends all stood in a circle, normally enough. Astro the Wizard adjusted his rings and muttered into his sleeve and shot a thankful look at Shadow as she entered. The adventurers, Steve Brine and Jennifer, held hands and contemplated the comings and goings of the soldiers. Steve wore a strange set of grey armour, and a large wooden shield hung from his arm. Jennifer, meanwhile, still wore her diamond armour, but clasped a massive ghastbone bow in her right hand.

A bit off to the side stood the lightly armoured form of Rose, the assassin who had helped blaze the trail for the Shelter in the early days, and who had cut open the Tower’s walls in the aerial assault. She looked on calmly, but not as calmly as she perhaps wanted.

All of this was expected, considering the cataclysm unfolding around them. Even then, they could hear the distant roar as worlds were degraded that they might be stitched back toward. Outside, a terrible wind howled. In an apocalypse, one might expect a group of dour-faced heroes to stand in a circle, reflecting on the task ahead. What was not expected, however, was the man lying in their midst.

Herobrine, the Blind Watcher, a god walking among them, lay on the ground with white eyes clenched shut and sweat soaking his hair and beard. A small cut puckered on his forehead, blood pulsing outwards and mixing with the blood on the floor.

“Freak,” Kir chirped in Tyron’s mind.

The General threw himself to his knees and began to shake his fallen master.

“No, no, please!” he muttered. His eyes began to water, and he clenched them shut. “Please wake up...”

Steve and Jennifer threw a glance down at him and exchanged an uncomfortable glance. Astro’s eyes flared with disdain, then he looked away and began to fiddle with his rings again, something like pity cooling the coals of anger within him.

“So, the machine has been activated,” Astro said quickly, “I’ve provisionally instructed people to keep up the assault on the Throne Room, but tell me honestly, do we have a chance of undoing this?”

“Yeah,” Jennifer agreed. “The troops deserve to know. Are we still fighting to stop Freak or are we just securing the Tower and hoping for the best?”

Shadow spoke up: “There is a way we can stop Freak. We need to get to the switch, break through its protective panels and turn it off.”

“Okay,” Astro breathed and began to shift from foot to foot. “Our plan stays the same. We get to the switch and stop Freak from flicking it on. We just add the minor step of flicking it off first…”

With slight hesitation Shadow said: “Yes, but that is just the first step. Dr. Mercury is on our side now and agreed to help with the second step. Once the machine is off, she will replace the piece of the Entity that is in the machine with… she’ll replace it with a piece of me. If the machine is turned on after that, Nexus begins collapsing and the other worlds are safe.”

“Okay, added minor step of flicking it back on again,” Astro muttered. “Still doable.”

Steve had been nodding along, but now his head snapped suddenly in Shadow’s direction.

“Wait, Nexus starts collapsing?” he asked.

“Starts is the important part, she made it sound like it’ll take a while.”

“And you’re sure Mercury is on our side?” Jennifer asked. “No chance she’s trying to screw us over?”

Fire chimed in: “She figured out the Entity’s plan before Freak took over and she was absolutely shattered by the realization. She doesn’t have any loyalties towards Freak either. Not the type to randomly cause problems. We can at the very least trust her to have told the truth as far as she understands it.”

Tyron tapped his foot impatiently.

“I’m sorry guys, but we don’t have time to argue about this. If we don’t stop Freak, there’s no do-over. If we have to die to stop everything from becoming an endless nightmare torture prison, that’s just how it is.”

“No other way,” Kir agreed. “What heroes do.”

Steve seemed about to say something very angrily, then stopped himself when Jennifer squeezed his hand. They exchanged a meaningful look, and a small, sad smile began to creep across his face.

“Well, so much for happy endings… as though we haven’t lost enough today,” chuckled another voice.

Kay had sat up, lifting his head from Herobrine’s breastplate. He cast a dark look over at Dinnerbone slumped over the rattling chest. Amanda was shaking his shoulder and trying to wake him up, her eyes heavy with emotion.

Something dawned on Rose. Her usual calm cracked and splintered. Suddenly, she grabbed Fire’s arm.

“Where’s Warnado?”

Kay’s head drooped once more. Tyron ran his fingers through his fur and clenched his teeth. No one said anything for what felt like millennia. Shadow looked around, as if trying to confirm her own feelings with the looks on the others’ faces. Finally, Fire spoke up in a carefully measured tone.

“In the corridor before the machine we were ambushed by five bedrock golems. He made full use of his demonic side to buy us time… and collapsed the ceiling on himself and the golems.”

Astro squinted, not quite seeming to comprehend what he had heard. A look of horror spread across Steve and Jennifer’s face. Without hesitation the red-headed archer discarded the bow Fire had gifted her and sprinted over to Amanda. The teenager turned just in time for Jennifer’s body to slam into her. Jennifer’s powerful arms took Amanda into their embrace. She began to cry. Rose followed shortly after, placing a soft hand on the back of Amanda’s neck, then stooping to stroke her hair.

Astro’s eyes followed this scene in a stupor before he blinked and suddenly looked in the other direction. His gaze fell on Kay, who was now straining to get up off Herobrine. His leg was giving him trouble again, and he barely suppressed his grunts of effort and discomfort. A set of well-worn fingers shot past his heavy fringe and stopped in front of his face. He looked up. Astro stood over him, a pained smile on his face. The General took his hand and rose. He drew his sword, ran it along his brace and inspected the edge.

“Well, how are we killing him?” Kay asked.

“Urist says this route leads pretty directly to the throne room. From what we can tell it’s not defended,” Astro answered. “But with Freak… who knows?”

Kay nodded and looked around.

“Where is Urist, by the way?”

“Attack’s still ongoing,” Steve entered. “He’s building up fortifications where he can. Voidblade’s teleporting him for speed’s sake.”

“Hm… Mainly I’m wondering, should we attack now or wait for reinforcements?” he pressed.

Tyron adjusted the knob on his earpiece.

“Officers, what’s the status on the attack?”

Lucy’s voice came through the radio: “Tower perimeter is fully secured, all stragglers either killed, captured, surrendered, or fled into the Tower early. I have reports that both General Issa and Archmage Wisp are not yet neutralised, some golems are still active, but otherwise it looks like we are gaining the upper hand.”

Tyron cast a look at Astro.

“Forgelight?” Kir asked on his wielder’s behalf.

“My Guild and the Eye-and-Claws are leading the pursuit of Issa. Forgelight is dead.”

“Thanks, Lucy,” said Tyron. He looked at Fire. “Well, that all sounds pretty great for us, but something tells me there’s a reason we shouldn’t just wait for an elite Mencur-Besh dunk squad to back us up.”

Fire stroked his chin.

“I am not sure if we want the collective in Freak’s reach. If they’re linked up, Freak could just get one of them and do whatever he did to Herobrine to the entire collective. And, if they break the link beforehand… It’s unknown what happens when the collective breaks the link when so many of its bodies are dead. Besides, most troops are still tied up in battles, so if we want the best shot at getting out of this with all worlds intact, we have few choices but to attack now. The timeframe on the machine is restrictive as it is.” He paused, deliberating. “It looks like it’s up to just us again.”

“Of course it is,” Steve laughed.

Tyron groaned and Steve clapped him on the shoulder.

“Hey, buddy, don’t worry, it’s what heroes do, right?”

Tyron laughed in exasperation and punched him in the pauldron.

“Hey, the sword said that, not me!”

“Pffft, like you guys don’t coordinate your messages!”

Steve gestured over his shoulder and began to walk up towards the steps.

“Come on guys, no point waiting around!”

Kay and Astro began to follow him instinctively, with Tyron shaking his head and joining the march soon after. Jennifer and Rose had, by this time, stopped purely comforting Amanda, and were helping her put on the last piece of a similar set of grey armour to Steve’s - only this had a lighter chestplate with a set of wings attached. Additionally, she had a stack of rockets in one hand, and a crossbow loaded with one of them in the other.

Rose clapped down on the helmet and patted Amanda on the back.

“You’ve got this, kid,” smiled the assassin.

Amanda smiled involuntarily, and after a few seconds deliberation shot back:

“I know, I’ll try not to save your ass too many times.”

Jennifer laughed.

“Save it for the big bad phantom, Amanda.”

Fire and Shadow quickly caught up and walked alongside the others.

Fire gave Steve a side glance and asked: “By the way, where did you get that set of netherite armour?”

Steve involuntarily laughed. “Of course you know what this stuff is, because why wouldn’t you? I got it off… me from another world who made it his goal to be the last Steve standing. Spoke in text, almost killed us, weird encounter.”

Amanda cocked an eyebrow at Jennifer.

“So, you didn’t just ‘find this in a chest’?”

“No, sorry, that’s corpse armour.”

“Great,” Amanda bit the inside of her cheek. “Thank you so much.”

They crested the stairs much sooner than they thought possible and found themselves walking down a hallway towards a circular door with a bronze disc at the centre of it. To either side were statues and tapestries. Down some corridors to either side they could catch glimpses of far-off combat. Golems grappling with their friends. Vanillans, Eye-and-Claws, Mencur-Besh, humans, villagers, pigmen, all assembled to ensure their success. It was hard to just move on by.

Steve rummaged through his pockets, inspecting the number of ender pearls he had left. Rose sorted through her knives. Runes on Shadow’s skin flashed as she prepared spells, occasionally her skin would go beyond black as she channelled the Void. Kay began to repeatedly sharpen his sword against his armour, muttering his titles as a mantra:

“General. Commander. Lap Dog. Hero of Arcadia…” Then, in a sombre, still more hushed tone: “King in Ash.”

Astro sidled up to Shadow, jimmying one of his rings further up his finger.

“You know, one advantage of the machine being turned on is that there’s a lot more background energy swilling around. Almost filled them all back up already.” He paused, then smiled genuinely. “Thanks for these.”

Shadow nodded. “I thought I’d need these myself before I came here but turns out that was just the first thing that played out differently.” With another pulse of beyond-black across her body she added: ”Reality is denser here in the throne room, it might not tear like in other places.”

Astro curled his mouth in satisfaction, then shot a sly look at Shadow.

“I mean, so long as Freak gets torn too, I’m sure reality won’t mind.”

She giggled, then realised the others had stopped. Fire gestured for silence, and they formed into a V-shape behind him. Tyron, Shadow, Rose, and Amanda on the one side. Kay, Steve, Jennifer, and Astro opposite. Fire drew his zweihander and crept forward, one hand outstretched, until his scaled fingers brushed the cold bronze disc at the door’s centre. It began to turn. The door opened.

Inside, they saw darkness, only dimly illuminated by light from further within. They crept along, silent, and steady, all with their weapons drawn. Past display cases. Over obsidian and endstone tiles. Brushing against pedestals bearing strange artefacts and statues. Every here and there an accent of bronze alloy glinted.

Then, they entered an inner ring of rooms. Less bronze and endstone. More obsidian alloyed into metal. In the dark they saw a hologram depicting many worlds stutter on and off, lashing the walls with a blue light. At first, they assumed this was the source of the light they were following, but even when the hologram clicked out of view, something else kept the room half-visible. Jennifer moved to turn it off, but found the buttons shattered beyond recognition, perhaps crushed by a frantic bronze form realising its time was running out.

Finally, they saw the source of the light: two doorways lit by something otherworldly. Too orange and to be daylight, too golden in hue for a true twilight. Molten rays from some unknown point of origin. They steeled their nerves, filtered through the two entrances, and examined the room beyond.

Fire immediately recognised the Throne Room. The walls remained lined with bookcases, though much of the glass that sealed them had shattered, leaving the tomes within shredded and torn. It remained large and empty, with the throne on the far side, and the dimensional scar still shaking above as though struck with a fever. Behind the throne the edges of the activation switch’s platform were visible.

He also recognised the staircase at the centre of the room, which he had fled up only a few days ago. However, where once it had led to an observatory, now it was broken off most of the way up, with an open view onto the sky of Nexus, with its stars which ruptured into worlds, and its black sky ignited by a burning yellow shade. Freak sat at the top, kicking his feet back and forth, luxuriating in the terror.

Everyone froze, uncertain how to respond to the phantom’s presence. His yellow eyes shone and rolled beneath closed lids, and his lips were parted by slow, deep breaths. He looked serene. Could he see them?

Tyron looked around, gestured to the platform, then adopted a fighting stance as Kir counted down. Shadow charged a spell. Steve lifted his shield. Amanda trained her crossbow on Freak.

“Three. Two… One!”

They charged. A great roar challenged the howling of the winds above for dominance of the room. They had one goal, the activation mechanism which could end this. Shadow unleashed her spell and blasted the throne aside. It was in view! Only for obsidian panels to start rising like grotesque, unbreakable jaws.

Amanda loosed her rocket, spiralling up at Freak’s stairtop perch. A second sent her bursting up into the air until she began to drop, and the air swelled her sail-like wings. She began to soar down at the activation mechanism. It was still in view despite the rising obsidian. She stifled a shocked laugh. She could make it! And even if she missed, Fire led the pack behind, Tyron running and Astro and Shadow floating shortly behind!

Amanda spared a triumphant look at Freak and her rocket had almost reached the docile phantom, who still sat undisturbed. Judging by the path it was on a direct course for his head. Her heart soared and momentarily pushed the mourning of Helix from her mind. It was going to hit him! She was going to strike Freak right in his stupid face-

Crack! The phantom’s neck crunched horribly to the side. The rocket shot wide. The phantom’s yellow eyes and glowing smile were trained on her. A gurgling, bubbling sound came from somewhere on his back and out reached a lumpy, bulbous limb, at the end of which sat a many-fingered hand. Each finger bloomed into a talon and shot forth like a missile of stretching flesh.

Amanda rolled aside. The talon missed and stuck in the rising obsidian, but Amanda also wound up flying wide. Dodging several more talons, she kicked off from the nearest bookcase, sending her swooping back in the opposite direction. She tripped on the ground and was steadied by Astro.

Then the rest of the fingers struck out. Fire stopped as a wide fan of talons embedded themselves in the floor like the bars of a cell, separating the group from the activation mechanism. Then, suddenly, they began to shift. The fleshy limb sticking out of Freak’s back heaved, and in a moment, Freak swung before them, a crackling ragdoll suspended in the air by a thick, grotesque string.

“Hello, Fire,” Freak said. “I didn’t expect you to come back so soon… or in such good company?”

His yellow eyes rolled out and took in the others. A serpentine tongue began to run over his dry, splintering lips.

“What brings you all here?”

Fire replied: “We’re here to stop you, as cliché as that sounds. The plan is the same as when the Entity was in charge. You made things easier for us so far, but it looks like that just changed.”

Freak smiled.

“Oh, I certainly did, Fire, sending Glibby, Forgelight and all of them spinning was a joy. But, of course, it wasn’t only pleasure hahaha-”

Tyron growled and cut the phantom off.

“We know! We’ve known since we first learned what happened. You feed on fear so keeping them all confused makes you stronger! Get out of our way or get another bit!”

“Leave!” snarled Kir, its blue glow intensifying.

The phantom’s smile vanished, the cracked lips becoming a fractured line.

“At least you’re all smarter than Destiny.”

Anger surged within the group.

“Kill. Now,” ordered Kir. Tyron did not countermand him.

Rose whipped her arm out and sent a wave of daggers flying at the phantom, each of which was struck through by an unbreakable talon, forcing the assassin to dodge and roll every which way as they shattered the ground beneath her. Kay attempted to win her more room by trying to cut through one of the fingers the talons were attached to, only for his sword to bounce off. Beneath the withered flesh, the talon ran through it like a bone.

Shadow let loose one of her disintegration beams and Freak responded by shooting out one of his ever-stretching arms. For every molecule of flesh Shadow burned, a new one appeared behind it, pushing it forward. The beam stopped, and Freak shed the melted arm. It slopped onto the floor like a dead snake.

He swung left to dodge a rocket from Amanda, swiped up to shatter a shield Astro had thrown edgeways like a shuriken. Then, his eyes widened as he saw Jennifer release the string on the ghastbone bow. His body swung up and around, but his face stayed upright, his neck crunching all the way. The arrow shattered against the barrier of talons.

Now, Fire leapt up at him, zweihander held back in anticipation of a mighty blow. Flame bunched up on the tip of the blade. Freak braced and parried the attack, sending Fire back down to earth with a quick swipe of his claws. Further talons shot out to prevent Amanda from flying past him, forcing her into desperate circles in the air.

Steve threw his ender-pearl above the phantom’s head but found it shattered in the air by Freak’s outstretched arm. He began to fall, and the phantom swung down at him. He only just raised his shield in time for it to ever-improbably absorb the blow. Tyron moved to his rescue on stone wings, drawing an attack from Freak away from the adventurer, then striking out at the phantom’s face with Kir.

Cursing, Freak turned momentarily intangible, becoming visible only to the weakest person he could identify in the room: Kay. A shudder ran over the General, and he realised what had happened. He reached for one of the stones the phantom had dug up and, just as he became generally visible again, threw it.

The rock struck Freak right between the eyes. He flinched. He reached up and fell the warmth of blood dribbling down his forehead. He began to cackle.

“Really? All that, and the guy who draws first blood is the con artist with the dodgy leg? This is just getting silly now.”

Kay reflexively readjusted his leg to try and mask its weakness, knowing in his heart it would do no good. He clasped his sword with both hands and tried to recapture his old, heroic grandeur.

“You’re welcome to quit any time, Freak!” Astro spat.

He reached out and with a clenching of his fist broke the bones in the formless limb on Freak’s back. The talons stopped chasing Amanda and she started to hurriedly correct her course. Fire struck out again and Freak dodged instead of parrying.

The phantom’s smile cooled. His eyes flashed yellow. The molten rays above seemed to dim.

“I’m good, actually, but you all look awfully tired. Why don’t you all lie down?”

Suddenly the remaining torches roared with yellow flame, and the Throne Room collapsed into darkness. A great tiredness began to sap away their will. Steve struggled under the weight of his shield and armour, remembering Destiny’s sedative and thinking how gentle that weariness seemed compared to the dive into oblivion he was now stuck in. Fire fell to his knees, fighting to get back up. Amanda dropped from the sky and only Shadow remained lucid enough to slow her descent with a spell.

“I am the Phantom Lord, welcome to my domain: Your worst nightmares!”

Steve had never anticipated the current situation. He, Jennifer, and his brother helping to lead a massive army, ready to save the multiverse. All because his dead friend dropped some stones.

They were in the flagship’s hull, organising themselves into ranks and files. The redstone lights dimmed, and he knew they would go out any minute. He took a look at Jennifer and saw her red hair glimmering even under that little light. He smiled. Like a mirror, she smiled back. He would die for her if he had to.

Ozen hopped from one foot to the other to his left, drawing and undrawing his sword in a duellist’s stance. Sadly, he just seemed to get clumsier each time, and Steve clapped him on the shoulder to hint maybe he should stop. He wondered how Wolfric was doing, down with Shadow.

“Preparing to breach in t-minus one minute,” Brad said into his sleeve, emerging from between the ranks.

Brad wore armour made from that odd black alloy originating from Fire’s world. His helmet almost entirely obscured his face. A diamond rapier hung at his side. He nodded respectfully at Steve as he took his position next to Andras at the head of a group of Eye-and-Claw operatives.

Pistons sounded and a series of handles rose from the floor. The reinforced hull would hold now that Rose had done her work creating the opening, but they still had to remain upright. He and Jennifer reached for the same bar. Their hands touched. They kept them there.

Steve looked to his left, toward Astro and his Guild. Talita approached them. Her old fingers pried open a small, wooden case. Astro smirked. Eight rings glinted in the low light - rings full to bursting with background energy absorbed from Nexus.

“Thank you for holding these in reserve,” said Astro. “Send Shadow my best.”

He removed the ring he was already wearing and delicately slid his fingers into the new ones.

“Thirty seconds,” Brad mumbled.

Everything seemed to speed up and get louder. His heart hammered. Everyday itches became agony. Jennifer’s hand felt so soft he thought his own might melt into it.

Herobrine chuckled at a song Dinnerbone strummed on his ukulele.

Urist murmured as he took practice swings. Voidblade nodded at every word.

“Ten seconds.”

Cossack, the Gaian leader, coughed and readjusted his green cloak. The rustling was like an avalanche. Steve realised that he was saying the seconds aloud with Brad.

“Five.”

The lights went out.

“Four.”

A row of men knelt at the front, holding spears which shot fire after you cranked a handle enough - riflemen.

“Three.”

Ozen’s sword emerged from his inventory one last time.

“Two.”

Steve equipped Excalibur in turn. He held his breath.

“One.”

Crack! Wood splintered overhead, and bronze alloy crumbled away. Everything jerked forward, as though the ship were already trying to push them out into battle. Steve steadied himself against the handle, then stood up. Jennifer’s hand slid from under his. The twang of a bowstring quivered through the darkness.

The pistons began to move.

“At arms!” boomed Herobrine.

Everyone took the hint to get into a fighting stance. A shudder went through Steve as the cool surface of the ender pearl dropped into his palm. Light fell through the crack and illuminated the tips of the taller weapons. Andras’ halberd. Moderators’ staffs. And so on.

“Stay safe out there,” said Jennifer.

“I will,” he said.

“You too,” he thought.

They got a glimpse of the other side for the first time. A large hallway. Stone walls. High ceilings. Some sort of intersection with a locked, heavy door at the crook. No lanterns on the immediate landing, but he could see their purpled glows further up the corridor. Tower forces already lined up to fight. Mages at the front of a line of mercenaries. Arrows already sailing towards them.

One struck a nearby pigman and he fell. Astro and the other mages raised their hands. Countless magical shields materialised, overlapping and intersecting in some sort of crystalline honeycomb. Arrows began to bounce off it.

“Hold,” decreed Herobrine.

The men at the front cranked their rifles.

Thud! The pistons had moved, the ramp was ready for them to descend, but the mages of the Tower, many of them white-clad, had set up their own line of shields. Steve redirected his attention to the central figure, a tall, proud looking pigman.

Astro stepped out in front of the crouching riflemen. He moved slowly, delicately. Hands raised. Eyes closed.

Suddenly, his arms dropped, and the crystalline shield structure shattered. The shrapnel flew straight into the opposing shield wall.

“Fire!”

A volley of death surged out from the line of riflemen, striking the line of mages. Steve’s eyes widened as he saw the force with which the victims lurched backwards. The pigman remained standing, having successfully rebuilt a shield in time to save himself.

“Attack!”

Steve’s body moved ahead of his mind. He felt like a passenger. His feet moved beneath him, and his arm hurled an ender pearl. It shattered against the pigman-mage’s magical barrier. The orange-tinged shield split down the middle. Steve’s arms prepared to plunge Excalibur into the mage’s heart but froze mid-movement as Herobrine intervened.

A colossal bedrock sword careened through the shield’s remains and sent a swathe of white light burning onward. It was a blow to break bedrock in a swing and Herobrine didn’t even break his stride. He just marched deliberately onwards, his pigmen biting and tearing and killing around him, and his blackshells rattling proudly onward, invincible beneath their obsidian armour.

Steve felt as though he had already survived the battle. Like he was already trying to piece together memories that had made so much sense in order and now seemed completely disconnected on reflection.

Jennifer was at his side stabbing a mercenary, then in a puff of purple particles was on the other side of the battlefield, putting an arrow into a charging giant. Ozen stood behind him, then was ahead of him, grappling with a spear-wielding mage.

Here, he saw Urist batter open a door, send his men in to begin fortifying it, carry chest upon chest from the airship. Already, they were knocking down walls, creating turrets for archers to fire through. In the distance, Voidblade’s claws twisted the neck of a blonde man, or, no, he had thrown a purple-glowing lamp to the ground, and his armoured feet shattered the crystals, emboldening Astro to order a renewed charge!

Even more confusing were Steve’s own actions. He fought fiercely with a woman who had a scar through one eye, or maybe an eyepatch, but only a second later Excalibur plunged into a giant’s knee. And he couldn’t see Jennifer. And he knew he was supposed to follow Astro down one corridor, but the current of battle was carrying him towards another one, where Herobrine strode on as though there was nothing in the world worth fearing.

He slouched out of the way of an enderman’s enchanted axe. That was when he got the vague impression of being surrounded. His life was in danger, but still, he could barely feel his fingers. He cut down one mercenary. Two! Dodged another swipe from the enderman. More mercenaries filled the gaps. Where was Jennifer? Ozen? He couldn’t see them, he had to-

The enderman’s axe connected with his helmet and knocked the soul back into his body. Immediately he tensed back into action. He broke the enderman’s guard, then stunned him with a punch. His opponent teleported away. Steve struck down another mercenary, then another.

Some began to back away, maybe because of his renewed prowess, but maybe because the currents of battle were changing again. More allies cascaded into view. He saw Urist breaking a nearby mage’s leg with his mace. Dinnerbone cracked a giant’s skull with his ukulele, then with a flick of his wrist sent the corpse flying. Brad’s diamond rapier punctured an enchanted chestplate. Steve heard something warp into place behind him.

He turned back to the enderman, ready for a proper fight, then jumped back as he saw an arrow - Jennifer’s arrow! - pierce them through the eye. Ozen wrapped his arms around a stocky pigman mercenary and suplexed him. Steve smiled as Jennifer grabbed his hand.

“Astro needs us for fortifications. Come on.”

She threw an ender pearl just before Steve had the chance to nod, but the second they hit the ground Steve made up for his hesitation. He pulled a stack of cobblestone from his pocket and began to place it down on the line where friends stopped appearing and foes became ubiquitous. Jennifer and Ozen guarded him with precisely fired arrows and heavy sword-swings.

Within a minute or so, a surprisingly professional-looking crenelated barricade was established, three blocks high and two blocks deep, to allow a lip for archers to stand on. However, the enemy were already trying to seize it.

Astro forced his way through the melee, swinging Fire’s old sword viciously but a little clumsily.

“Get the lamps!” He called out.

Steve moved to hop the barricade and seek out a crystal-filled lamp to shatter, but a particularly large, zombified giant with a sword the length of a small tree forced him to fall back. He and Ozen took turns trying to bait it into making a mistake.

Jennifer, meanwhile, leapt up at the other end of the barricade. With one foot elevated on the turret, she effortlessly sent an arrow spinning into a lamp. She had already begun to look for the next one when the arrow struck, smiling as she heard the pleasant, glass-like tinkle of broken crystal.

Behind her, Astro forced one of his palms forward and the giant Steve and Ozen were fighting with hesitated mid-strike. It was as though he had been frozen without ice, straining to force the point of his sword down but impeded by an invisible force. While Steve and Ozen exchanged a look, a man in a skullcap ran between them and plunged a large, lapis-encrusted greatsword into the giant’s face.

Jennifer leapt from turret to turret, trying to get a good line on the next lamp. However, a young officer had gotten smart and ordered several of his soldiers to band together around a nearby lamp, holding up shields to defend it until a fast-builder could be found to construct a more elegant solution. She cursed.

A red-haired, bearded man leapt up beside her and, with a wide grin, drew back his bowstring. His arrow had a small device with a burning fuse bound to the tip. With a precise twang he sent it flying at the lantern. It detonated just above it, scattering the shield-bearing soldiers, but leaving the crystal untouched. Jennifer and the red-haired archer exchanged a look and then both loosed arrows at the exposed lamp. Jennifer’s struck first.

“Next one’s mine!” the man cackled.

Jennifer was about to quip back when Astro beckoned them over. Steve had already joined him. Seeing friendly soldiers begin to take control of the barricade and force the Tower’s forces back, she hopped down. Astro cast a small charm to drown out the sound around them in a small radius. He pulled out a basic-looking map compiled from Fire’s accounts and those of deserters, then suspended it in the air. Brit droned out instructions for which frequency to use and Steve adjusted his headset accordingly.

“We need to make it to this crossing point,” Astro decisively jabbed his finger. “Then we’ll be able to join together with a few or our other units and establish a real beachhead to attack the throne room from.”

Steve noticed that there was supposed to be some sort of staircase leading up and down for several floors. It was a key chokepoint. They had entered on this floor because they had the clearest idea of the layout, the throne room itself was several floors up.

Herobrine crackled through the radio: “We’re making steady progress, but some large, charging beast keeps harrying our efforts. You’ll make it there before us. Just seal off the route we’re due to come through and we’ll have the enemy encircled.”

“That’s all well and good for you!” A raspy voice came through. Steve heard some maniacal cackling in the background.

“What’s happening, Ray?” Astro pressed with considerable distrust. “Where’s Ozzy?”

“No, Viral, that’s a friendly, leave him be! Sorry, what were you saying, Astro? Yes, they’re killing us out here. It’s as we feared, not a man is re-forming. We’ve lost half our force.” Astro sighed deeply. “We won’t be able to make the rendezvous. If not for Amaerin and Atreidon, we would already have been overrun.”

Steve remembered Astro describing the haphazard way some men in his world, if they were lucky, crumbled to dust when killed in battle, only to later reconstitute themselves in the last place they slept. Looking around at the zealous Vanillan soldiers charging past them, Steve wondered if they would go forward so readily if they knew that desperate safety net didn’t exist in Nexus.

“Where’s Ozzy, Ray?” Astro pressed.

It was the raspy voice’s turn to sigh.

“We came across a civilian. Looked like a researcher. Ozzy insisted on bringing them into our ranks. Suddenly, they just… exploded. Turned out they were a mage. Then the ambush began… I’m sorry.”

An oaken-haired woman called Tass covered her mouth.

“****,” Astro hissed.

Steve sensed this was more than a strategic loss for Astro and placed a hand on the wizard’s shoulder, discovering as he did so that the man with the skullcap had done the same. Then, he craned his head for a closer look at the map.

“Rose,” Steve began. “How’s it looking on your end?”

“Good, Arcation have broken off to attempt an encirclement of the enemy, but otherwise Woobly and the Void are on track to clear the sector.”

“Jus’ helping ‘em set up camp here,” entered Urist. “Their sector’s almost clear.”

“Great. Rose, could you take a few guys and help Ray’s group out?”

A momentary pause followed.

“Are you quite certain I’ll need the few guys?”

Steve could just imagine her little half-smirk. He beamed.

Astro lifted Steve’s hand away, firing off an appreciative look.

“We’ll leave that to your judgement, Rose,” said Astro.

He looked around, then cocked an eyebrow.

“If there’s no other business, CHARGE!”

A cheer went up and the force ran forward. Steve, Jennifer, and Ozen ran at the front, placing obsidian beneath them to create ramps for their allies to follow over the barricade, then leaping off into the fighting. Steve equipped a second sword and began to carve a bloody trench into the enemy ranks, while Jen ducked and dodged her way through them, leaving a trail of arrow-punctured opponents. Ozen soon fell behind, slowed by his tendency towards hand-to-hand combat.

Only two groups were able to keep pace with Steve Brine and Jennifer, the Eye-and Claws, and Astro’s Guild. The rest fell behind into the general ruck, but these three kept the fight moving onwards in a perpetual torrent of glory.

The Eye-and Claws were both interesting and confusing to watch, according to Fire they were not an organized army as such, instead they were a collection of highly skilled individuals. Each one of them fought differently, yet they still moved cohesively and left the Tower’s soldiers few options for counterattacks. However, the standouts by far were Brad and Andras.

Brad flowed between enemies as if he wasn’t in a battle, but in a series of duels. Each of his opponents found their end at the tip of his diamond rapier that seemingly refused to acknowledge the existence of armour, and simply skewered anything it pointed at. Andras on the other hand exerted a zone of absolute control, any Tower soldier daring to step close was cut down by his halberd. Occasionally Andras would throw a kick, allowing the demon contained in the runic armour that replaced his right leg to lash out and devour an enemy. Not even magical attacks could touch him, it was as if he could see them coming before they were even cast.

Astro’s Guild proved equally formidable, and as Steve heard the calls of battle, became familiar with their names. The oaken-haired woman was Tassadar, and she fought on the flanks with a sword in one hand, a small, spring-loaded firearm in the other. She would lock blades with her opponents, then unload a round or two into their stomachs. Next to her was a bandana-wearing man called Mo who swung with precise, two-handed strikes of an axe. Steve didn’t see too much of them, but what little he saw impressed him. The spring-loaded firearm in particular meant that Tassadar hardly saw an enderman she didn’t kill.

The true crowning jewel of the Guild were Astro and his friends. Steve watched as the man in the skullcap, Aaron, spun and stomped and struck his way through the enemy ranks. He heaved a huge, lapis-encrusted diamond greatsword this way and that, deflecting blows from giants and cutting down iron golems without a bead of sweat on his brow. To his right, the red-haired archer, Secret, advanced with an enchanted bow, always seeking another lantern to shoot down or another target to kill. Small, the blond assassin ensured no one slipped through the archer’s guard unpunished, disappearing into the crowd and then bursting forth in a savage flurry of daggers.

Between them, Astro advanced, striking this mercenary with his new sword, Dodgeball, and crushing the ribcage of that enderman with his mind. The sword glimmered with a black flame, and whenever it drew blood, the glimmer of life in its victims’ eyes seemed to dim, as though merely being in contact with this blade had brought them slightly closer to death. Larger injuries would rapidly engulf the victim in the same black flame, leaving them a lifeless, charred corpse not long after. He barked orders to his friends, coordinating them into a tight V-formation which withstood any advance.

After them came Brit, the moustachioed detective, whipping his silver firearm from foe to foe. He didn’t bother to ensure all were dead as he proceeded, simply ensuring they were injured enough for someone behind him to finish the job. Half the time, this was his friend, the always-filthy Gracey, who zipped through the battlefield, brutalising men with a switchblade and shambling away from attacks.

Every now and then, the stout Gaian commander, Cossack would waddle urgently up and try his hand in the thick of the fighting. The episode which formed Steve’s understanding of his fighting style came when Astro was briefly encircled. In order to buy himself some room, Astro shifted the floor behind him, slamming a mercenary into the ground and enabling him to focus on a much more dangerous enderman. As the mercenary wheezed and strained back up, Cossack ran forward and hefted his sword into their gut. Astro, having dispatched the enderman, looked over his shoulder, to see a sweaty, panting Cossack beaming back at him, very pleased to have made himself useful. He fell behind again almost immediately afterwards, this exertion having knocked the wind out of him.

Finally, they came to the crossroads - a junction where four corridors met, and the Entity’s assembled wealth was clearly overflowing. Goblets, chests of gold, and paintings Steve had to assume were valuable were stacked against the open door of a nearby room, which itself was full of glass display cabinets. One of the walls in the x-shaped junction gave way onto a large, spiral staircase which had been hastily sandbagged with straw and dirt. A small, wooden palisade was all that stood between them and this key objective.

Without hesitation, they jumped the enemy’s fortifications. Everything became a clamour of sword upon steel, the twang of arrows, the crack and boom of firearms. After Steve removed the head of an enderman captain, sending up a spray of purple blood, he saw a giant - the very one who had stolen his crystals all those months ago - bat aside an Eye-and-Claw operative, then crush a member of Astro’s Guild underfoot. Steve watched with a weird curiosity as the Gaian riflemen found him, and the giant began to shudder under repeated blows from bayonet and bullet. Still, he kept fighting, until finally Brad leapt in and passed his rapier through his gut.

They were winning. Talita and Andras joined forces with Jennifer to start attacking the sandbagged stairs. Cossack barked orders at Ozen, and Steve’s brother obligingly began to build the barricade over the route Herobrine was due to come up. Steve found himself back-to-back with Astro, becoming a cyclone of victory in the splintering Tower forces.

But soon Steve broke their flow to warn Astro of a new threat. Down one of the routes, a new Tower force was charging towards them. Then, Steve noticed their erratic behaviour. Endermen warped frantically onwards, only covering several metres at a time. Their eyes held the madness of retreat. Steve watched as one fell beneath a heavy spear, swiftly retrieved by a severe-looking man in white armour, and another was wrapped in ropes by a woman in blue, then finally an officer at the fore of the fleeing enemies was split in two by a wave of impossibly sharp knives. Rose leapt through the red mist, glamorous and terrible.

Astro took his turn to draw Steve’s attention, knocking him on the shoulder and gesturing down the final corridor with Dodgeball. The enemy, scattered and confused but sufficiently numerous to pose a problem if they regrouped, fled down towards another series of junctions and doors.

A Tower officer, tall, proud, and adorned with many medals stopped the flight and gestured to hole up inside a nearby door. He twisted the handle. Immediately a man with a colossal stone shield exploded out and crushed the officer into the far wall, killing him instantly. Following him were a slender archer, a man with a flaming sword, and a hooded man holding a staff which poured fire and darts onto the retreating Tower forces. The warriors of Arcation had finally begun their encirclement - a bit late, but Steve couldn’t help but feel a little grateful.

Astro gestured, the clamour of battle was drowned out and the floating map emerged again, then began to decisively issue commands.

“Urist, how far out are you?” he asked.

“Na far, minute o’ running at tha most.”

“Excellent. In that case, Steve, Jennifer, and I are taking a small force and Arcation out on clean-up duty. The rest of you, stay here until Herobrine breaks through, and Urist’s team are able to properly fortify the position. We can’t afford a lucky charge from the enemy encircling us. We’re on their turf, don’t forget. Brad, you’re in charge.”

“Got it. We’ll hole up here and if we have the capacity, we’ll send a party to capture their comms. Might be able to break their morale and facilitate surrender.”

“Absolutely, just don’t go for the throne room yet, we need to have a firm foothold before we risk it. Also haven’t heard much from the lower sections and the machine.”

Steve got the impression Astro was trying to make up for his earlier indecision when he heard that Ozzy guy died, but the orders made sense. Someone had to keep Arcation on a leash after all. He and Jennifer said goodbye to Ozen and joined Astro as he approached the warrior priesthood.

“Gogyst!” Astro called.

The hooded man dispatched his latest prey and turned.

Steve glanced over his shoulder and noticed a few Eye-and-Claws, Talita, and a column of riflemen falling in line behind them. The ‘small force’ Astro had mentioned. Dinnerbone had also emerged from the fighting and dawdled alongside, strumming his ukulele.

“Astro!” exclaimed Gogyst, who ran up and clapped the wizard on the shoulder. “Is this not as glorious as the Onslaught? Does it not make our wars on the Brotherhood and against Dominus look trifling by comparison, now that creation itself is on the line?!”

Even beneath the obfuscation charm, Steve could tell a mad grin had spread across Gogyst’s face. He reminded Steve of a version of Kay who one hundred percent, completely believed his own hype. Yep, he needed supervision. He and Jennifer exchanged a weary look.

“Yes, Gogy, glorious indeed,” said Astro through a forced smile. “Anyway, we need you to help us finish these guys off before we go after the throne room.”

Gogyst seemed to shrink a couple of inches as he slouched forward, then called to the man with the flaming sword.

“Vacar, take point! We’re on clean-up duty.”

Then, to the man with the stone shield and the archer:

“Besta, get behind Walkers’ shield, we’re doing this methodically.”

They advanced at a measured pace. Steve and Jennifer ender-pearled forward to disrupt the enemy force and separate a few stragglers, who would then be cut down by Astro, Vacar and the others. The wizard also made sure to reach out with his mind where the lamps allowed and shattered bones, snapped necks and shut down nervous systems. The archer, Besta, and the riflemen peppered the enemy with a series of precise pot-shots.

They followed the retreating army through the corridors, and then when they tried to shake their pursuers, through a series of rooms. A grand hall filled only a chair, a fireplace, and hundreds of item frames full of music discs. A colossal mob-grinder. A farm full of pigs, cows, and sheep. Finally, they returned to the corridors and rounded a corner.

That was when they saw it. The Tower soldiers fled toward a large, obsidian gate, while a lone figure thundered in the opposite direction, right towards them. It was like nothing else Steve and Jennifer had ever seen, so they stopped, allowing Astro and the others a moment to catch up.

It was some sort of huge iron golem, complete with the long arms, the square fists, and the rectangular nose of a villager. However, instead of the usual black eyes, it had a single, red pupil, glowing angrily. And it wasn’t made of iron, its armour was too dark a grey for that, with black speckling. Was that… bedrock?

Before they knew it the golem was upon them. Steve rolled out of the way of one fist, but the Eye-and-Claws operative behind him was not so lucky, his firesteel breastplate immediately warped then rebounded and his whole body went flying. Astro immediately set about trying to heal him with his glowing hands, but he was badly hurt.

They retreated slowly, attempting to stop the golem’s march. Vacar, Steve and Astro’s swords all bounced right off the creature. The riflemen formed a line and let off a volley against it, but it hardly even flinched, and scattered the line with a single strike. Gogyst shot flame from his staff until his fuel supply ran out. Talita’s missiles simply glanced off its torso. Dinnerbone eventually ran forward and attempted to send it flying with a concerted telepathic push, but it strained on until the man with the black hat began to slide backwards under the force of his own powers.

“Go for the eye!” Jennifer called out.

Those who had bows drew them, and the remaining riflemen attempted to reload. Steve’s arrow merely bounced off its chin. Jennifer fired a shot at its head, but it glanced off the edge of the eye. Then, Besta of Arcation leapt out from behind the stone shield and sent one of his heavy arrows flying out from his greatbow. It struck the creature right in the eye and sent reeling. Besta and his fellows let out a cheer. Then, the golem’s head snapped right back into place. Crack! And the red eye was glowing even brighter than before.

Besta was immediately eviscerated by the blast, and everyone began to run for cover as further lasers began to rapidly shoot from the golem’s eye. Jennifer and Talita managed to reach the end of the corridor and hide behind the corner, but Astro, not having time to summon a proper shield, joined Steve in taking cover behind Walkers’ shield, all while trying to convince him not to suicidally avenge his fallen comrade.

“Brother!” screamed Walkers, as Steve grabbed him around the waist.

A laser blast chipped away some of the stone at the edge of the shield.

“He’s gone, Walkers, there's nothing you can do!” Astro reasoned.

“I can kill this beast, that’s what I can bloody well do!”

He began to march forward, dragging Steve with him.

“Do something!” shouted Herobrine’s son.

Astro grimaced. “So much for clearing the sector.”

He closed his eyes and clenched his fists. There was a crunch which alerted Steve to two indentations on the ceiling - or sets of indentations, it was like someone’s fingers had dug in.

“Oh!” Steve exclaimed as he realised Astro’s plan.

The wizard pulled down and the ceiling came with him, collapsing on top of the bedrock golem.

A cloud of dust rose, and there was a moment of anticipation, but they did not have to wait for it to clear naturally as further laser blasts tore straight through the cloud and right at them. Somehow, Astro had managed to crush everything but its head, which was wedged upright and firing at them.

Then, the sound of thundering footsteps echoed up the hall towards Steve. He looked back, and there strode Herobrine. Deflecting blasts with his sword, Herobrine did not once change the pace of his ceaseless advance until, at last, he stood over the crushed golem and plunged his sword into its head. Bedrock ate through bedrock, and the red eye flickered before turning off altogether.

Steve breathed a sigh of relief. He patted Walkers on the back and shook Astro’s hand.

“Oh, thank Notch!” Steve laughed. “Or Herobrine, I guess.”

Herobrine struck a pose and was clearly about to say something very important and self-serious when a rumbling sound began.

Within seconds a colossal beast slammed through the wall and directly into Herobrine. The beast was taller than Steve, rampaging forward on legs like tree trunks, its massive horned head ploughing through anything that stood in its path. A small grey villager sat, sneering on its back. Herobrine returned to his feet immediately and pursued the beast rider down the corridor, swearing vengeance.

Steve would have joined him, but they were immediately swarmed by a series of similar grey-skinned villagers who emerged from the breach. They weren’t too tough, however, and Steve, Astro, Jennifer, and the others fought their way through the crowd of hemming and hawing attackers, crossing through the breach in the wall. After all, they were supposed to clear the sector, and this was a new part of it.

However, then Steve saw a figure crushed under some rubble down a side-passage.

“Steve!” they called.

It was Ozen. How had he gotten there?

Steve and Jennifer ran straight towards him and began to lift the stone bricks which covered him. As soon as the rubble was clear, however, Steve remembered what happened to that Ozzy guy. He pulled Jen back and placed down some obsidian. Sure enough, Ozen immediately transformed into a white-robed mage, but instead of exploding, disappeared. Steve furrowed his brow and slowly looked out from behind the blocks.

“Steve,” said Jennifer. “Look at the floor.”

She stomped and the ground crunched. Gravel.

An unseen piston clanked, and the floor gave way. They fell about fifteen blocks and slammed into the ground which was made of… railway tracks?

Steve looked around. A series of wood-log supports reached up around them, propped against the walls, and discarded signs littered the floor. An insanely basic trap. Steve cursed his own stupidity, but he didn’t have time to think about that.

Two figures emerged from the shadows at the pit’s far end. A man, and a woman who looked a little like… Alex? It wasn’t quite her, but the resemblance was uncanny. Also, she wore a strange, winged grey armour.

Suddenly, words appeared in front of the man in a bright, white font. Steve had always considered himself a bit of a slow reader, but somehow immediately understood their meaning.

ARE YOU STEVE BRINE FROM WORLD 390?

Steve did not like the sound of this, but after exchanging a look with Jennifer, decided to say:

“No, I’m Steve… Mine, from World…”

I CAN TELL YOU’RE LYING.

“Yeah, I thought so. I’m Steve Brine. This is Jennifer.”

The man stepped into the light, and Steve gasped as he saw his own face. The only difference was that where his own eyes were purple, this guy’s eyes were a deep blue - like his own before he killed Drake Senior.

PLEASED TO MEET YOU. I AM THE STEVE FROM WORLD 001. YOU MAY CALL ME STEVE PRIME. THIS IS MY PARTNER, ALEX.

“Not Alex Prime?” Jennifer asked with a snort.

Prime began to bite into a golden apple. Alex laughed, and instead of using the ominous text, she spoke normally.

“No, Prime doesn’t have an Alex, I helped him kill my Steve a while back. We kept the partnership going. What’s your name?”

“Jennifer.”

“Good, then I promise you this isn’t personal.”

Alex whipped out a crossbow with some sort of rocket loaded into it and shot it directly into Jennifer’s chest. Jennifer flew back in an explosion of yellow sparks in the shape of a creeper’s head. Alex used a second rocket to propel herself into the air and swooped down at Jennifer with a sword. Jennifer leapt up and began grappling fiercely with her airborne foe.

Steve moved to help, but before he could fully turn, a glass bottle had shattered against his shoulder. Suddenly everything from his armour to his own skull felt a lot heavier. A weakness potion.

DIE.

A minecart swept Steve’s legs out from under him and he tumbled in.

“Well, at least I know what the tracks are for,” he thought.

He fumbled around in his pocket for a bucket of milk and stole a sip just in time for the minecart to slam into the far wall. He saw Prime flying through the air with an axe and a large, rectangular wooden shield. With his strength restored, he leapt from the minecart and out of the way.

His footing regained, Steve launched a flurry of blows at Prime, hacking and slashing in a deliberate, practised onslaught. Every single blow was absorbed by the shield, but Steve knew it was only wood. He just had to keep hitting until- Snap! The shield splintered. Steve grabbed Excalibur with both hands and thrust it at Prime’s dark grey chestplate.

The sword hit another shield and bounced off. Prime bashed Steve with the new shield and he staggered back.

THAT WON’T WORK. I HAVE LIKE FIVE MORE OF THESE, AND EVEN IF YOU GET THROUGH…

He tapped his chestplate with his axe.

NETHERITE. STRONGER THAN DIAMOND IN ANY WORLD.

Steve grimaced and rushed forward for another attack, only for Prime’s axe to send him sprawling.

IT’S CALLED KNOCKBACK. OR DO THEY NOT HAVE THAT WHERE YOU COME FROM?

“Do they not have smack talk in your world?” Steve snapped back.

Steve wished he felt as confident as he sounded, and that wasn’t his most confident retort ever. Cracks had already started spreading across his armour. He couldn’t believe it. This was a fresh set and enchanted with unbreaking to boot. Even considering the battle, it couldn’t be running down this early.

He dodged Prime’s next swing, and then the next. He tried to keep his distance and bought himself enough time to see Jennifer be thrown to the ground by Alex. She drew Fire’s ghast bone bow but didn’t have time to draw back its heavy string before Alex was back on her again.

Something glimmered in Prime’s hand. He wasn’t holding an axe anymore, it was another potion. Steve narrowly dodged the bottle and it shattered against one of the log pillars. A single drop splashed against Steve’s cheek, and he felt it burn at his very life force. A damage potion, good to avoid that one.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t avoid the hook of Prime’s fishing rod, which he had equipped while Steve was busy dodging the potion. With a robust tug, Steve fell forward and landed on his face. Thankfully, he was able to draw an ender-pearl and throw it between Prime’s legs to avoid the inevitable strike of his axe.

The moment Steve materialised, he wasted no time in hitting Prime on the back of the head again and again. However, he did not stagger. No matter where he struck Prime, it was as though the harm was diffused across his entire body. In no time, Prime faced Steve again and bashed him with his shield.

I HAVE SEEN SO MANY LIKE US.

Steve dodged his swipe.

WE AWAKEN, WE PUNCH TREES, WE SURVIVE THE NIGHT.

Steve pearled behind him again, but Prime turned instinctively and blocked.

WE BUILD HOMES TO STAY SAFE, BUT THAT’S NEVER ENOUGH.

Steve reached over the shield and punched Prime in the face to minimal effect. He saw Jennifer headbutt Alex.

SO WE GO OUT, WE KILL THE DRAGON, THE WITHER AND EVERY OTHER OPPONENT WORTH FIGHTING.

Prime tried to hit Steve with that stupid fishing rod again, but it only managed to scrape his cheek.

WHY? TO PROVE WE’RE THE BEST!

Steve drew a second sword and simultaneously deflected one of Prime’s attacks while hitting the shield again.

BUT WHAT NEXT? AFTER ALL FOES ARE BEATEN?

Steve broke the shield and began to strike Prime furiously until he equipped a new one. Prime bashed him back.

SOME OF US HAVE WHATEVER WEIRD STUFF YOU GOT UP TO WITH HEROBRINE AND YOUR FAMILY. IDK, I ONLY SKIMMED YOUR FILE.

Prime’s axe connected with Steve’s arm, and he dropped the second sword. The cracks spread further across his diamond armour. Alex grabbed Jennifer as she tried to draw another heavy shot with the ghast bone bow. They soared upwards.

I HAD NO IDEA WHAT TO DO. I WAS THE BEST, BUT I WAS ALONE. THEN, FORGELIGHT FOUND ME, AND I DISCOVERED THAT I WAS ONLY WORLD 001! AND THERE WERE THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE WITH EXACTLY MY PROBLEM!

Steve just about managed to dodge Prime’s blow. He saw Jennifer grab Alex’s wings, forcing her to crash into a log pillar. It wobbled.

SO I DECIDED THAT OF ALL THE TREE-PUNCHING KNUCKLEHEADS, I WAS NOT ONLY THE FIRST!

He struck Steve’s chestplate. His boots broke. Steve couldn’t stop thinking about that wobbling pillar.

I WAS GOING TO BE THE BEST!

He hit Steve again and his helmet shattered. Excalibur slipped from his hand due to the force of the attack. He remembered he and Jennifer’s first day in Nexus. He backed up.

AND SURE AS THE NETHER!

Prime knocked out Steve’s leggings. He recalled how they had tried to place dirt and tower, but it had crumbled away.

A glance confirmed that Jennifer was being lifted again, even higher than before, struggling all the way.

I WAS GOING TO BE THE LAST!

Steve slammed into the log pillar as his chestplate exploded into a cloud of diamond shards. Every part of him ached, and he was down to his turquoise shirt and jeans. Prime was winding up for a final, horizontal swing that would cut him in half.

Still, he couldn’t stop thinking about how, after the dirt thing didn’t work out, they realised they’d have to just cut the tree down normally, but when they went to do that…

NOW, DIE.

…The tree had fallen over!

Steve dodged, Prime’s axe stuck in the log and cracks spread all the way along a metric cube of the pillar. Steve swung his fist forward. The block broke. His eyes locked with Prime’s for a second. He saw fear in his opponent’s gaze, perhaps the first fear he had felt in his entire life, but also a sort of respect.

NOT BAD…

The log fell on him. Steve saw him struggle for a moment, then disappear in a puff of smoke. His belongings scattered across the floor, including his armour, his stupid fishing rod, and those especially awful shields.

“No, the best,” thought Steve.

He had no time for reverie or even to loot the spoils, however, as Alex hurled Jennifer from the ceiling to the bottom of the pit. Jennifer hit the ground with a crack, and Alex swooped down. Steve grabbed Excalibur and ran forward despite his lack of armour. Then, he heard the arrow snap into place. Jennifer held the ghast bone bow in hand.

Alex’s eyes widened, she tried to pull up, but to no avail. The arrow shot forth even faster than one of her rockets. It pierced right through her exposed torso and pinned her to the ceiling. She didn’t vanish in a puff of smoke, but her wings slid off, and her crossbow crashed into the ground.

Steve ran up to Jennifer and hugged her.

“Are you okay?”

“I just killed someone who looked like one of our close friends and neighbours. Otherwise, fine. What about you?”

“I just killed myself. Otherwise, fine.”

They both got really quiet for a moment.

“Jennifer.”

“Yeah, Steve?”

“I am so done with this interdimensional stuff.”

“Me too.”

They laughed until, finally, a grey villager corpse fell into the pit with them. Its neck was snapped. Astro leaned into view above.

“How are you down there? All good?”

“We’re fine,” Jennifer groaned. “That was just… a hard one.”

“Do you need any healing? Or-”

“We’re fine Astro!” Jennifer pressed.

“Okay, it’s just… It’s not like we have a hard countdown, but it’s definitely time sensitive. Should we throw a rope down or can you build out? Actually, Steve, should I tell Urist to get you a new set of armour?”

Steve looked over at Prime’s belongings - or, he supposed, Prime’s remains depending on how you looked at it.

“I just need five minutes,” he grinned up at Astro.

“Get the lamp!”

I began following the order before I even realised who it had come from. In the din of battle the only distinction I could afford to make was between friend and foe.

I wrenched the sword from the Endling’s shoulder in a cloud of blood. I waited a second to see if it got back up, but it was dead. With an imprecise sweep of my arm, I gestured for my men to follow me. The lamp swayed before me as I panted ragged breaths.

It stood proudly, practically daring me to topple it. But enemies stood between me and my goal. Endlings and mercenaries and giants and all variety of other things. I deflected a blow from an Endling officer and struck him across the jaw. He warped behind me, ready to strike, but fell before Raphoe’s poleaxe.

I recalled my battle with the Ender.

Next, I swept the legs from beneath a mercenary. The chief huntress and her husband struck down his fellows in a flurry of spears and daggers. The lamp was open. I lifted the mercenary from the ground threw him against it. The stone pedestal fell on him, and the purple crystals burst open amidst the blood spreading across the floor.

I recalled how I had liberated Astro.

A glance over my shoulder. Tyron cut down a giant, then beckoned for a robed figure to come forward. I recognised him as Wolfric, Steve’s aloof, dark-haired friend who had volunteered to accompany Shadow. He held out a hand.

“Impulverify!” he called.

The gate before him, reinforced with obsidian, crumpled. I allowed myself a jovial laugh as our troops flooded down the stairs towards the next level.

Then, I recalled Rose cutting open the door of the portal facility. My greatest glory. My coronation. The beginning of my undoing. Suddenly, my legs wouldn’t stop shaking and I had to steady myself against Clarke.

Once I had recovered, I marched on to hold the line with my troops as our allies broke free from their various engagements and pushed onwards.

Fire and the Mencur-Besh quickly overtook us and renewed the advance, overtaking my men easily. Once again, the yellow-eyed Mencur-Besh shot forward like blasts of artillery, bursting bloody holes in our enemies’ lines. And as soon as he joined them, Fire was no less effective, cleaving apart enemies with burning arcs of his zweihander.

Overhead, Shadow and her coven carried out clean-up duty, several of them having been relocated from the assault on the upper levels. Danann flitted between enemies, vanishing in clouds of smoke, and leaving frail duplicates who bore all manner of injuries. Our enemies seemingly ignored all reason and flocked to these apparitions, only for Danann to incinerate them from behind with a quick snap of his sparking fingers. Iridia and Pallas ran between our soldiers, providing healing magic and, in the most extreme cases, providing healing potions. Their master, however, outshone all their efforts.

Shadow threw out powerful spells whenever there was an opportunity, blasts of flame, lightning bolts, and of course her apparent favourite: the blindingly bright ray that left nothing where it struck. Though I could swear that in the past she had used stronger versions of these spells, was it because we were indoors?

Lupe decapitated a giant next to me, spraying blood on my face. I wiped my cheek with my blood-encrusted scarf, and as I did so I found Tyron again.

Carried forth by his stone wings, the Dragoknight crashed into a man, breaking his bones, and sending him flying. As he landed on the ground and drew Kir again, Amanda and Helix rushed forward to defend him.

I found myself momentarily entranced as Amanda pulled a trick that was deeply familiar to me. A mercenary advanced on her, confident of his supremacy over a mere child. She dodged one blow, then another, and then she struck back. She brandished her crossbow like a spear and thrust it as close to her opponent’s face as she could, forcing him to flinch. She pulled back slightly, then fired the bolt straight at her opponent’s neck. The bolt thudded in, and he fell dead.

“She must have spoken to Secret,” I told myself, though realistically I had no way of knowing.

In truth, I was probably trying to avoid looking at Helix. Even after my entrancement broke and I began to fight towards them, I could only muster minute glances in his direction. I would look at him, then draw away, as though I had cut myself on a shard of glass. First, I glimpsed him firing his luminous bow. Next, I saw him mustering purple flame to drive off an Endling.

I felt a surge of pride as I realised, he was tentatively using his demonic powers, then my heart curdled as I remembered how I had failed him.

We finished descending the stairs and came into a large hall, filled with Tower banners and expensive-looking artwork. I squinted down at the far end and saw a set of two spiral staircases. I exchanged a look with Tyron, then called out to Kami to pull up the map. I nodded to Tyron, and he began to speak into his mic.

“Right, everyone, we’re coming up on the staircase down to the labs. Be on your guard, if there’s a counterattack coming it’ll come here.”

It felt redundant, as we were still up to our necks in Tower soldiers, but we still had to be wary. We were fighting an empire, and risk encirclement at any moment. As though reading my thoughts, Tyron added:

“How are we looking with the rear guard, Lucy?”

Lucy’s voice came back: “The Tower forces are mounting another offence, but we’re holding. We further fortified the perimeter, so they have to go up against their own walls. Some are getting through though, the faster we get this done the better. Still, be as careful as you can afford to be.”

Tyron nodded sagely as he raked Kir across the stomach of another mercenary.

“You heard the lady,” he affirmed, then returned to his onslaught.

I fought the urge to follow his comment up with some grand oration. For one, I knew it would not be well-received. More importantly, I’m not sure I still had it in me.

I parried an enderman and sent them spinning into the path of one of Kami’s showers of magical energy.

Our fight continued, bloody and terrible.

The Tower’s lines did not break as they had on the fields. Every time we pushed them back, they just seemed to compress and harden, like diamonds formed by the shifting of the world itself. I heard their officers’ screaming slogans over the clamour:

“Do it for Marcus! For Silver! For the world yet promised to us!”

“For a new world!”

“An end to injustice.”

I borrowed a spear from one of the hunters any time I heard this dreck. Madmen preaching of a utopia at the world’s end. I would not abide it. Unfortunately, eventually I realised that half these slogans were coming from crackling speaker-boxes, reinforced with obsidian casings to make them hard to shatter.

At this point, even the Mencur-Besh were struggling to advance. They resorted to striking specific points along the line so that one of them might be able to overcharge and rush through, functioning as a depth charge when they inevitably fell beneath the enemy’s swords, spears, and arrows.

Even the Graves siblings Fire and Shadow were having difficulties. The Tower troops had resorted to tearing lanterns off the walls and carrying them forward, sacrificing later defence to stop the onslaught of spells. Shadow had dropped to the ground and fought using the odd amorphous blade she had also carried during the ambush on the Tower patrol, which to me felt like it happened years ago. Fire was still a force to be reckoned with, but he had dropped from supernaturally dangerous to simply dangerous, which was a big swing in favour of the Tower troops.

My eyes were also drawn to the efforts of the Brotherhood as they, against all odds, managed to advance almost uninterrupted. Tauto Chrone, beneath his steel mask, became a flurry of death. He slashed with his electrified dagger and cracked his burning whip at anyone who threatened his initiates. Next to him an assassin in a turtle-mask did impressive work as he dodged every blow and slit throats with his circular blades. But most impressive of all was a man whose name I had not yet heard. He stood at the centre of the group, though Chrone was the leader, hacking away with two shortswords in an almost continuous torrent of attacks. No blow seemed to be able to shake him, as his diamond armour seemed to form a continuous, unbroken skin across his body.

Still, despite their successes, we were at an impasse. The twin staircases did not seem to get any closer. As I removed my blade from a giant’s knee, leaving him to the mercy of Tyron and Seth, I imagined the staircases swirling, boring deeper and deeper into the earth and pushing our goal further and further away. And yet, just as despair struck me, a familiar voice restored my hope.

“I’m sick of this.”

Helix stepped forward. Bloodstains covered him from head to toe, and the red hue of his eyes seemed to have dulled to match them. He held his gauntlet before him, looking at it as though it were a watch. I noticed that the crystal on it was sparking purple.

“Tin-Throne!” He shouted to an unseen party. “Give me that cool demon-arm from before!” A criss-cross of purple flames weaved across his arm, and soon these lines coalesced into a horrific, giant arm. “Activate whack-a-mole mode… but only for Tower troops!”

Immediately the fist at the end of his demonic limb twitched as though nodding. It then windmilled down and struck the ground, sending Warnado flying into the enemy ranks. Before I had time to yelp in distress or notice the smoking crater he had left next to me, I saw the fist slamming around every which way, literally punching a hole in their defences.

I raised my sword and sent up a cry, and what remained of my red-scarved elites joined me as we hacked and beat our way through the fractured enemy. I saw Fire break through next to us.

In no time at all, the enemy were scattering, retreating down the stairs towards the labs or into this room full of taxidermized bears, or that room full of what appeared to be altars. My men and I caught up to Warnado as he dispelled his demon arm at the top of the stairs. He turned, panting, and smiling.

As we advanced, I couldn’t stop grinning myself. This young man, who just a few months ago had been reduced to tears using precisely that power, had just used it to successfully turn the tide of battle. This power had killed his father, but he was breaking the cycle. He would be the hero his world needed. And I had to say something. I opened my mouth

“Helix-”

“HELIX!”

Amanda cut across me, running up and grabbing her boyfriend around the waist.

“That was amazing! You were amazing!”

She lifted him and spun him around.

“What else is new?” Warnado giggled.

She put him down, and then they both fell into comfortable silence. I shuffled awkwardly. The Brotherhood and Mencur-Besh charged down the stairs to my right. Tyron stopped next to us, accompanied by Seth and Rathina.

“Not bad, kiddo,” Tyron laughed and clapped him on the shoulder. “Pretty sure I saw some of the moves I taught you in there so don’t mind if I steal my share of the credit.”

“50% our win!” chirped Kir.

“Sorry guys,” he quipped back. “This is the part of the heist movie where I reveal I already stole the credit two days ago.”

There was a round of polite laughter because no one seemed to understand what he was talking about. Then again, when questioned what he was talking about he never seemed to fully grasp it either. I heard Lupe of all people bark with genuine laughter and turned my head to see her shoot Warnado a knowing look as she prepared to join the fray.

Shadow and Fire broke off from driving away stragglers and approached the small circle of congratulations.

“Good job,” said Shadow. “You’ve come a long way.”

Fire nodded but threw glances down the staircase ahead. It was clear that he was feeling the urgency of our situation.

Unfortunately for him, the speaker-boxes crackled to life again. I hadn’t noticed their silence until that point.

“Hello Tower radio-o-o-o-o-o!” whooped a man.

I recognised the voice and my emotions immediately sparked from discomfort into joy.

“We’re sorry to interrupt your regularly scheduled programming,” teased a woman’s voice. “But you’re under new management.”

“I’m Aaron Ecodew!”

“And I’m Tassadar Tunes!”

“And you’re listening to 24D Airwaves, sponsored by the good folks at Eye-and-Claws Inc, where we play nothing but the secrets your bosses don’t want to tell you!”

“Like how the Entity planned not to create a utopia for you guys to conquer, but just to glomp up all of reality for some reason! Don’t believe us? Ask Doctor Mercury, or has she been weirdly inaccessible for the last few weeks? Just hanging around in her lab all the time. Could that perhaps be because she realised the truth?”

“Not to say the first plan made much sense to begin with,” Aaron chuckled. “Did you dumb mother****ers really think you were the toughest guys in the multiverse?”

I leant against the wall and began to polish my sword. I heard weapons clattering to the floor and saw a small group of stragglers on the other side of the hall throwing down their weapons and surrendering to a detachment of Vangaardians.

“I have to say,” Tassadar said with grave professionalism. “Today’s events have certainly put that assumption into question.”

“But Tassadar, that’s not the worst part! You see, you’ve all collectively been had twice over! Because after all, the Entity who tricked you to begin with died a week ago.”

“Killed by our dear friend, Destiny Rosario. Rest in peace.”

I shot an apologetic smile to Kami, who grimaced awkwardly in return.

“That’s right, the real person in charge of the Tower is everybody’s favourite phantom of fear, Freak… Phantom… Phantomson. Yeah, Freak Phantomson.”

There was a pause, then the sound of Aaron breaking down laughing.

“That’s really the best you can do?” Tassadar said, not letting her presenter voice drop for a second.

Fire seemed to only partially listen to the messages, he knew their content already since he’d played an important part in creating the draft. Instead, he seemed to be silently half-moving his mouth, as if speaking to someone, probably communicating with the Mencur-Besh collective, debating whether he should go on ahead.

“There’s not even a surname in the script.”

“I tried to improv it.”

Astro’s voice crackled in, slightly muffled.

“Yeah, and that did not work, mate.”

“What a dipshit!” Secret howled dramatically in the background. “How could you have done this?!”

I felt like I was back in the pub in Zine Craft again. It felt like alcohol heating my insides. It felt like friendly laughter filling my ears. The laughter of people who hadn’t realised what I was yet. People who thought, even despite my criminal past, I could still turn it all around with nothing but a change of attitude, an overenthusiastic smile, and a fake accent.

Aaron finally collected himself.

“...Let’s go to our first guest, Laura, a Tower scientist who recently purchased some truly distressing information from our dear Freak, and also deserted to our cause.”

I strained my ears as papers faintly rustled, then a tiny cough as a throat was cleared. Then, suddenly, loudly:

“I've come to make an announcement, Clark Belmont is a *****-ass mother****er, he stole Dimensions' ****ing snacks. That's right, he took his grubby hands and stole those ****ing snacks, and he said they tasted ‘this good’ and I said that's disgusting so I'm making a callout on this intercom-”

“-Moving stuff, Laura,” Tassadar interjected, saving all of our ears. “And what do you have to say to the Tower magi who have been disguising themselves as civilians to lure in and ambush Shelter forces?”

I furrowed my brows. We had encountered this as well. Now, we were about to push into the labs, where one would expect to find scientists and technicians. How many might be willing to fight to defend their creations at any cost? Could we trust any purported civilians?

“Cut it out!” Laura yelled. “You’re going to get all of us killed!”

I stood up as the fighting on the stairs seemed to intensify again. That was when the radio took a turn for the strange.

“You heard it here first, folks. Cut. It-”

There was a thudding noise, and I heard Aaron grunt.

“****!” Tassadar yelled.

Gunshots, two of them. Then, a guttural roar of pain. My eyes widened. An Endling.

I heard the microphone shuffle as further gunshots sounded.

“Grey Ones! Attack!”

The sound of teleportation groaned around us until it felt as though the air were corroding around us. Hundreds of Endlings materialised, many armed, many bearing only their claws. One common theme held them together. To a great or lesser degree, all of them had been marked with grey paint.

I rolled away from the talons of a snarling beast of the End and forced it to warp away with a slash of my blade.

Unfortunately, they had caught us at just the wrong moment. The Mencur-Besh and much of Shadow’s Coven had already forced their way most of the way down the spiral staircase, and the new incursion of Endlings intended to keep them locked there. This left mostly Shelter forces and Vanillans in the hall, who were not nearly as well-equipped to deal with such an incursion.

They had already begun to shatter my men. Raphoe’s poleaxe clattered to the floor as an obsidian blade severed his spine. One of them had Kami by the throat, but with a flourish of her staff, an orb appeared and pelted her assailant with magical energy, following it wherever it warped. My men nobly tried to keep ranks, but they had scattered just enough in the lull that the Endlings were easily able to keep them separate. The hunters, however, moved almost unaffected, dodging, and countering easily, and soon with their help we were able to establish some equilibrium.

As my men formed an armoured circle of swords and spears, I realised what the Grey Ones’ arrival had to signal. Glibby was on the field, and he would be go straight for…

“Helix!” I yelled.

My eyes leapt ahead of my body and began to sweep the battlefield for any sign of Warnado.

Much of the leadership had remained upstairs to discuss how to approach the attack on the labs, so I quickly found who I was looking for.

Shadow had formed a circle of her remaining mages and was trying to cast a spell - presumably something to limit or stop Endling teleportation. The mouth of the spiral staircase with all its violence and bloodshed Fire, Tyron, Warnado and Amanda flitted around them like the spokes of a waterwheel, striking down one Endling here, then there, and then two more had appeared.

But no sign of Glibby. No hulking shoulders. No gargantuan fists. Not even a weather-worn trilby to signal his presence. Where could he be?

My eyes were drawn to Fire, who was easily the best equipped to deal with the Endlings. His ability to detect energy allowed him to reliably foresee their teleportation. I watched him lean slightly forward to evade one strike, then cleave his sword backward, killing his assailant instantly. Then, a measured backstep took him out of the reach of a flurry of swipes from the front. The flurry ended in another precise, brutal, burning stroke of the zweihander. That was when he arrived.

Glibby loomed suddenly to Fire’s left, leering and smirking so intensely the cloud of arrogance which always surrounded him had almost become visible. Obsidian armour covered his form, though a loose robe had been draped over that in an oblique gesture to his normal trenchcoat.

Leader of the Mencur-Besh turned to face him. The Ape’s smirk exploded into a grin, and their combat began.

I barked an order leaving Lupe in charge and began to run through the battle towards the ensuing duel.

Fire parried the Ape’s opening punch, and the fist screamed away in a burst of sparks.

I ducked as Chrone’s whip lashed across the battlefield.

The Ape threw a second punch, fiercer than the first. I almost saw the wind bunching up between his knuckles.

I leapt over Rathina as she plunged her daggers into the heart of an Endling she had just stunned and tripped.

Fire stepped back, angling his sword at his opponent’s exposed face. The punch flew wide. Glibby staggered.

My shoulder crashed into the Endling before me, sending him flying to the ground. Amanda quickly slotted a crossbow bolt into his head. I had made it. A grin crept onto my face.

Fire thrust his sword forward, and time slowed down.

An Endling materialised and grabbed the sleeve of Glibby’s robe from behind. He vanished, then reappeared to Fire’s right. The Mencur-Besh, following the train of energy began to turn his head. The Ape’s wild grin rapidly civilised itself into a smirk. That was when both Fire and I saw what the Endling had left behind when he picked up Glibby: a man with blue, glassy eyes, and a sniper rifle.

Flame burst forth from the long barrel of the gun, propelling its bullet onwards and into Fire’s firesteel breastplate. The metal warped inwards several inches as the bullet struck, crushing scale and flesh and organ in its wake, until finally the firesteel snapped back outwards, expelling the flattened round. Fire staggered back, clasping his chest. The glassy-eyed man snapped his fingers and was whisked away by another enderman.

"I see how it is, not a proper battle unless I lose a heart, huh?" Fire spat, his voice lowered to a growl. I had only heard that tone once or twice before, Fire was angry, or as close to it as he allowed himself to get.

One of Glibby’s gauntleted fists clamped around Fire’s sword-arm. The other slammed into his flank, the firesteel warping in so far I wasn’t sure it would actually warp back. Some relief flooded into me when it finally did, but this didn’t stop Fire’s face from contorting in genuine pain.

The Ape leaned in and drawled into his ear:

“What’s the matter, Fire? Not so fun when you didn’t plan to lose them?”

Just at that moment, Fire’s scales’ glow intensified beneath Glibby’s obsidian-coated fingers. The Mencur-Besh smirked as it did. The Ape grunted and threw his head back in pain, but then rallied. He clamped his other hand onto Fire’s body. With smoke rising from beneath one hand, and pain flooding his senses, the Ape hefted Fire over his head, and roared as he hurled him overhead. Fire slammed into the wall of the spiral staircase, cracking the stone bricks, then fell into the melee, where grey-painted Endlings immediately began to swarm him.

“So much for him,” Glibby chuckled, waggling his burnt fingers. “Now, where’s Helix.”

He rounded on the demon-child and cocked his head. Warnado backed away, closing his eyes, clenching his gauntleted fist and muttering.

Tyron and I exchanged a look and immediately interposed ourselves between Glibby and his prey. Amanda knelt behind us and trained a crossbow on him.

I weighed our odds. The last time we fought Glibby, Fire had stood a chance against him one-on-one. Then again, the original Grey Ones had been there, and they had been learning how to complement Glibby’s fighting style for over a decade. Could other Endlings prove as effective?

I flourished my sword and looked around for help. Shadow’s circle had almost finished their spell, the runic circle almost finished shining into place. She would be free shortly, and while she seemed to be holding back in here, I had no doubt she would want to pay Glibby back for what he’d just done to her brother. Not to mention, Warnado’s safety was at stake, and if nothing else I could say that she cared about him.

Unfortunately, Glibby’s cool eyes also seemed to have drifted towards her.

“Ah, teleportation suppression, is it? Well, we can’t have that,” he rolled his shoulders and pressed a finger against his ear. “Muffin, deal with the little witch.”

Boom! A man wearing a pinstriped suit and a cavernous smile shot into the air and his head immediately whipped towards Shadow. A wand sat in either hand, and I saw a heavy satchel of purple metal sat at his side: A thaumaturge. I froze. Thaumaturges were not capable of the nuance of real wizards, so most just threw themselves into raw power. As such, they weren’t so much sorcerers as cannons with legs.

He wasted no time in confirming my impression, blasting himself down at Shadow with one wand, and winding up for another attack with the other. Just before landing, he swung the wand like a sword and a clod of summoned energy shot straight at Shadow. She summoned a shield just in time, and it held, but the Thaumaturge’s smile remained gaping. He cocked an eyebrow, and I could almost physically hear the gears turning.

Clarke took this moment to run out of the crowd and shot a fireball at the Thaumaturge. In response, he caught the burning orb with his wands, and with a flick of his wrists split it in three. The central mass shot back at Clarke, striking him on the shoulder and knocking him to the ground. The other two formed into the shape of colossal greatswords, with the wands as hilts. He touched the ground, then neatly carved through Shadow’s shield.

I saw the runic circle flicker but not break. One of the circles began to rise, but Shadow ordered her not to break focus. As the amorphous blade took shape again, her shadow detached from her feet.

Wodahs took up a fighting stance and made for the faint shadow he cast on the floor of the hall, expecting no resistance. The Thaumaturge, however, simply flourished his right hand and the wand-blade shifted from a burning flame to a near-blinding light which scorched my vision. He swept the sword across ground where Wodahs had intended to strike, leaving no darkness to occupy. Shadow lunged forward with her shifting blade, and the combat ensued, the Thaumaturge dodging their attacks in a frenzied jig, his smile never fading, and his howling laughter never ceasing.

Satisfied, Glibby returned his attention to us.

“As for you,” He snapped his fingers. “Huskers, get the ghost, Eight, kill the beast.”

Endlings materialised before us, leaving off two figures. The sniper from before, presumably Huskers, immediately fired a shot that whizzed past my ear and cast a scorching wind over my cheek, forcing me to duck. Seeing him winding up a second shot, I rushed at him before he could fire it off and found myself swing at a man who seemed to have just about anticipated every move I could use on him, successfully dodging and parrying or striking me with the stock of his rifle every time. Yet, I could hear him wheezing and panting. His ageing body was struggling to act upon this knowledge.

Beside him, another man appeared. He wore a similar, unbroken diamond skin to the dual-wielding fighter from the Brotherhood, except he had affixed some porous white mask to the face. Diamond talons extended from between his knuckles, runes glowed on his arms and in a flash of purple light he materialised in front of Tyron and began to fall upon him in a cascade of feral, animalistic blows.

Tyron did his best to respond, summoning rocks from the floor to reinforce his arm and striking deliberately with Kir, but before long great welts began to appear along his arms.

Seeing us distracted, Glibby charged between us, directly at Warnado. Amanda instinctively fired a shot at Glibby’s face, but it shattered against the scorched palm of his gauntlet. He swept an arm at her to force her to dodge back, bearing directly down on Warnado himself. The demon-child was still muttering to himself, eyes closed, completely open. And Glibby’s fist was flying forward.

“Helix!” I cried, just before the sniper’s stock struck me in the jaw.

Glibby’s fist found only air. Warnado’s glowing red eyes were open, and his mouth had creeped into a smile. He leaned back at an impossible, forty-five-degree angle, suspended on his heel by magic. And his gauntleted arm had once again become the burning fist of a demon.

He propelled himself into standing and used the momentum to swipe up at Glibby. The taloned fist caught the Ape’s breastplate on the upper torso and scraped away some of the obsidian. A fleck of two of demonfire even sprayed off the fist and caught Glibby on the chin, forcing him to recoil. He spun out of the way of a second swipe and forced Warnado back with a precise jab of the fist. However, he immediately found himself on the backfoot once more as he evaded another of Amanda’s crossbow bolts.

“I’m pleasantly surprised, Helix,” he sneered. “No more running from you, I see.”

He threw another jab at Warnado. It slammed into the demon-arm, and Glibby swiftly pulled it back before the flames did him any serious damage. He stuck out his arm and flexed his fingers against the pain.

At the same moment, the sniper’s age caught up to him and I was able to shunt him back a few steps. As I moved to strike him, he briefly pointed the barrel at my face, then let it drop to floor and shot at my foot, buying him a little more space. I found this very odd. Why not take the shot?

Warnado floated into the air, demon-fist raised.

“Nope, just me kicking your butt,” he quipped.

He shot down, planning to reduce Glibby to a very burnt pancake on the floor. However, at the last moment an Endling grabbed his arm and warped him to safety. A purple-tinged crater cracked into existence on the ground where he had stood.

Glibby was lucky, as a second later the runic circle flickered into completion, suppressing the teleportation capacity of the Endlings, and allowing our forces a chance to fight on even footing again. The Mencur-Besh and Coven were gaining more ground on the staircase, though the Endlings were still numerous, and I couldn’t make out Fire among them.

Shadow was still locked in combat with the Thaumaturge, frustration visibly forming on her face, her mages forbidden from helping her. Tyron slammed a wall of rock into his opponent, though this only momentarily broke his stride before he launched into a new round of attacks. I also saw Chrone and the Brotherhood fighting their way through the crowd toward Glibby. I struck out at the sniper, and for the first time my fist connected.

Glibby cast the now useless Endling aside and began to rummage around inside a pouch on his hip. He pulled out a bottle of purple dust which caused me to pause. I only had a second, though, before the sniper struck out at me again and we returned to the dance of combat which he seemed to know much better than me. Almost as though he had rehearsed the steps to it already…

Warnado rounded on Glibby, and the Ape cocked his head to encourage him onwards. Amanda fired another bolt to cover Warnado’s advance. He ran forward with his fist before him, ready to drive it like a spear into Glibby’s gut. The Ape blocked the bolt yet again and threw the bottle at the ground, throwing up a cloud of purple dust which Warnado ran through. Immediately I saw the effect. Warnado’s fist began to dwindle, the flames flickered and dimmed, the talons became less sharp. His hand connected with Glibby’s torso, just about breaking the armour, but when he drew it away, it was a thoroughly human hand, with only the tips of his fingers covered in the Ape’s blood.

“H-how?” Warnado stammered.

The demon-child began to back away, but Glibby grabbed him and threw him to the ground. I realised I had to end this fight with the sniper immediately.

“I’ve been doing research on you.”

The Ape’s fleshy, skin-coloured lips folded into a contented smile. Warnado tried to scoot away, but Glibby kept advancing, as creeping and inevitable as the tide.

“I read a book about demonic gauntlets, and I managed to come across one which featured a crystal remarkably similar to your own. As it turns out, the connection between wielder and gauntlet can be severed with a simple cloud of amethyst dust. Isn’t that a shame?”

He stooped, then batted aside Amanda as she tried to swing an axe at him. Warnado tried to summon an ethereal shuriken, but a gauntleted fist slammed into his stomach.

I struck the sniper and sent his rifle flying. He whipped his hand and a spring-loaded firearm shot to the right of my face. It didn’t even come close. Suddenly, I recognised the look of glassy, far-flung terror on his face: the Prophet. It all clicked.

“You can’t kill me, can you?” I breathed. “If I’m not here, you can’t be here…”

The sniper hesitated and I smashed his nose in. I had no time to take satisfaction in the crunch as his blood spattered over my armoured knuckles, however. Glibby continued, now mere inches from the demon-child’s face:

“Look at all that life bundled up in you,” his grotesque lips spread. “Let’s unhitch this burden.”

I swung underhanded at Glibby’s face. I froze as I realised this was the same manoeuvre that had severed my bond with Helix, and the Ape managed to leap out of the way. Amanda immediately grabbed Helix and they ran away into the melee. The Ape glowered at me, incensed at having lost its kill. I held my sword with both hands and stood my ground. I realised I needed to provoke him.

“Hello Kay,” he seethed. “You just took away a moment I’ve been looking forward to for some time.”

“Good,” I said. “Glad I did it, you sad bloody chimp.”

Glibby reared up and suddenly looked taller than the Tower itself.

“What did you just say-”

He was interrupted as I ran up and slashed at his face again. He forced me back.

“You going to ****ing talk all day Glibby or are you going to fight?”

I spread my arms and jabbed my head forward in defiance. I had dropped all pretence, my natural brogue finally undistinguished. I was spitting more than speaking.

“I am Kay Mandy, Lap Dog of Herobrine, Hero of Arcadia, the uncrowned king of Nexus, and I condescend to challenge you, Ape. You should be honoured to face an opponent such as I. Or do you only fight children and shepherds?”

I had his attention now. I ducked one stroke of the gauntlet, then another, the air turned to a storm by the power behind his blows.

I leapt up and swing at him twice, which he deflected easily before jabbing me in the jaw. The very sinews of my mouth seemed to be threatening to unwind. I stayed upright, barely, and dodged well enough for another jab to merely glance off my cuirass.

I made for the small wound Helix had made on his flank. My blade plunged forward, then stopped. The Ape’s gauntlet formed an obsidian scabbard for it. He wrenched the sword from my hands, flipped it around, and began to advance on me. I looked around.

Tyron was now being straddled by the diamond-skinned man Glibby had called Eight, only barely blocking his blows, his arms red with blood. The sniper was slowly recovering himself. I watched as Fire exploded back into view, roasting several Endlings and beginning to cleave another in two. Shadow’s skin slipped into that shade-beyond-dark, and Wodahs proceeded to immediately ignore conventional shadow logic. The shade reached across the blinding light and grabbed the Thaumaturge’s shadow by the head. His skull crumpled. The tide was turning, and I wondered if there was time for one of them to come up and save me.

Then, off in the corner, I saw Helix. Amanda had him propped against the wall and was talking quickly, continuously to him. He had his eyes closed and his head bowed. He breathed deeply and heavily and desperately. I remembered all those things which had been done to him, by Glibby, by the demons, by his mother… and by me. I took one last glance at the prophetic sniper, and the distant, unmistakable fear was still there - the fear of a man who had known all that was to happen, and now found himself blinded. And that was my mind made up.

I nodded, then spread my arms wide once again.

“Go on, you stupid animal,” I muttered. “Finish the job.”

If he killed me, that was the cycle broken. I died in Nexus, so I could never have gone back to my own world. And if I had never gone back to my own world, I could never have done whatever horrible thing I did there, and so Astro could not have come to Nexus in the way he did. And if Astro hadn’t been in Nexus, I might never have tried to fight the Entity to begin with. The chain didn’t just break, it exploded, and all those things were undone. We were set back to square one, and perhaps this time I could get it right.

He lifted the sword, then stopped. The sniper had called out to him, but I’m not sure either of us could make out what he said.

“Forget him, Glibby!” I roared. “Do it!”

I hoped beyond hope that someone might remember. Maybe me, though I doubted that. Then, I thought of Shadow, or the Lady of Dreams. If anyone would remember, it would be them. They might be able to steer us right. To save Destiny, save David, Fristad, the Book… perhaps they could even stop my own disgrace.

Glibby returned his eyes to me, choking on rage.

He thrust my sword down at me, and I bared my neck for the deathblow. I remembered the question I asked of Silver.

“Do I die well?”

“You seemed to think so.”

I could only conclude that this was the best I could do. At least this time around.

Clang! I looked down, distraught. The diamond-skinned man from the Brotherhood had caught the blow with his twin swords and now forced Glibby back. Chrone interposed himself between me and them and shunted me back as I protested.

“Chrone, no! This is the only way I can-”

His head shot around and our eyes locked. Beneath the steel mask I could detect a strange familiarity. Either a deeper friendship than I had ever known, or a fiercer hatred than I could conceive. Maybe both.

“This isn’t about you,” he said quietly.

“Hey!”

My eyes shot to the source of the second word. Helix was back on his feet. No heavy breathing. No closed eyes. Not even hatred. Just an exuberant smile, so like the one he had worn when he first appeared at Fire and I’s door back near the spring. Amanda stood behind him, a crossbow in one hand and an axe in the other.

Glibby, still engaged with the dual wielder, called out to Eight. Eight, having since been forced off Tyron by Rathina and Seth, grunted reluctantly and, in a streak of purple light, was busy harassing his doppelganger. Chrone shoved me once more and ran off to help his brother. The Ape turned to Warnado, a smile slowly returning to his face.

“So, he’s back, is he?”

“Yep.”

“Little Helix is ready to fight?”

The Ape threw his arms wide and roared with laughter.

“Nope, Helix isn’t home. You’re dealing with Warnado, now.”

He manifested an energy axe in his hand.

“Well, that’s quaint. Fighting on even without your demonic powers.”

He began to stride toward Warnado.

“Funny you should say that…”

Warnado’s eyes glowed purple momentarily, then his energy axe turned from green to deep, molten purple. The Ape stopped. I couldn’t see his eyes, but they must have been wide as oceans.

An exhilaration ran through me. Chrone was right. It wasn’t about me. This was his moment. A chill ran down my cheek and I realised I was crying.

“You cut off my connection to the gauntlet, but those powers don’t belong to the gauntlet. They’re mine, and it’s time I started acting like it.”

The Ape snarled and raised his fists. Warnado ran at him.

Warnado swung and Glibby tried to parry. The manoeuvre succeeded, but a large chunk of obsidian was chipped off the outermost knuckle. I saw burnt flesh beneath.

Glibby gritted his teeth and drove his fist at Warnado’s flank. Warnado lifted his arm, and a shield formed, absorbing the blow but sending him sliding back on the floor. Seeing the opportunity, the Ape began to launch a series of blows directed at Warnado’s head. However, Warnado’s eyes flashed purple again and he dodged each of them without fail, still flashing that same exuberant smile.

Amanda landed a bolt in Glibby’s exposed shoulder, and he howled with pain. The offensive juddered to a halt, and Warnado struck back, catching Glibby on the arm and leaving a deep welt. The scent of scorched flesh sprayed into the air.

The Ape wheeled back and reassumed a fighting stance, teeth bared like fangs. Only, a wall of rock slammed into his side. Tyron hung from Rathina’s shoulder as a healer tended to him, one arm stretched out in a fist. Warnado struck again and cracked Glibby’s right-hand gauntlet straight down the middle, leaving his hand exposed. The Ape swung with his still-armoured hand and Warnado nimbly spun out of the way.

Glibby staggered closer to me, still warding Warnado off with heavy punches, and the small puncture wound on his torso called out to me once more. I grabbed a discarded sword from the ground and thrust at it. On account of the wound still being framed by a lot of armour, the sword stopped quickly, and wound was superficial, but the Ape’s focus was broken. I lurched away from the retaliatory strike.

This brief break in concentration, allowed Warnado the chance to shift his axe into a baseball bat. Crack! The helmet went flying from Glibby’s head.

Still more enraged, he charged at Warnado. Unfortunately for him, he was so consumed with his fury he did not notice the blast of heat flying into his path. He collapsed, his lower right leg separated from his body, and I saw Shadow blow the smoke from her finger.

Still, the Ape was not done. He steadied himself with his remaining knee and his unarmoured hand and jabbed fiercely at Warnado. The demon-child snapped his fingers, and the remaining gauntlet materialised in his palm, smoke rising from it.

Glibby’s jaw fell open. He turned his exposed hand over and over, eyes reading over every scratch, every blemish, every line of his palm, as though trying to find some sign in them that had led to this moment. Nothing distracted him from this examination. Not the presence of his opponent. Not the sound of his men being slaughtered around him. Not even the excruciating pain he was probably feeling from his various wounds.

Fire appeared beside Warnado, breathing heavily and supporting himself on his zweihander.

“The choice falls to you, do you want him dead, or will you give him a chance to surrender? A chance that is wholly undeserved, seeing what he did now and in the past. Still, we might have a use for this Ape yet.”

Warnado squinted down at his opponent, or perhaps glared. My heart began to thunder. Then, finally:

“Eh, I don’t really care…”

And he just walked off. The Ape looked up in confusion, as though woken from a dream. I felt a surge of… maybe it was pride, maybe it was disappointment. Regardless, I hung my head and unleashed a deep breath I had been holding.

Fire nodded. “Alright then, Glibby. You get another shot at the decision you made in that valley, now I hope that you choose to save some of your subordinates for a change instead of sending them to their deaths.”

Fire detached his radio’s microphone which through some miracle had survived up until now. He held it in front of the Ape’s face. Fire’s next words were much louder by virtue of being relayed through the Tower’s intercom.

“Glibby the Ape, do you surrender?” Fire asked, then waited for a response.

The notorious serial killer looked up at Fire like a lost child. He cast an eye in the direction of Eight, just in time to see Chrone’s whip cleave his mask in two. Another, more searching glance failed to find the prophetic sniper. He ran a tongue over his teeth, then leaned forward.

“I surrender. Grey Ones, stand down.”

I looked around, there weren’t many left to surrender, but a cheer still went up in our ranks when the remaining obsidian weapons clattered to the floor. The Mencur-Besh and Coven mages had secured the staircase. We were a stone’s throw away from our objective. However, there was no way of knowing what truly awaited us in the Deep Labs, or how dearly it would cost us to get there.

The stone split into a shape like lightning as Herobrine’s sword crashed into it. And, like lightning, this striking shape was followed by a thunderous crack. However, the walking earthquake that was the ravager handily drowned out this impressive blow. Herobrine grunted to have missed His target once more. He resumed his pursuit in a steady jog, watching as the creature and its grey-skinned rider rounded the corner.

His eyes snapped shut. He saw through the eyes of the Wraith. A small contingent of Eye-and-Claws operatives and Vanillans fought their way through a mixture of Tower soldiers and grey-skinned Vithians. Ring of sword. Boom of firearm. Clatter of armour battered every which way. Granular and uninformative. And then, something to latch on to: the slimy thud and subtle crack of a javelin piercing a windpipe. Viking, a Vanillan moderator esteemed for his prowess in battle, pulled his modified staff from the throat of an opponent just in time to notice the beast bearing down on them.

Herobrine quickened his pace. In the corner of his eye he saw the beast shatter the engagement like an artillery shell. Friendly and opposing blood spattered the sides of the beast as it vanished through an obsidian gate which closed so quickly afterwards it might well have been chasing the beast as well. The Blind watcher cursed and finished his approach.

The fighting had almost died down. The Eye-and-Claws had recovered quicker than their Vanillans, He felt blood washing over his boot, and looked down to see Viking coughing up blood. Wounded but determined not to die, the moderator used his staff to pull himself up. The fighting was almost finished. Herobrine frowned as he saw how the crystal at the tip had been filed down to make it function as a spear, a near-blasphemous act.

“Sorry m’lord,” Viking spat blood, “We’ll have this door down in a moment.”

Herobrine did not respond. He splayed his hands against the door and closed his eyes. The Wraith manifested, unseen, on the other side.

“Could we get a demolitions team down here in sector four? Got an obsidian gate that doesn’t want to move. Fedwin, Scrump, you around?”

“Sorry Vike,” grunted Fedwin, known as the tinkerer. “My golem’s been damaged. Running repairs now.”

Then, Scrumping Pup, leader of Woobly, answered: “We’re a little way out, be with you in maybe fifteen?”

Herobrine followed the conversation closely enough to know he would have to do this himself. Through the Wraith's eyes he saw a large, torchlit hall, at the end of which was a large staircase leading up several floors. In it sat three obstacles.

First, two ranks of ten, entirely comprised of grey-skinned Vithian Testificates. Each was armed with their habitual assortment of light armour, crossbows, and axes. That would be easily dealt with.

Next, a bigger problem. Four golems. Each made of bedrock like his sword. Each with a red eye in the centre of its skull. Each eye glowed so brightly it seemed to suck the light out of the face encasing it, leaving just a dark shadow. All were killable, but he had not yet seen them in such numbers.

And then, naturally, he saw the object of his pursuit: the ravager and rider. The rider sneered down at the door, clutching the reins tightly. The ravager snorted and slurped air in and out, a thick, coarse tongue running over its lips. Its horns glinted hungrily in the torchlight.

“Woobly will be here shortly m’lord,” groaned the moderator, tearing the Blind Watcher black to reality.

Viking stumbled again and returned to leaning on his spear.

Herobrine nodded in decision.

“No need,” he answered.

He would dispense with his usual theatrics, and simply cut the door down himself. He planted one foot behind him and drew the blade back. He looked through the Wraith again to identify the bar holding the obsidian door in place and adjusted his stance. One good thrust would do it…

A familiar voice crackled into his ear:

“Hey, sorry I had trouble with the microphone again.”

The Blind Watcher cocked an eyebrow. It was Dinnerbone.

“Is sector four the one with the big obsidian gate that has Herobrine standing outside it?”

Herobrine abandoned his stance and squinted at the moderator. Viking, however, was looking back down the hallway, his jaw wilting with disbelief. The Watcher became aware of pounding footsteps.

“So, I fell behind Astro and the others after that thing with the grey villagers and got a little lost. Thankfully, I ran into a buddy.”

Coming down the hallway towards them was Dinnerbone, yes, and looking quite ordinary. He tuned his ukulele as he spoke, punctuating his speech with an occasional probing pluck. His black hat hugged his scalp as eagerly as ever.

Less ordinarily, he sat astride the neck of a dragon. A colossal dragon whose wings scraped the walls and shred tapestries as they went. A dragon with a coat composed of the stars themselves. A dragon the Blind Watcher recognised. This was Glowstar, who he had seen soaring high above him so often at the Shelter. He didn’t seem pleased to see Herobrine, momentarily baring his fangs and snarling before containing himself.

“Do you think Glowie’s big enough to knock it down?” Dinnerbone called. Then, he frowned, craned his neck, and looked the dragon in the eye. “You’re cool with that, right?”

Glowstar sighed.

“Yes.”

A smile sprinted across Herobrine’s face. Perhaps there was time for theatrics after all.

“Wait for my signal. Don’t worry, it will be self-evident.”

He closed his eyes and spoke as the Wraith. A low, faint yet profound tone. Like an echo in an abyss.

“So, you choose to cower here? Behind obsidian gates and a bedrock wall?”

Raised his sword. The rider’s eyes and head began to dart around every which way.

“Know ye not? None escape the Blind Watcher’s gaze.”

The Wraith, with its ragged clothes and filthy skin became visible. Its white eyes flashed, and the Vithian ranks shrank back in fear. Their ranks became chaotic. Axes were thrust out like spears. Crossbows raised up as makeshift shields. An instinctive, primordial fear spread through them. Only the fury of the rider kept them in formation, but even he chewed his inner cheek fearfully.

“It was I who slew the Withers.”

Boom! Herobrine struck the ground with his sword. The Wraith’s eyes flashed and blinded both rider and foot soldiers. The golems looked on impassively. Herobrine was grinning now, anticipation of the coming triumph surging through him.

“It was I who shattered the false god of the Obsidian Empire.”

He struck the ground once more. Another disorienting flash. Herobrine glanced back significantly. Glowstar began his charge.

“You too shall fall.”

He thrust his sword between the gates and shattered the crossbar. Glowstar left the ground. The Blind Watcher spread his arms and roared with laughter.

“Bow down to Herobrine!”

Glowstar slammed into the gates and threw them open, Dinnerbone screaming half-joyously as he just about held on to the dragon’s mane. Herobrine advanced beneath, and the golems, who had been anticipating him but not the dragon, fired blasts which he cleanly deflected with his sword.

A whip of Glowstar’s tail sent the Vithian foot soldiers flying. Then, in a swift, serpentine motion, the dragon reared up above the ravager and its rider, and a shower of blue stars burst forth from its mouth.

As the smoke cleared, it became clear that one of the golems had been able to adjust its threat assessment in time. Its bedrock skin glowed dark blue as the starfire faded, and behind it the ravager rider stood unharmed and angry. A blast from the burnt golem’s eye struck Glowstar on the flank and struck him from the sky. Dinnerbone slammed painfully into the ground beside him.

Herobrine quickened his stride. He split the fist of an oncoming golem with his sword, then whirled it up to do the same with its head.

The glowing golem charged for another blast, this time aimed at Glowstar’s head. At the last second, Dinnerbone shot back to life, and with a strenuous thrust of his hand the golem’s head twisted to the side and shot one of its fellows. The golem it struck steadied itself, and the glowing golem’s head churned slowly back into place.

Herobrine sidestepped the fist of another golem, then cleaved through its torso, leaving it to fall away in two halves. He moved to attack the glowing golem, only to find himself rolled away from his target to narrowly avoid the ravager’s charge. It skidded to a halt just beside the gates and began to reshuffle for another attack.

Glowstar rallied just in time to strike the recently blasted golem with his tail. It struck the ground, and the sound of its fall had only just begun to ring out when Herobrine’s blade plunged through its back. The red light snuffed out like any old candle.

Dinnerbone cheered, prompting Herobrine to turn his head. The glowing golem loomed behind his interdimensional relative, its eye ready to burst with energy. Without thinking, the Blind Watcher heaved his arms and sent his sword flying into the golem’s still-smouldering torso. It fell back, disabled.

Just as Herobrine took a breath, the ravager knocked it out of him. Suddenly, he was holding onto its horns, shattering the tiled floor as he tried to slow the beast’s advance with his heavy obsidian boots. Soon, he found himself pressed against a wall, straining to hold back the horns. His eyes locked with the beast’s, and he saw its furious intent. Even without its rider, this creature wanted to kill him. Herobrine’s eyes flashed white, and the beast slammed its own shut, continuing to press forward.

Then, a serpentine neck whipped around. Glowstar’s teeth sank into side of the ravager, and starfire scorched the flesh beneath. It reared up, groaning. The rider fell to the floor. Seeing the beast’s neck exposed, Herobrine struck out. He found flesh. Flesh gave way to bone. Crack! The beast fell back, dead.

As he panted from the exertion, Herobrine heard the shuffle of the rider loping towards the stairs. Dinnerbone squinted after him, then waved his hand. The Vithian leader flew to the left and slammed into the lid of an open chest. Seconds later, compelled by the impact and its newfound weight, fell back in the opposite direction, and slammed shut. The lock clicked.

Herobrine and Dinnerbone chuckled, then Viking and his men ran in to the hall and began to investigate its security. Glowstar limped out of the hall, into the care of the three Eye-and-Claws operatives, who had already begun to rifle through their inventory for medical equipment.

“Glowstar!” Herobrine called.

The dragon titled his head but did not turn.

“Thank you!” he concluded.

The dragon made a gesture almost like a respectful nod, then began to discuss his options with the Eye-and-Claws fighters. Naturally, a healing potion would take some time and be very painful, so could perhaps a concoction of strength, or maybe speed compensate for his injuries and so on and so… The Blind Watcher’s gaze was drawn to the staircase.

“It can’t be…” He muttered.

He closed his eyes and saw as the Wraith.

“It is!”

Viking looked to Dinnerbone, who simply shrugged from his seat on the chest.

These stairs led directly up to the top floor, where both the throne room and activation mechanism were. In fact, the corridor gave him a straight shot all the way to the elaborate doorway guarding it.

Herobrine adjusted the frequency on his microphone.

“Mercer, rally the blackshells and get to sector four, we have a line on the activation mechanism.”

Mercer quickly assented, and Herobrine began to laugh. Viking spoke up, with as much warning as enthusiasm.

“You’re serious? I’ll get on the line to Astro at once!”

Herobrine put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed tightly. Warm in theory, but firm enough to remind the moderator of their power dynamic.

“Well, don’t be hasty. Why let the Gaians steal all the glory? Wait until my men are in position, then we can coordinate a two-pronged assault.”

Viking maintained firm eye contact but began to tremble a little. Dinnerbone looked back and forth between them, confused as to the nature of the exchange.

“Naturally, my lord,” the moderator bowed his head.

Herobrine grinned, then stepped forward.

“Be ready men! In but a few minutes you shall be at the forefront of our great victory! The Throne of the Entity shall be ours!”

He raised his sword up and it rippled with white light. A cheer went up. Herobrine turned to survey the stairs and plot his ascent to glory.

He was met by the warm, hot wind of a desert. Reminiscent of a dreadful day. The gates boomed shut, sealing out Glowstar and the Eye-and-Claws. The torches flickered, and the hall became dark enough to smother the very memory of light. The flames lost their orange and surged sickly yellow. The darkness stayed unmoved.

“Shall it now?”

The voice was snide and creeping. A centipede crawling over the mind. Yet no body appeared to give voice to it. Herobrine looked through the eyes of the wraith. Still nothing.

“We’ll keep the interesting ones, shall we?”

Dinnerbone began to say something, then gasped. The Wraith saw him, choking, lifted in the air by an unseen force. Then, a small, precise cut opened on his brow, and his head fell. Dinnerbone fell with a thud on top of the chest, trapped in a whimpering slumber.

Herobrine began to make his way towards his comrade’s unconscious body, gripping his sword ever closer and trying to make it shine brighter. Viking summoned a little light to the crystalline tip of his staff-made-spear. It made no difference to the dark.

Then, there was a noise like bursting. Blood covered the Blind Watcher’s face. He looked down. Viking was dead. No. Not dead. Destroyed. The mass of blood and viscera was only identifiable by the crystal-tipped weapon lying among it.

“To me, men!” roared Herobrine.

He thrust his glowing sword up like a beacon, but it was choked by the darkness until he could barely see it above him. Faint creams reached him like almost-echoes through the hall, scrambling through the dark.

Through the Wraith’s eyes he saw them running to and fro. Breaking. Bursting. Severed and shredded as though rent by a terrible set of claws.

“Not many interesting ones, unfortunately,” cackled the voice.

Using the Wraith’s sight, Herobrine managed to stop a nearby soldier. Then another. And another. Something like a formation assembled.

“Show yourself, fiend!”

Something like a snake brushed his foot. Or no, it was like a tree-root. A briar? He saw a set of glowing yellow eyes at the end of the hall, a terrible glowing grin beneath them.

“It’s Freak, actually.”

Thorns long as spears sprouted from the root. They punctured his men. Spines split. Skulls cracked. Then, a briar punched through the armour over his gut, sticking out the other side. Obsidian punctured as though it were paper. The Blind Watcher gasped, then with a swipe of his sword cut the root. It receded. He fell to one knee, keeping his sword-arm pressed against his wound.

“Whatever your name is, show yourself! That I may smite you as I have a million foes before! Then, you will know the might of Herobrine, the Blind Watcher!”

More cackling. The Wraith, still unseen, searched the room, but saw nothing.

“There is some bark on you. But no bite. Are you sure you weren’t the Lap Dog in that arrangement?”

Suddenly, the glowing eyes and maddening grin were above him. Freak. He swung backhanded at the apparition. The glowing features vanished as his sword was about to connect. He struck nothing. Then, they flashed back into view, and Herobrine felt a pain in his arm. The sword fell from his hand. Seconds later, another pain on his forehead. He fell backwards.

As he struck the ground, he realised the floor was no longer tiled. Poisoned grey sand rubbed his cheek. The darkness had gone. Brown, rotting skies hung above. Clusters of skulls floated above. Herobrine sat up, heart shuddering.

“Why are we here, I wonder?” Freak asked unseen.

He saw Steve, his mentor, on a sand dune some ways off, the grey withering spreading up his side. He called out to him. Pleading for death.

“Can you give it to him?”

Herobrine backed away. He couldn’t be there again. Not there. Anywhere else.

“Please…” He whimpered.

“Look at you. Herobrine, slayer of a million foes, fear of a million worlds. And you are scared of a memory.”

A memory… yes! He was still in the Tower. In the hall. His head snapped up and he glared at Freak. The phantom grinned back.

“I am fear!” Herobrine grunted.

The Wraith became visible, eyes ready to explode in a flash of blinding, eviscerating light and erase this creature forever.

A taloned fist struck out. The Wraith’s eyes went dark. Blood spilled down. The Wraith became a shambling thing, casting its eyes around in pursuit of the master who had convinced him of his invincibility.

Freak lifted the Wraith from the floor, his grin settling into a cold smile. His jaw unhinged.

The voice continued in Herobrine’s mind: “No, you’re not fear. But you’re about to meet him.”

The Blind Watcher closed his eyes and surrendered to the nightmares. Even past horror was better than the present.

Steve had fallen asleep the second the fortifications were complete. Nothing fancy. Just two-block high walls to keep the mobs out. A small trench to discourage the Tower. Now, Steve didn’t tire easily, but after marching for more than a full day, then overseeing the construction of fortifications sufficient to cover a camp filled with tens of thousands of people, he had finally reached his limit.

The fortifications weren’t even completely “done” when he left - they were just good enough. As he and Jennifer sleepwalked back to their tents, the Mencur-Besh and pigmen kept on going, deepening trenches, strengthening walls, expanding artillery emplacements. It just never ended with those people!

He hadn’t dreamt. No ominous portents of doom or oblique hints at how to win. Nothing. As far as he was concerned, he had just closed his eyes, and like flicking a lever on a redstone lamp, the sun had clicked on.

Jennifer was already up, sorting her inventory. As she removed a stack of cobble and replaced it with yet another splash poison potion, Steve rolled out of bed and walked up to the wooden door of the tent. He snapped it open and there it was: the Tower. With the sun glinting off the copper plating at the top it looked like a torch, and he was one of the mobs it was there to stop from spawning.

He reached into his pocket and eyeballed the clock. It was maybe an eighth of the way into daytime.

“We’re supposed to meet with Fire later, right?” he asked, knowing full well that he was forgetting something.

“Yeah, later. He said it’s about new equipment. Sounds a little late for anything serious to me, but that Halberdson guy does keep offering to sell him everything in the world, so maybe he’s actually suggested something we could use.”

Steve shrugged. It was Fire, he knew what he was doing.

Jennifer equipped and de-equipped her enchanted diamond, then tried a plain back-up set.

“Still, we’ve got some time before then, though, because people are heading to David’s grave...”

That was the thing he was forgetting.

“Breakfast?” he asked.

“Sure. Ozen’s cooking. It should be nice.”

After a brief walk to the primary mess tent and saying hi to Ozen - who looked absolutely ecstatic in his apron and chef’s hat - they found themselves sitting at a table next to Voidblade. As per usual, Voidblade was quiet, and they knew better than to bother him too much at this point. The most noise he made came from a large, slightly dry-looking chicken leg. For a few peaceful minutes they just sat and ate their sandwiches and mushroom stew. But then, of course, duty called.

The villager lady, Olanna, came up to Jennifer and began to discuss troop arrangements. Someone in her unit had sprained their ankle setting up the camp and now wouldn’t make for much of a skirmisher, so Olanna wanted to see if she could reshuffle him to the artillery and maybe swipe one of theirs to replace him. Secretly, both of them seemed to suspect he wanted an excuse not to fight at all, and on any other day they might have let him take it. But this was the big game. All hands on deck.

Steve immediately found himself accosted by the hooded guy from Arcation, Gogyst. These guys were starting to bug Steve - they kept asking to be basically entrusted with an entire front to themselves, and that day was no different. He appreciated the can-do attitude at first, but at a certain point he got the impression Gogyst just wanted Steve to know how much tougher than him he was. Steve just hoped he didn’t get anyone killed with that attitude.

One of the co-chiefs of the hunters came up to ask about their planned route through the outer complex so that she could potentially adjust the hunters' route. Something she and Kay were discussing. Jennifer shot Steve a knowing look and he chuckled. There was no chance Kay would let whatever she had in mind interfere with his grand plan to redeem himself.

Around this time, a man in a black hat sat on a table and started playing songs on his ukulele, just about managing to be heard above the increasing chatter of nervous troops. He took off his hat and placed it upside down on the table, and occasionally people would throw a scrap of food or a nugget of gold in there.

Astro and Shadow briefly flashed into view as Astro stabbed his head and arm into the tent to telepathically grab a small armful of apples. Each of his fingers had an energy-storing ring on them. He shot back out almost as quickly, chatting away to Shadow the whole time. Steve could have sworn he saw them laughing as they did so. He was glad they had managed to smooth things over. A few of the coven mages trailed after them, with Wolfric consulting a tome and bringing up the rear.

Urist sat down across from Voidblade and immediately began to explain a dream he had just awoken from about a mine that went up instead of down. Seth, kitted out in enchanted diamond, sat down as well.

Kay walked by, conversing with Raphoe and Clarke from the Remaining, the latter of which seemed substantially less happy to be a part of the discussion. Kay slowed down to toss a diamond into the upturned hat of ukulele-guy, before returning to his latest attempt to prove to Clarke that Destiny hadn’t wasted her effort on him.

Rose also stopped by to remind Steve that she might need a lift between airships on the back of Drake. She proposed several signals but eventually they just agreed to use the radios Fire had cooked up with the detective guy.

At that moment, a booming laugh sounded out.

“You can’t be serious! Steve, get over here!”

Several individuals turned their heads, but Steve Brine immediately knew he was the recipient. Across the room, clad in obsidian and beckoning to him, was Herobrine. The glowing-eyed giant of a man stood next to the ukulele-guy. Steve shot Jennifer an uneasy look and then went over.

“How can I help?” Steve asked.

“Your surname’s Brine, isn’t it? My equivalent’s your father, am I right?”

“Yeah?”

“You’ll never guess who this man is,” he gestured to ukulele-guy.

Out of politeness, he tried, but he really couldn’t recognise a single feature of the blue-eyed, brown-goateed musician. Steve felt like he was in a bad dream. Not exactly a nightmare, but one that was unpleasantly weird in just enough ways it might actually wind up traumatising him a little more in the long run.

“Who is it?”

Ukulele-guy rose from sitting to a dramatic kneel.

“It’s your awesomest uncle and/or son of all time!” He exclaimed. “Dinnerbone!”

“Who?” thought Steve.

“No way!” said Steve with feigned enthusiasm.

Just to make matters worse, Herobrine brought them both into a profound bear-hug.

“Travel between worlds is mad!” chortled the man who looked distressingly like Steve’s former archnemesis.

“You’ve got that right,” he grunted, straining against Herobrine’s massive arms.

Thankfully, Tyron arrived just in time. Today he wore a full set of diamond armour over his fur, engraved slightly to indicate his rank. An opening had been made in the lower back to allow him access to the blue portal of his inventory. Kir sat in a jewel-encrusted scabbard on his hip, lined with velvet on the inside for their comfort.

“Hey, Steve! We’re leaving, I need you with me!” he called.

“Rescuing you,” Kir explained in the telepathy equivalent of whisper-shouting. “Be cool.”

“Dragoknight!” called Herobrine, “Don’t you see the cross-dimensional family resemblance?”

Tyron squinted for a second. He resolved to humour the literal god.

“Oh yeah,” he nodded. “That is cool. Listen, sorry, Clarke says they’re holding the memorial-funeral thing in the next fifteen minutes. We’ve got to get over to David’s grave.”

Steve remembered how he had tried to dig the grave, but the hole he made in the ground had been too cavernously big, leaving Tyron and Fristad to actually do the job. Suffice to say, this did not make him feel more comfortable, but he was glad to have an excuse.

But, of course, ukulele-guy had to speak up.

“Is the demon-kid going to be there? Warnado125?”

And, of course, Steve’s stupid brain made him say: “Yes, I think so.”

“Good, I need to talk to him.”

“Oh,” Tyron half-groaned. “What about?”

“I’m from his world, I heard about all this from one of the emissaries you were sending out in the name of some ash-king guy. Glad to hear he’s not around anymore, he sounded weird.”

Steve felt his blood pressure reach as high as the sun then loop around it.

“Long story short, he’s one of the heroes of this thing called the Dark Prophecy,” Dinnerbone stopped and pointed to Herobrine. “You’re part of it actually!” Then, to Steve. “You too, come to think of it. Kind of.”

“Small multiverse!” howled Herobrine.

“But yeah, he’s a hero of the prophecy, I’m getting the vibe that things are heating up. Jeb’s been acting real weird, apparently the Lich got out a while back. It’s probably best if the little guy starts making his way to Notch Island, and it’s probably best if he hears it from me. I’m kind of the loremaster where I come from.”

“I would also like to come along,” began Herobrine. “To pay my respects to the woman who-”

“No,” all three said in unison.

“Yeah, sorry buddy, part of the kid’s job is beating you,” said Dinnerbone. “Well, like, another you. It’ll be weird just having you in the background, kind of worried about sending him mixed messages you know?”

“And the funeral’s being run by people who fought a war to kill you,” pressed Tyron.

“And won,” Steve concluded through gritted teeth.

“Ah, I see. In which case, I’ll see you on the front line. My condolences.”

He excused himself and left the tent, barely looking fazed at all.

And with one final pained look, the three of them departed to say farewell to their fallen comrade.

###

The funeral went as well as it could have, from a personal perspective. I kept my distance. I tried to look appropriately solemn, but not devastated in a way that might distract from the primary mourners - the Remaining. And I developed a very good opinion of them out of it, even if they all rightly distrusted me.

They just buried those belongings of Destiny which they could find. A broken gold locket. A tattered bow. A hair tie Kami remembered lending her for her ponytail. Then Clarke sang a song. He sang it rather well. The odd fellow in the black hat probably shouldn’t have started strumming along, granted, but Clarke took it in stride. Lupe stared at David’s grave for a while, whispering something, and we all pretended not to notice. Then, it ended.

Now, I found myself patrolling the camp, occasionally being approached by one of the red-scarved men upon whom I have imprinted the likeness of my failure. No practical questions, just reaffirmations of loyalty. I tried to admire their fidelity. After all, they refused to believe the worst of what was said. It’s not their fault it was true. I hoped I would be able to lead them to some degree of victory in the coming battle.

I caught a glimpse of Helix talking to black-hat. He looked upset. I recalled the era where I might have been the person to comfort him. Or at least, to accost black-hat for distressing him. I began to walk forward. The skin of my finger caught in the cracked glass of the goggles, and blood snaked across the surface. I had not realised I had even reached for them. I backed away, then turned and saw Him.

His eyes shone even against the slow-rising morning sun behind, pale and cool. He strode toward me, inevitable as a roaring tide. Still, I turned, trying to escape Him. I rushed towards a gap between two tents, made it most of the way down, and then it appeared before me.

The Wraith, the ragged ghost who wandered while He slept, stood before me. Its eyes shone a searing dark shade atop its brittle, twig-like form. Desiccated, dirty, and ragged, it stared at me. I knew there was nowhere to run to.

Herobrine approached from behind.

“Kay.”

“My lord.”

I turned and bowed. I dared not look up, but I heard His footfalls, heavy with obsidian, thunder forward like a distant storm. When the toes of His armoured boots finally came into view, Herobrine took a hold of my chin and began to pull my head up. I tried to resist, but then gave in. His pale, cool eyes shot into view. I felt the blood in my body turn tail and begin to run in the opposite direction, away from whatever punishment this was about to become.

And he didn’t say anything. Until:

“We should have done better.”

“No argument here.”

He sighed and ran his knuckles down the fabric of the nearest tent. A gust of wind set it rippling against Him, like tremors in the earth. I could have sworn I saw the light in his eyes flicker. His mouth kept opening and closing.

“Your speech gave me much to think about…”

I straightened into a stiff, military posture. Not confrontational, but unwilling to bow.

“I assure you, you’re putting more thought into it than I did.”

He continued, making a point of pretending not to hear me.

“...I have often wondered what might have happened if I had kept you from leaving. Whether I might have prevented what came next…”

“...But, of course, I couldn’t have stayed-”

“-Because of the Thaumlands, I know.” He lifted his hand from the tent and put it on my shoulder. I drew back.

“You would have had to act fast,” I continued. “There are already many things I wish someone had prevented.”

I heard the crack of glass as Helix dropped the goggles again and again. “You piece of ****!” Astro howled in my ear once more, and my jaw ached in agreement.

“Perhaps,” he nodded. “And I would have had to stop the burnings.”

I waited for him to justify them. A necessary sacrifice, to show the Court of Whispers how strong we still were. ‘Look at us, we have lost Notch, and we are still powerful enough to turn on our allies without fear of you.’ And it had worked. The Court of Whispers had seen how strong they still were, and had slipped back away into unsettling obscurity.

“It was supposed to be a bit of posturing to discourage the Endlings, and maybe it achieved that. We did a lot of posturing at that time, so it’s hard to say what worked and what didn’t. But truth be told my family were still angry at us for the Onslaught. For spilling so much Divine blood. For making them look weak. And I was tired, and grieving, so I let them inflict that anger on my people.”

I felt tears coming to my eyes. At last! Honesty.

“Jeb is my nephew, I love him dearly, but he is making the errors of his father, and I am making the same errors I made back then. When Notch cursed my people for the Golden Revolution, instead of trying to undo it, I entered my slumber. Jeb burned their land, and still I slept. I will not fight him, but this must change. Thank you for waking me.”

He reached out and put a hand on my shoulder. I did not draw away this time. I threw my arms around his mighty form. He who I had fought for had returned. But could His Lap Dog still be recovered? Could I break free from the chains of history written-yet-unlived?

“Do you think I can change what is to come, my lord?”

He moved from my shoulder to stroke my mane of hair. He didn’t say anything.

“By the mods, I swear that I shall,” I hissed.

My streaming eyes drifted to the Tower, blazing in the sun - a cleansing fire that would redeem me.

###

Compared to the other division leaders, Fire’s role as leader of the Mencur-Besh was less involved, at least to outside onlookers. Where others gave instructions and did last-minute rehearsals of battle plans, Fire had flown upwards using his flaming wings, overlooking the troops.

In reality Fire’s task was just as difficult, thousands of information fragments from the Mencur-Besh network flashed through his mind each minute. Assuming the position of leader had placed him right at the center of the collective’s shared mind. The number of sensations and information was staggering but Fire was still able to keep up, no doubt owing to how long he had been part of the network, the thoughts were almost like his own.

The Mencur-Besh collective was currently considering the ideal strategy to take for the upcoming battle, the overall consensus was that they should be fighting at the very forefront. This way they could take the brunt of the enemy attacks without putting the remaining troops at risk. Naturally some Mencur-Besh would stay behind, particularly the Ender-aligned ones would reinforce the Shelter’s mages.

Once the strategy was finalized, Fire gave the order for the collective to fully link up. Over the course of a few seconds the frequency of the information fragments crossing Fire’s mind increased hundredfold, then suddenly stopped. Fire could feel the presence of the consciousness that had now formed from the individual minds. He was no longer listening to messages in a distributed network, he was now in contact with a singular being.

He transmitted a request for a status report.

The Mencur-Besh replied: “This is larger than what I was after I first came here. I am something more.”

Fire internally chuckled and sent back: “Welcome to being a full consciousness. Do you want a name?”

The reply came with equal amusement: “No, for now my designation as Mencur-Besh will suffice. I will think about a name once a more permanent arrangement is found. I am aware that I can not remain like this if I return home. Once we do, do not trouble yourself with the matter, you have already guided me to this point, I am confident that someday I will find a way for myself.”

Fire said: “That is good to hear. I assume we can expect unprecedented feats of coordination in the upcoming battle?”

The Mencur-Besh answered: “Certainly. I may lose many bodies, but the collective will always survive.”

No more needed to be said. Now that Fire’s thoughts were freed up, he took in his surroundings again. Off in the distance the Tower dominated the horizon, impossibly tall and ever-branching. Droves of soldiers were already in position all around the outer perimeter, occasionally an artillery piece could be seen sticking up between the masses of bodies.

Closer to Fire were the Shelter’s soldiers, roaming around inside the fortifications and getting themselves ready for battle. A bit further away were Shadow’s mages, who still very much were the Coven, but had lost all of the hostility they apparently held, only some grudges against Kay in particular remained. Shadow was there too, giving some last instructions and making sure everyone was up to snuff on their spells.

Fire had seen the Sunbeam before, both through Claw’s eyes from a distance and during the final training sessions Shadow held with the Coven before departure. Of course, he’d also seen it many times before that, the Sunbeam and many other group-cast spells were originally Mencur-Besh creations that Shadow had adapted for casters that were not mentally linked. He’d see the Sunbeam again soon, it and a handful of other spells that the Coven had practiced in the meantime.

As Fire flew over to the mages it seemed like Shadow was done with her instructions, she levitated upwards to join him in the sky.

“Everything ready?” Fire asked.

Shadow smiled. “As ready as it can be. I see the Mencur-Besh also linked up, it was quite fascinating to look at while it happened, I don’t think I have ever seen magical energy patterns like that.”

In the days between his return and now Fire and Shadow hadn’t gotten to talk much, they had each been too busy with their respective responsibilities. Fire didn’t exactly want to talk to his sister about a certain topic, but he knew that they both needed to.

It seemed that Shadow thought the same, she began: “So, about my whole… Void apocalypse situation. I don’t know why it happened, something about losing you just, I don’t know, it did something.”

Fire nodded. “When the Entity tried to absorb me, it stopped once it found you in my memories, it seemed to understand that killing me would result in you being overtaken by the Void. Then, when it gave me my memories back it let slip a fragment of its own perception. It was like looking at myself, but I was like a big snarl of strings with one going off into the distance.”

Shadow didn’t answer for a few seconds, deep in thought. “I saw something similar, back when the Prophet died. I saw strings too, one of them pointed towards the Entity. The strings somehow point out causal relationships, but other than that I don’t know.”

Fire sighed. “I suppose we can investigate further once this is done. Are you still able to access your Void magic?”

“Yes, it’s a little more difficult but I can still do it. I probably won’t use it during the battle, seeing what happened last time. Still, good to have it as an option.” Shadow paused. “So, what about you? You seem to have perfected the wings, with them not melting your armor.”

Fire said: “I wouldn’t quite say perfected, but they work well enough. I still have a little less than half of my initial energy, so it should last through the battle. I will fight with the Mencur-Besh at the frontlines, but I will watch out for myself, I know what is at stake.”

Shadow gave Fire a smile. “I know you will.”

Fire remembered something. “So, Shadow. I hear you captured the Entity’s zweihander?”

The obsidian sword materialized in Shadow’s hand, then handed it to her brother. Fire took it and swung it around. The blade was perfectly balanced and roughly the right size for him. He could definitely work with this.

Fire took a deep breath and entered an enchanting trance. First, he manifested runes made from densely packed flames, five big ones and several dozen small ones. The enchantment he had in mind was not particularly complex, but it would help greatly. With a low hum he began stabilizing the runes around the zweihander that had floated out of Fire’s hand and was now stationary in front of him.

He slowly added layers to his voice to cement his control over the runes, positioning them around the sword, first the large ones, then the smaller ones around them. The runes shuddered once the final configuration was achieved, prompting Fire to erratically modulate his voice to keep everything in place. With a shout he channeled a large amount of energy into the runes all at once, causing them to violently snap into the sword. Once he was sure the enchantment was successful, he reached out. When his palm touched the handle, he could immediately feel the enchantment attune to his life force, the zweihander was now not just a weapon but an extension of Fire himself. To test this connection, he cast a pyromancy spell that immediately engulfed the blade in flames, extending far beyond its tip. With a quick swing he cast the flames outwards, arcing them across the sky.

With satisfaction Fire let the zweihander disappear into his inventory.

Shadow nodded in approval. “Very fitting, using the Entity’s old weapon against its usurper.”

Fire asked: “Shadow, do you mind teleporting us to the leadership tent? I have a few things to give out.”

“Not a problem.” Shadow said, and the next second they already stood in the aforementioned tent.

As expected, a fair portion of the Shelter leadership was present. The mood was cautiously positive, they had all finished with their respective preparations and were now waiting for the officers lower in the chain of command to report that their troops were ready.

Warnado and Amanda sat in the far corner of the tent, partially hidden behind a large fold in the fabric. Fire didn’t need Shadow’s magic to see the tension in Warnado’s face, but it was clear the quarter-demon did his best to hide it. Astro stood over the central table, energetically going over the blueprints of the Tower’s upper floors Fire had drawn up. Steve, Jennifer, and Tyron sat at the same table, engaged in conversation.

Fire however turned his attention towards Urist, Voidblade and Rose who were standing a short distance away.

He approached them. “How are you holding up?”

Voidblade looked to the other two to speak. Urist replied: “Na bad, na bad. Biggest battle o’ me life ahead, na even tha Great Ancestral Blood Feud’s culmination could hold a candle ta this.”

Rose shrugged. “Job’s the same as ever. Cut up the other guys. Just now I’ll do it high up in the air from the back of a dragon, don’t have those in my world outside of myths.”

Voidblade seemed to have nothing to add.

Fire nodded. “Since I will be using the sword Shadow captured from the Entity, I won’t be using my regular weapons. I thought that I’d give them to you, not just as weapons but as tokens of gratitude for helping me build up to this.”

Fire handed his halberd to Voidblade, who simply said: “Thank you, Fire.”

Next were his set of two daggers for Rose. She seemed positively thrilled at being given even sharper instruments of murder. Finally, Urist received Fire’s mace, which was rather large for the dwarf, but Fire had the feeling that this was an upside from Urist’s point of view, he always did like his heavy weapons.

“Use them well.” Fire said before turning around.

There were two more weapons he had to give away, first his sword, but finding a recipient would prove rather challenging with the number of named-and-important-sword users in their group. The second weapon was his ghast bone bow, he already had a recipient in mind for it.

Just before Fire was about to walk over to the central table, the entrance to the tent was pushed open and through came Lucy, wearing a set of light iron armor, but still with her notebook in hand. She greeted Fire with a quick raise of her hand, but approached the people seated at the table instead.

She said: “Just wanted to quickly report that divisions three through eight are fully combat ready, except for their radios, but they said they’re working on that. Siege engines are also constructed, and artillery will be ready within the next half-hour. Any orders I should relay directly?”

Tyron replied: “Nothing new, we’ll get in touch with the airship crew ourselves. Astro is still looking for a good breach point.”

“Found it,” Astro said with triumph. “We’re going in through the old prison cell - the fancy one.”

Tyron snorted and Lucy noted it down.

And just like that Lucy was gone again, back in the Shelter, she had always kept herself busier than she needed to but here every bit of effort was required.

Fire spoke to Astro directly, but his tone indicated he was addressing all four of the people at the table.

“I still have some weapons I won’t be using during the battle, and I thought I’d give them out to you.”

Now that Fire had their attention, he continued: “My bow will most likely go to Jennifer. I also have a spare sword, but I don’t know if any of you want it.”

Jennifer stood up. “I’ll take the bow if it’s good.”

Fire manifested his ghast bone bow from his inventory. The pure-white bones were etched with deep-blue patterns that slightly reflected the ambient light.

He explained to Jennifer: “It’s made from ghast bones, due to that and its size, it has a high draw weight, but once it’s drawn it takes very little strength to hold the arrow. It’s enchanted to further enhance the speed and accuracy of the shot.”

She nodded and took the bow, drawing back the string, getting a feel for it.

Fire looked back at the other three people sitting at the table, it was time to decide who would get the sword.

Tyron spoke first: “I can hardly replace Kir.”

Steve said: “Excalibur has served me well, but I’m up for dual wielding if Astro doesn’t want it.”

Astro pulled out his sword.

“Amicus used to belong to Kay. I tried to rename it Doloris for a while, but I slid right back into the old name. I think I could use a change, and obviously I would be honoured to wield your sword, Fire. You have been an excellent leader throughout all of this, and I’m sorry if I’ve ever held back from acknowledging that.”

Fire laid down the sword on the table. “Thank you, Astro, I appreciate it. The sword does not have a name, so feel free to give it one.”

Astro returned Amicus to its sheath and took up Fire’s sword. He smirked at Shadow.

“I think I’ll call it… Dodgeball.”

Shadow laughed out in response. “Well played Astro, well played.”

And with that, Fire and Shadow joined the round at the table, making conversation while they waited for the remaining troops to be ready for the assault on the Tower.

###

Warnado sat on a birch-log beam holding up the airship docks. People ran back and forth upstairs, issuing orders, exchanging what might have been their last words, providing some necessary fluff. And it wasn’t just nobodies, a lot of important people were talking and interacting in interesting combinations. Warnado didn’t really care.

“Yeah, you should probably go to Notch Island. Wait, no come back-”

Dinnerbone had kept whispering to him during the funeral, and Warnado had kept moving to a different spot in the crowd. Not because talking during a eulogy was socially inappropriate. If he’d been in a better mood, Warnado would probably have been the one to do something like that. Not to be disrespectful, just to keep things interesting.

Regardless, it bummed him out. If they won today, everyone else would go back home, and he would go off to fulfil the “Dark Prophecy”. While all his friends went on summer vacation, he was stuck going to a summer school where Herobrine was the mean gym teacher.

He looked down at his gauntlet, and readied to reach out with his mind. It was time.

He dodged as a clod of dirt flew up to hit his head.

“Helix! You okay?”

It was Amanda, kitted up for the fight and smirking up at him.

“I am, thanks to my lightning-fast reflexes!” he yelled back down. “What if you’d hit me and I fell off?”

“You can fly, donko.”

“Since when?”

“You’re terrible.”

“Probably.”

Amanda pulled out one of her axes and started climbing the struts up to him like a teenage lumberjack. Warnado’s hand instinctively reached out.

“Hey, be careful,” Warnado said.

“I am.”

“Do it more.” He tried to look away but kept being drawn back. “I worry.”

“Okay,” she laughed.

Amanda climbed the struts and tightrope walked along the beam to him.

“She’s awesome,” thought Warnado.

Finally, she sat down beside him. She reached out for his hand. He put an arm around her and rested his head against hers. He jabbed her with one of his hood-covered horns and quickly corrected, hoping she hadn’t noticed.

“Ow.”

He began to draw away, but she pulled him back in. They both laughed.

“You’re not getting away that easy.”

Amanda drew his attention to two of Astro’s buddies and Steve’s brother, Ozen, talking with Glowstar, the dragon who looked like the backdrop of a planetarium. The dragon was trying to look regal, and up there he was probably pulling it off. However, it wasn’t the world’s biggest walkway and, from down there, Amanda and Warnado could see how tightly his claws were packed together and how hard he was having to clench for the wind not to push him off.

He smiled, but soon looked back down at the gauntlet. Amanda’s eyes followed his.

“Dinnerbone bugging you, huh?”

He considered shrugging, trying not to worry her, but she deserved better.

“That’s a one-word response dripping with melancholy coming right up!”

“Yeah.”

“Do you want fries with that?”

He almost laughed at how funny he was in his own brain, but Amanda spoke and distracted him.

“You know I’m going to be there with you, right? The whole way.”

He felt warm inside and decided now was as good a time as any. He pulled out the necklace of shattered diamond and string. Just as they had seen so long ago in the crystal’s vision, just as he had made it so long before that.

“Yes,” he answered. “I do.”

Amanda lifted it in her hand.

“Is this the same one?”

“Well, I made it the same way. The last one uh…”

He tried to think of a romantic way of saying ‘was stolen by pillaging bandits’.

“Smart enough to make it twice,” she teased. “You really aren’t half as dense as you look.”

He laughed. She handed it over to him and gestured for him to put it on her. He did so slowly, feeling her hair brush against his fingers, and watching the gems roll softly against her neck. He looked up, their eyes met, and it was like a magnet pulled him onward. Their lips touched.

“Say it,” his brain said. “Say ‘I love you’ to her, right now.”

“Kind of busy, bud,” answered Warnado. “Buy yeah, sounds good.”

He pulled back, and he tried to talk but only managed an excited noise somewhere between a gasp and a laugh. He collected himself, opened his mouth to talk, for real this time.

Suddenly, there was a high-pitched squeal in their ears - the communication system Fire had put together with Brit so Kir could finally take a break as the team’s collective Zoom. He winced, as did Amanda.

“Okay, that should be it working. Can you hear me, Lupe?”

It was Kay.

Warnado could have sworn he heard Fire’s voice as though he were on the other side of a very loud room.

“No… on open channel,” came the muffled voice.

“Sorry, I’ll try to fix that,” said Kay. “Is that better?”

Kay sounded approximately 2% louder than before.

“You’re on an open channel, Kay,” said Lucy. “Please move to your allocated frequency.”

“How’s that?” said Kay, demonstrably still in the same channel.

Warnado and Amanda exchanged a look that communicated that they were both slightly horrified, and both enjoying every second of this. They were not the only ones.

“Settle in boys, ‘Clueless with a K’ is back at it again,” muttered one of Astro’s friends, the one with the skull cap… Aaron, that’s what his name was.

“Clueless with a K?!” Steve wheezed into the mic.

“Don’t worry lads,” droned Brit with uncharacteristic wryness. “He’s got ten years to figure it out.”

Warnado heard Astro, who had just been about to speak, choke on his own tongue.

“I mean say what you want,” said another guy, as though he were in a casual conversation. “Everyone knows the Third Legion’s Remaining are the best-looking unit in this army.”

“Clarke, get into your channel,” said a girl.

Amanda craned her neck, her jaw dropped, and then she immediately squealed into her sleeve.

“Kami, you’re right next to him, you don’t need to say it through the mic!”

“I just want people to know I don’t endorse this inappropriate use of army assets. We are so grateful for all the-”

“-Okay, how about now?” Kay said in a climactic return.

“No… now you’re back… open channel,” said Fire from some distance with his usual neutral tone, the only thing betraying his annoyance were some slightly longer pauses.

“He’s on a streak, lads,” said Aaron again.

“Kay, just… Fire adjust the settings,” said Tyron, similarly muffled.

“No, I’ve almost got it.”

“I’m… I can’t get over that nickname,” cackled Steve. “We’ve got to talk some time, let’s grab a drink after this. Urist, keep an eye out for the wine cellar.”

“Aye,” affirmed Urist.

“There we are!” Kay yelped in high-pitched triumph. Everyone winced.

“So, in terms of things to bully Kay for, his nickname is only the tip of the iceberg, and as retribution for him almost killing my ears there, I promise to spill all the beans.”

“Seriously guys,” said Tyron, “This is open, but it’s still a military channel-”

Unfortunately, around that moment, Raphoe decided to break into a version of “When the Saints Come Marching In” adjusted to say “We all know Ashen is our King,” in what he seemed to think was a helpful gesture.

“Don’t worry, I’m heading to the speaker-board,” droned Brit.

“Oh, just so you guys know,” said Ozen over the commotion. “If anyone’s still hungry, we’ve got leftovers in the kitchen. Lots of sandwiches, stew and steak are all gone though…”

“No, seriously, they must have some crazy stuff in there, they have full-on interdimensional trade networks-”

“I just want to be clear I fully disavow all connection to the King in Ash, it was not my idea-”

“...I WANNA BE IN THAT RED SCARF!”

“-and I do not approve of this chant.”

“Hey guys, it’s Dinnerbone here, sorry couldn’t see the button to talk. I’m taking requests if anyone wants to hear a song as we go into battle, I’ll be on frequency one… four…”

Realising the chaos was reaching its peak, and that Brit would definitely reach the speaker-board soon, Warnado flashed a grin at Amanda and as she removed her earpiece, he made his move. He reached deep into himself, leaned close to the mic, and released a continuous, abyssal screech into it.

Amanda leaned against him with her fingers in her ears, crying with laughter as everyone else flailed in confusion.

Then, finally, all the voices stopped.

“There we go,” murmured Brit. “Commander Tyron Dragoknight has the floor.”

“Fun’s over, everyone to their positions, we attack within the hour. Warnado, learn to use your inside voice by the next time you see me.”

Warnado turned to Amanda.

“It was worth it.”

She kissed him again.

“We’d best get going.”

They balanced on the beam. Warnado looked out and for the first time saw the rows and rows of cannons and fighters moving into place, both at the encampment and around the Tower. Airships were already in the sky, a lot of them with the Tower’s insignia on them. He looked down at his gauntlet.

He took her arm.

“Tell her, donko,” said his brain.

“Listen, Amanda,” he saw her face, then he averted his eyes. “I’m going to use the gauntlet out there. Just, be cautious around me.”

“Yeah, sure,” she said with a nod and a concerned, slightly proud smile. “That’s really brave of you.”

He felt a warmth that almost made him feel okay again.

“You know that’s not what I meant.”

“Shut up, brain.”

He looked out again, and saw the Tower glowing, almost burning in the sunlight, like a lighthouse or an old signal fire, luring them in. He grabbed Amanda and flew off in search of Tyron.

“Get ready, tin-throne,” Warnado thought. “Hold on to your seat.”

The sun was already well through its path across the sky when the first horn sounded. It was quickly joined by several others, each with its own unique tone. Only minutes before the armies of the Shelter had stood in line almost motionlessly, waiting for their signal. Now, the soldiers advanced towards their adversaries, knowing all too well that many of them would not see the end of the fight.

A small distance ahead of the rest, the Mencur-Besh collective marched, clad in armour made from their signature dark firesteel. The air around them flickered from the combined heat their bodies gave off, even without sending their muscles into overdrive. Dead in their centre walked Fire, only setting himself apart from the others with the flame-wreathed zweihander he carried.

The main force of the Shelter’s troops followed not far behind, far less uniform in appearance, armour and weapons ranging from iron to diamond, with the occasional exotic material in between. Some of them had been with the Shelter from the start, through all of its ups, downs and sideways, others had only joined under the reign of the King in Ash, or shortly beforehand. They were led by Tyron, who as the leader of the Shelter also held the position of high command. Close to his diamond-clad form were Amanda and Warnado, wielding crossbow and gauntlet respectively.

Moving in from the left and right of the central forces were the recently recruited soldiers from the Vanilla Craft. They all operated as one army, but were still separated into their own units, resulting in a colourful range of emblems, banners and overcoats strewn across their formation. They were officially commanded by Herobrine, but in practice Tyron would call the shots for the ground battle.

Off to the far left was the flanking force under the command of Kay, consisting of the remnants of his own diehard loyalists, as well as the hunters, who were now all fully armoured and equipped. They were accompanied by a detachment of fierce looking pigmen that Herobrine had set aside to reinforce this army.

In the far back were the artillery regiments, cannons and catapults of widely varied design, operated by an even wider range of people, both from the Shelter’s main population and from other worlds. On top of a wooden lookout tower stood Lucy, spyglass in one hand, microphone in the other, fiercely determined to ensure smooth operation.

Mixed into the artillery was Shadow’s Coven, some mages tasked with assisting the conventional artillery with hauling ammunition with telekinesis or with spotting targets. At the far back was the coven proper, robed mages and occasional Mencur-Besh arranged in three large circles. Casters in the middle, channellers around the edges. Shadow herself floated above, acting as a one-woman artillery unit, at least until the gates would be breached, then she had a different task.

Finally, high above the battlefield the airships moved in, crewed by Herobrine’s troops accompanied by the human Eye-and-Claws members, guarded by a small fleet of majestic dragons. Of these dragons, some burned red, others carried patterns like stars and nebulas on their multi-coloured hides, and one rather small one even had the black scales of the End. The airships were outfitted with quickly bolted-on guns to offer some manner of defence, additionally each airship also sported two mages among their crew to conjure barriers to deflect incoming anti-air fire.

On the other side of the battlefield, the disciplined mercenaries of the Tower held their position, strictly separated into their respective companies. The sheer number of them was staggering, still doubling the Shelter’s forces despite the recent reinforcements. Near the middle of the army was General Marcus, the head of the Tower’s Command and Control division now acted as military leader in the absence of the Ender and Claw. The sound of the enemy’s horns had sent the Tower’s army into full combat readiness, final instructions were passed along to soldiers, artillery pieces were hastily crewed, and mages got into position to support their troops.

Behind these cruel ranks, their namesake thrust upwards until it pierced the heavens. Plated with bronze, which glowed orange in the dimming sun, the Tower was tall, and strong and branching, like an almighty tree sprouting from the world, sustaining and overtaking it all at once. Within it were a thousand rooms with a thousand doors, behind one of which the machine lay hidden, which would make all creation a nightmare. And if one gazed up and looked through a telescope at the shattered observatory at the Tower’s peak, one might catch a glimpse of a faintly translucent form with a glowing, toothy grin.

The Shelter’s armies advanced steadily, until some hundred meters from the Tower’s forces they crossed an invisible line. For a split second, absolute silence fell on the battlefield. Then, horns sounded again from both sides, closely followed by artillery fire. The armies charged to clash with each other.

###

“Charge!” Roared Tyron, raising Kir aloft.

Hardly needing the encouragement, the Mencur-Besh charged ahead of them. They moved as one, it was as if they were not separate beings but one being, replicated thousands of times over. Tyron could have sworn that even their footsteps had become synchronised.

Then, mere seconds after, Tyron’s own armies rushed in to reinforce them with all the speed and resolve they had in them. And yet, the second the Mencur-Besh hit the enemy lines they sank right into them, like a stone in water, only seeming to get further and further away.

The yellow-eyed ones arrived first, claws and blades outstretched. Just before they made contact, an orange glow began to rise from between their scales, and they blasted forward like living missiles. Some men died outright, cleanly bisected, others were merely wounded, fewer still stood tall, saved by a clever parry or well-timed dodge.

None were fully prepared, however, because next came the red-eyed Mencur-Besh, strong as stone, easily overwhelming the limb strength of blockers, Fire at their fore. Tyron saw him sweep the Entity’s zweihander forward, hurling out an arc of flame, then vanish into the melee.

The gap between the vanguard and the main body grew larger still. Tyron watched as the Tower’s forces rushed in to fill this vacuum, which was made substantially easier by the arrival of several divisions of furious-looking, black-clad endermen. The Mencur-Besh were fast becoming a rock against which the waves of the sea of Tower troops would crash until it crumbled away. Or, at least, that was what they wanted them to think.

Tyron smirked as he watched the green-eyed Mencur-Besh, larger and bulkier than their compatriots, rally around the vanguard in a living wall. A central body formed within this makeshift fortification, composed of Mencur-Besh of a cocktail of previously unmentioned eye-colours, firing out arrows, potions, and spells. Some Tower soldiers even fell to the sheer heat the mass Mencur-Besh bodies gave off. This would buy Tyron the time he needed. Still, it was a gamble.

He saw as one of the living wall was struck in the chest by a giant with an appropriately large axe, biting through the chestplate and damaging at least one of their hearts. Already wounded from several encounters, the Mencur-Besh simply walked forward and continued fighting, the orange glow between their scales subtly intensifying. They slew the giant who had injured them, then began to make their way through a column of human mercenaries, until an Enderman appeared from behind and plunged a sword into the back of their neck. However, the Enderman’s triumph was short-lived, as the glow rapidly intensified into an inferno and the Mencur-Besh exploded, showering everyone in a small radius in flame and shrapnel.

Finally, Tyron and his forces made it to the front, and began to cut their way through to the Mencur-Besh.

Tyron immediately summoned his stone wings and used them to fly forward and send an Enderman commander flying with his outstretched foot. The startled officer landed at the foot of one of the living wall Mencur-Besh, only just teleporting away before a set of bedrock-like claws plunged into its chest.

Tyron ducked the gold blade of a well-armed pigman, reconstituting his stone wing into a fist as he did so. He shattered this new hand against the pigman’s face. The pigman’s skull buckled under the force of the blow, and he clattered to the ground.

Satisfied, Tyron began to marshal his troops. A division this way to where the fighting was thickest, some combat mages to support them. Two divisions there, where he could see a weak point in their lines. Already they were gaining ground, soon the Mencur-Besh would be able to advance again.

“Look out!” shrieked Kir.

He looked around for the source of the attack, then noticed the pistons pulling the ground away beneath him. He landed on his feet, three blocks down, when he heard the hiss of spiders. Around a dozen of his soldiers had fallen down with him. Red eyes and black legs cascaded onto them, and a flurry of arrows shot up to the surface.

He swung Kir and hacked the legs off one spider, toppling the skeletal rider flying into the ground. He heard the sound of scattering bones. He struck again and shattered a skeleton’s bow, sending them out to the surface in a relatively harmless state. A large black mass slammed into him, and suddenly he was pinned to the ground.

Now, he found himself forcing back the mandibles of the largest spider he had ever seen. An armoured skeleton looked intently down at him, its jaw clacking in what Tyron had to assume was laughter. It had a crossbow trained on his head.

In a fit of irony, a crossbow bolt slammed right into the rider’s jaw, knocking it straight off. A second shot crushed the skull altogether. Tyron angled to stab Kir into the spider’s head, but it kept biting harder, fiercer, and closer to his face. Rathina gave him the opening he needed. She dropped down and slashed the beast’s abdomen open, and he thrust straight forward as it reared back, and it moved no more.

He wanted to kiss Rathina then and there, but there was still the horde to contend with. Thankfully, Seth and Warnado rushed forward and began to fight back the spider riders, giving him a moment to think. Seth wielded his diamond sword with mastery, and Warnado had summoned the energy weapon he called a ‘chainsaw’. He looked up and saw Amanda firing her crossbow again and again, downing rider after rider, but equally, he saw two combat mages he knew had experience with earth magic. He also noticed a nearby fast-builder he had recently supplied with a large quantity of TNT.

“Hold the line here,” Tyron ordered.

“Bold new strategy,” said Warnado as he mowed down another spider. “I’ll take it under advisement.”

Tyron rolled his eyes, summoned his stone wings, and flew up to the two wizards and the builder.

He saw the battlefield. The riders hadn’t completely disrupted the Shelter’s army, but they certainly weren’t helping matters. He saw a lot of dead spiders and shattered skeletons, but also a lot of their own corpses. A similar opening had been created in the midst of the Vanillan lines, And Tyron could see a large shield-wall had been created by the Legion to fend them off. Ahead of the line, he saw the warriors of the Brotherhood and the Vangaardian knights pushing down into the spider’s den.

The Mencur-Besh were holding strong, killing at least a dozen Tower mercenaries for each one they lost, but it was clear they were taking heavy fatalities. Somewhere out near the front Fire’s zweihander flashed into view.

Meanwhile, as discussed, Kay had skirted around the edge of the Tower’s main body and gone straight for the wall. He had two fast-builders attempting to construct a large stone staircase up the wall with considerable success. Unfortunately, their efforts were being diverted by a large detachment of defenders who had taken notice of them and decided they didn’t like that plan one bit.

“Shadow, we need a sunbeam!” Tyron heard Kay roar into the leadership channel.

One of Shadow’s scryers responded: “We see you, Sunbeam coming up in fifteen seconds, brace!”

Tyron landed and saw the mages he needed. He waved over Amanda and the fast-builder.

“You two, with me, we’re closing this trench.” The mages, one man and one woman saluted and awaited further instructions. “Amanda, take the fast-builder and protect him while he sets up some TNT. Drop the charges just as we set up the plug.”

Amanda took the builder by the arm, equipping her axe and striking at any opponents who crossed their path. Off near the wall, the Sunbeam plummeted from the skies, slamming right into the heart of the force attacking Kay. Tyron was momentarily awestruck by the sudden flash of light and immediate rise of smoke, even stronger than it had been at the Battle of the Hill, then turned his attention to the pit spitting spider riders onto the battlefield.

A spider had bitten Seth on the arm, but he kept fighting just as fiercely. Rathina continued to slash away with her daggers. And, just as a spider knocked Warnado back, dissipating his chainsaw, a flash of deep, purple demon-fire shot forth from his gauntlet, consuming both steed and rider immediately. But despite their efforts, the arachnid cavalry just kept coming.

A quick glance confirmed that the builder had set up a row of TNT and that he was ready to light it at any second. So, Tyron and the mages channelled their will and collectively began to shift the earth to seal up the opening.

Warnado, Seth and Rathina backed away as a thick wall of stone began to push through dirt and pistons, attempting to put a literal lid on the spider jockeys. The charge began to halt, and some riders began to quickly scurry up the wall and attempt to escape. However, whenever they made it to the topside they were quickly slain by volleys of arrows.

Just before the opening was completely closed, the builder lit their row of charges, sending them tumbling into the depths. The stone lid reached the surface just in time for a white flash, a smell of sulphur, and several consecutive booms to escape.

With the immediate threat neutralised, Tyron ordered a renewed advance. However, just as he did so, he noticed that the Mencur-Besh were also moving forward, more slowly and deliberately this time, straight towards General Marcus’ honour guard.

###

Rose leaned back as much as the flagship’s crowded cabin allowed. Right behind her the motor driving the propeller gently hummed, a far cry from the smoking and sputtering motors she knew from her home. It wasn’t her first time flying, she’d been on a couple of aircraft when travelling to acquire occult artefacts for her employer. Once, she’d even infiltrated a pleasure-cruise blimp to eliminate some high-society thorn in her employer’s side. It was, however, the first time she’d been part of a fleet, and it definitely the first time she’d been in a fleet escorted by dragons, creatures that her world only knew from myths.

Of the cabin crew she only knew three. The mages Pallas and Danann, Shadow’s direct subordinates, were posted to make sure the ship managed to get close enough for Rose to cut open the Tower’s walls. The third one was Brad and knowing was a bit of a stretch for him, she’d talked with him during the preparations but other than that they were strangers. The blond man was currently standing near her, eyeing the engine to make sure it ran smoothly.

Beneath the airship the battle had begun to rage, while the individual soldiers shrunk to the size of ants, the sheer masses were still impressive. Rose was not used to large-scale warfare, but that’s why she was up here, not down there. The Tower soldiers’ artillery had already started firing but were still well out of range of the airships, so instead they concentrated on shelling the ground troops. Most projectiles were intercepted mid-air by a spell, but some still made it through.

Rose looked to her side towards Brad. “So, you’re one of Fire’s closer friends in your world.”

Brad nodded. “You could say that, not many friendships endure for millennia.”

Rose replied: “In my world immortality is this rare thing, guarded jealously by a select few, it seems to be given out far more generously in yours.”

“Oh, plenty of mortal people in my world too. The only reason we have immortals at all is because we built the world they exist in, it’s not quite real, but real enough.”

Rose pulled one of the diamond daggers Fire had given her from its sheath and looked at her reflection. She’d forgone her usual assassin’s garb in favour of actual armour, which sadly made her whole pre-battle routine moot, no point in half-measures.

She asked: “So, how did you two meet in the first place?”

A fond smile of remembrance flashed across Brad’s face. “Oh, it’s quite the story. Fire has done a lot of things in his life, and at one point he was a pirate. Pirate King even, but that came later.”

Rose snorted with laughter. “A pirate, really?”

“Yes, really. In the early years in my world, I took to sailing, which eventually led to the trade ship I served on to being captured by pirates, not Fire’s pirates, different ones. They recruited me onto their crew, well, press-ganged technically, but I was up for the change of pace. A few years passed until our captain retired and the crew was left looking for new employment.”

“And that’s where you met him?” Rose assumed.

“Exactly, and what a first impression that was. He just sailed into the port with the most magnificent ship I’d seen up to that point, and from that point onward to be honest. It was carved whole from a steelwood tree, the last ship of its kind. Those trees went extinct after a quake collapsed the caverns they grew in. ‘Lich Queen’ it’s called, and when it sailed into the port it was running on a quite literal skeleton crew. Of course, reanimated bones can’t replace actual breathing, thinking crew, so I signed on.”

Rose’s only experience with pirates was, as with many professions, having killed a few on the travels her employer sent her on.

She asked: “So, I imagine you accumulated a lot of plunder in all that time.”

Brad seemed to notice something about the engine, adjusted a few valves, then answered.

“More than that, we controlled the trade, had our own fleet, and even built a thriving pirate town. Fire even managed to domesticate a breeding pair of krakens, which cemented his position as Pirate King, pretty difficult to win a naval battle if your enemy has titanic creatures on his side. Very exciting times.”

Before Brad could spin Rose more tales of his roguish past, a sudden movement went through the soldiers on board of the airship. It originated from Pallas, who now stood with his arms outstretched as a translucent barrier formed around the airship, only to be struck by artillery fire moments later.

Brad yelled: “Battle stations! Man the guns!”

Rose steadied herself on the deck as the airship’s pilot began swerving to avoid being an easy target. Several Tower mages had also levitated closer to the airship and were beginning their own assault. Rose grabbed hold of the nearest gun and looked out for targets.

A mage with burning eyes had taken a course straight for the airship, jets of flame shot from his palms as he approached. Rose took aim and pulled the trigger, firing a barrage of lead at the mage. The first few bullets missed, but once Rose corrected her aim, several struck true. The mage plummeted towards the battlefield below, his torso torn apart by the impacts.

More mages followed, most more careful than their fallen comrade. Shards of ice shattered on a shield projected by Danann, fireballs were scattered as Pallas conjured gusts of wind. A bolt of lightning struck the engine, but that only seemed to make it more eager to propel the aircraft forward.

Other airships weren’t faring quite as well, not all of them had mages of this level of competence defending them, and luck also played a role. However, overall, it seemed like they were going to get through.

Rose fired at a whole squadron of mages that came floating up, looking more coordinated than the earlier ones. She recognized several of the white gowns of the Tower’s elite mages among this group. The gun wasn’t going to do her much good against their shields. Instead, she channelled her own occult gifts. A barrage of steel needles shot forth from her outstretched hand, each imbued with supernatural piercing power.

Three mages took the brunt of the attack and were instantly torn apart as the needles pierced their passive shields. The elite mages redoubled their shielding efforts and now turned their attention towards Rose’s airship. They began charging a spell of their own, but before Rose could wonder what the spell would do, a huge, winged form slammed into the mages from above. The dragon Glowstar had joined the defence of the airships, the other dragons following closely after, swatting the mages out of the sky with their bulk or biting them in half.

Now with the dragons in the mix the Tower’s mages were less eager to attack and instead floated downwards to support their own troops. The airships were quite close to the Tower now, it was time for Rose to fulfil her part of the plan.

She spoke into her radio: “I’m ready for Drake to pick me up.”

Only seconds later, the black-scaled fledgeling dragon pulled up next to the airship, Jennifer already seated on his back, waving Rose over. Rose took a look behind her for a second, Brad gave her an affirmative nod. Rose vaulted over the railing and landed right behind Jennifer.

Jennifer yelled over the high winds: “We proceed as planned, I’ll get you close to the walls, you tear open holes for our ships to unload.”

Rose moved into position behind Jennifer and held on as Drake accelerated forward with rapid flaps of his wings. As they closed the gap to the Tower, Rose could see that some of the windows had opened, barrages of arrows came flying out.

Drake swerved to avoid the first volley, then resumed the approach course. Rose meanwhile shot volleys of sharpened metal in the direction of the archers, more than a few hit their targets. As they got closer, more and more arrows showered them, most either missing or glancing off armour and scales. A few managed to get stuck in Drake’s flesh, eliciting an angry roar and a blast of purple breath directed at the offending archers.

Jennifer spoke words of encouragement to Drake, but Rose was honestly too focused on killing archers to concentrate on what exactly she said.

They had finally come close enough to the Tower for Rose to begin her work. Drake circled tightly around an outcropping to avoid incoming arrows, then Jennifer steered him on course to the first breach site. Rose concentrated, pushing occult energies into her right hand and the dagger that resided in it. Just as Drake passed a large section of Tower wall, Rose let loose.

Three arcs of pure sharpness rushed towards the bronze exterior of the Tower, cutting a triangular shape into it. This opening was promptly used by the non-bisected Tower archers to get a better angle on Drake, landing a few more painful hits.

Now with the first opening made, one of their biggest airships approached, holding their vanguard breach force. Rose had no opportunity to observe the boarding since the next targeted section of wall was coming up, three more cuts and another opening was made.

The archers gradually became less organized as more and more airships approached the Tower and Shelter troops now stormed through the hallways, cutting them down. Rose cut again and again and again, until an entire side of the Tower was riddled with holes.

Now that her primary task was done, it was time for Rose to join the fighting inside. Drake brought her close and she jumped off, landing with a quick roll, throwing a barrage of knives at her immediate opposition.

The part of the Tower they were in now was mostly used for storage of the Entity’s bizarre collections, which was why it had been chosen as their entry point. They’d be able to take over the branch quickly, then push out from there. Behind Rose, more and more airships fell out of the sky, their crew having left them behind to fight in the hallways. It was a risky one-way trip that relied on the success of the ground army, but really, at this point what was a bit of extra risk?

###

Fire pushed himself off the ground forcefully. At the apex of his jump his flaming wings erupted, and immediately propelled him forward, his zweihander held low, ready to strike. Like a comet he descended on the Tower mercenaries’ ranks, sending a wave of scorching flames forwards with a swing of his zweihander. Dozens of enemies fell before him, but before anyone could retaliate, Fire was already halfway back to the relative safety of the Mencur-Besh. He had been doing hit-and-run attacks on the Tower forces ever since they established their position, attempting to strike a balance between offensive effectiveness and his own safety.

A Sunbeam impacted off in the distance, and not too long after muffled explosions rang out from further back. Fire settled back into the Mencur-Besh masses, joining their mages in slinging spells onto the Tower soldiers.

He spoke to the joined mind: “How are our numbers?”

The mind replied: “I lost nine-hundred-thirty-six bodies.”

At this pace they would be wiped out before getting through to the Tower, but Fire had known that from the start. Their plan had not been to win through annihilation, they had a concrete target in mind: General Marcus, the Tower’s acting military leader. He and his personal guard stood near the back of the Tower’s army and the Mencur-Besh were steadily approaching his position. Hundreds of soldiers fell before their blades and claws as they moved through the sea of bodies.

“Requesting several Rockbursts, targets designated through mental link.” One of the joined mind’s bodies spoke through the radio.

Only seconds later, large spikes of stone erupted from the ground below a Tower artillery piece, its guarding mages having flown up to harry the Shelter airships, a mistake that cost them dearly. More spikes erupted all over the backlines, disabling more and more unguarded artillery.

Shadow replied through the radio: “Targets eliminated, circles one and three need to recharge, circle two is on disruption duty. We won’t be able to follow up on target designations for a few minutes. I will personally give fire support in the meantime.”

A blindingly bright disintegration ray impacted in the midst of the Tower army, still carrying enough energy to outright kill several soldiers, even at the extreme range Shadow was casting from.

Fire flew up again, this time he’d need to go further. He accelerated towards the Tower, remaining at a low altitude. As he flew, he bombarded the Tower’s troops with a barrage of fireballs. They had wisened up, arrows were shot in his direction. Fire avoided the barrage with a swift roll, pushing additional energy into his wings to scorch any soldiers below him as he did.

Fire was close enough to be able to see Marcus’ face under his visor, which was still a moderate distance due to his superhuman vision. Before he could approach closer, eight white-garbed mages rose up around Marcus, ready to defend him with their lives. Fire made a sharp turn and flew back the way he came.

He spoke through his radio: “Marcus has elite mages in his personal guard, too many for me to safely take him out on my own.”

Instead of going back down into the Mencur-Besh’s ranks, Fire remained afloat above them. He channelled his life force and bathed the area in front of the Mencur-Besh in flames, allowing them to advance towards Marcus at a faster pace.

Tyron’s voice came through the leadership channel: “We fully neutralized their trapdoor ambushes, coming to join up with you, Fire.”

Not a minute later, Tyron had swooped over the Tower’s soldiers on his stone wings. They both landed to discuss matters.

Fire said: “Marcus is retreating, we have to get him now.”

Tyron nodded. “Agreed.”

Fire weighed his options, he couldn’t directly assault Marcus’ position without placing himself in significant danger, and the Mencur-Besh couldn’t advance quickly enough to catch up with Marcus’ retreat.

Fire spoke into his radio again: “Shadow, how long until we can get another Sunbeam?”

Shadow replied: “Two minutes at least. What do you need it for?”

Tyron seemed to have picked up on Fire’s plan, he radioed: “It’s for Marcus, we absolutely need to get him now or he just goes back into the Tower.”

Fire asked: “What about using circle two?”

Shadow seemed to deliberate for a few moments. “Circle two is charged, but also responsible for stopping enemy artillery. If you think it’s worth it, I can give the order.”

Tyron spoke again: “Jennifer, status of air assault?”

Sounds of fighting came through the radio, then Jennifer replied with ragged breath: “Two thirds of our surviving airship crews have boarded or are boarding the Tower, just the flagship and a few others to go.”

Fire and Tyron looked at each other, then silently nodded.

Fire gave the order: “Maximum power Sunbeam on Marcus, have circles one or three take over disruption once recharged.”

“Fifteen seconds.” Shadow simply replied.

“Fourteen, thirteen, twelve…” Kir chirped methodically in their minds.

Both Fire and Tyron took to the skies again. They both counted down the seconds along with Kir. A glaring light erupted from the sky above Marcus’ position moments before the Sunbeam came crashing down. The moment it made contact, the smoke of burnt bodies and scorched earth obscured their view. This smoke was quickly blown away by a sharp gust of wind conjured by one of the Mencur-Besh mages to reveal…

In the midst of the devastation stood a figure, cowering below a three-by-three block configuration of red-hot obsidian. Marcus was a fast builder! Without exchanging a word, Fire and Tyron flew forwards.

As they closed in, Fire yelled into his radio: “Shadow, dome us!”

Not a second later, a transparent, light-blue wall rose up from the edges of the scorched earth, quickly curving upwards and closing them in. The dome was spacious but not big enough to keep flying. Marcus stopped his frantic retreat and turned to face his attackers. On the other side of the dome, Tower soldiers began hacking at the barrier with their weapons, sending ripples through it. They saw two mages in singed white robes exchange a nod with Marcus and begin their incantations. The implications were clear, they needed to kill Marcus before the dome came down.

Fire went on the offensive first, sprinting towards Marcus with his zweihander ready to strike. But before he could come anywhere close, Marcus had made several hops onto freshly placed obsidian blocks and was now standing on a pillar.

As Tyron re-assembled his wings, Fire shot a jet of flame upwards at Marcus, only to have it harmlessly deflect off yet more obsidian. Fire let the zweihander disappear into his inventory, the orange glow between his scales turned bright yellow as he used his excess life force to supercharge his muscles beyond what was normally possible.

In a single bound Fire leapt up to the top of the pillar, where he was immediately greeted by a sudden flood of water. Once he had his footing, Marcus had already built an obsidian bridge halfway across the dome and was now ducking behind low cover with a bow in hand.

Tyron came barrelling in from the side. Marcus turned towards him and shot several arrows, not even bothering to properly draw back the string. The enchanted projectiles hit Tyron in rapid succession and launched him backwards, smashing him into the dome. Just before Fire was able to reach him, Marcus had already hopped off his bridge, onto a series of shorter pillars he was rapidly building below himself. Fire had to admit, Marcus was good at stalling, which was sadly all he needed to do.

Fire jumped after him but now it was his turn to be ragdolled through the air by Marcus’ arrows. As he got back to his feet, he saw Tyron narrowly avoiding the bucket of lava Marcus tried to dump on him. A quick glance aside told Fire that they were running low on time, the dome’s integrity had suffered greatly.

Marcus had once again gained height. His obsidian staircase went all the way up to just under the dome. He now seemed to be building himself a fortification. Fire sprinted up the rough stairs. The dome could fail any second. Fire materialized his zweihander from his inventory again. It was now or never.

With a cry of effort, Fire channelled even more energy into his muscles. The glow between his scales turned white-hot and flames wreathed the zweihander, time slowed to a crawl. The dome shattered into thousands of pieces just as the blade made contact with the obsidian. The solid volcanic glass shattered as Fire cleaved a large gap into the wall Marcus had built. Marcus was in the process of winding up an ender pearl throw. The tip of the zweihander grazed his chestplate, severely slowed down by the obsidian wall, but still forceful enough to throw Marcus off balance.

The ender pearl slid from Marcus’ hand mid-throw, still well on course towards safety.

“I’ll give you credit, kid, you’re strong,” said Marcus. He grinned. “Claw is stronger.”

He threw himself off the obsidian platform.

However, unbeknownst to Marcus, Tyron had flown after the pearl and used Kir’s flat side to bat it back to where it came from. Marcus reappeared prone on the platform he had just jumped from. Above him was Fire, zweihander raised like an executioner. The blade came down on Marcus, before he could properly realize what position he was in, his obsidian chestplate had already been shattered and his torso bisected.

Fire quietly said: “It seems that this sword’s destiny is to cut down overconfident generals.”

Fire reached down to grab the top half of the fresh corpse, holding him up so that all the Tower’s mercenaries could see: Their leader had fallen.

###

The second Marcus’ corpse came into view, chaos erupted on the battlefield. It was as though a great whirlwind had sucked up the intentions of the Tower’s army and scattered them every which way.

Some battalions with young, idealistic officers found renewed strength in vengeance, and charged forward in another attack on this Mencur-Besh flank, or that phalanx of the Legion. Others instinctively threw their weapons to the side and began to plead for their lives to mixed degrees of success, just as they had done when the late General Marcus had bested their own rulers. To the far left and right flanks, some experienced mercenaries simply saw the bisected Marcus as a contract torn up. His blood was just coin spilling out of a ruptured purse. They quickly moved to evade their Shelter attackers, only fighting so far as it was necessary to get away from them. Only the Endermen seemed unshaken, keeping up their harrying attacks, weaving between Shelter lines and spreading death all around.

But for the majority of the army, encircled by the Vanillans to the left, Kay’s flanking force to the right, and slammed into by the Mencur-Besh and Shelter forces from the front, the only way was back. Back the gate, then beyond that to the Tower. What would they do when they got there? Retreat into it and fight on? Rush past it and flee into the fields beyond? They would decide that when they came to it. The gates opened, and they slowly pulled back through.

And as the Tower ebbed backwards, the Shelter surged on. At the fore of their army, Tyron and Fire fought onward, sending out jets of fire and shards of ice. And just behind them the Mencur-Besh continued their onslaught in looser formation now that they were on the offense.

Seeing the retreat, Shadow gave an order for the circles of her Coven to disperse and relocate closer to the Tower itself. After brief consultation with Fire, Lucy, blonde hair gleaming in the setting sun despite the clouds of artillery smoke around her, marshalled the artillery onward. They moved slowly, trailing behind the rest of the army but sustaining a barrage on the Tower’s walls.

No longer made stationary by the need for powerful spells, Shadow and some of her most loyal acolytes soared upwards in a v-formation, blasting Tower mages out of the sky as they went. The tiny, white-haired mage was a whole arsenal unto herself, surrounded by an ever-replenishing ring of magical orbs which periodically shot out and broke the shield of a nearby mage, then blew a hole through their heart. Occasionally she’d also use her disintegration ray on particularly stubborn opponents, though always careful not to hit anyone behind them.

On the right flank, relieved by the departure of some of the grizzled mercenaries previously mentioned, the forces under Kay Mandy, the disgraced general, managed to complete their makeshift staircase and swarm onto the wall. Hunters threw spears with terrifying accuracy. Pigmen swung gigantic golden swords to break their opponents’ guard, then clamped vice-like jaws down on their necks. These forces began to fight their way towards the gate to place further pressure on the enemy retreat.

A third detachment of this army turned away, towards the nearest gun emplacement. Of these, most wore red scarves, and fought with a uniform brutality. With swords they slashed for the face, then when their enemies were disoriented, struck out with heavy, sharp gauntlets. Every open wound would be targeted. Every exhausted man momentarily losing poise would be thrown to the ground and trampled, friend or foe. Their strategy was all momentum, all the time - a single, continuous punch to the nose of their opponents.

At the very front of their lines was the General himself, orbited by the three members of the Remaining. Kay fought with all the savagery of his men, punching this man across the jaw so hard his teeth flew out, and hacking that man across the leg and leaving him, bleeding, to the wave of men in his wake.

And the Remaining matched his energy easily. Lupe kept direct pace, dodging every arrow and blade which came her way, killing opponents with ease. Even the teleporting Endermen couldn’t give her pause. They would appear and, as though she had been waiting for their arrival, find her sword raking across their scales. Not far behind, Kami’s spells and Clarke’s flames rained death upon the Tower’s forces.

Finally, they were just before the gun. Kay drew back. After much screaming into his sleeve and fiddling with buttons, Kay convinced Shadow to swoop down and cleanly divide the gun’s defenders with a blast of heat. A retreat was sounded, and Kay turned his attention to the now-abandoned artillery piece.

“As we discussed,” he said to Kami.

The mage stepped forward and closed her eyes. She stretched out her palms, and a look of intense effort came over her face. A sound like the roar of some great beast filled the air and the cannon began to lift from the ground, drifting slowly out over the battlefield. Kami, with teeth gritted so tightly they looked as though they might shatter, rotated it until that barrel pointed directly at the Tower troops filtering through the gate. A great many had made it through, but those who remained had solidified into a tightly packed shell that even the Mencur-Besh were struggling to pierce.

Seeing the pain it caused her, Lupe put a hand on her comrade’s shoulder.

“Just one good shot,” she affirmed.

Nodding, Kami clenched her fists and the cannon’s firing mechanism slammed into action. The TNT shell slammed directly into the centre of the retreating army, killing several men, but scattering and wounding a good few more. More importantly, it set a massive crater in the middle of their path to safety.

“C-can I put it down, now?” shivered Kami.

“Sorry, just a few moments more,” Kay said. He mounted the nearest battlements and glared down at the gate’s defenders. “They need to believe we’ll fire again.”

“Kay, you know she can’t do that,” Clarke growled.

“But they don’t,” Lupe conceded with considerable reluctance.

After what felt like an eternity, a white flag rose from the midst of the defenders, and they began to throw aside their weapons. The Mencur-Besh shunted past them, already moving on to their next targets. The Vanillans and the forces of the Shelter followed suit, leaving behind a small detachment to round up the surrendering forces. Kami let the artillery drop, and the General thanked her stiffly.

Meanwhile, the retreating Tower force had split up upon reaching their namesake structure. The main entrance was only large enough for so many of them to fit through, so some attempted to reach the other entrances to the left, right and on the far side. Others took up positions among the storage and energy generation buildings, readying to launch hit-and-run attacks on the conquering army as they came, ready to repay Fire for his own tactics. Bowstrings stretched, and as the Mencur-Besh passed them, the arrows were let loose. Still, even as some of them fell, they advanced undaunted, and their formation proved almost unbreakable.

Overhead, the last few airships began to fall away, as the dragons and mages continued their frenetic dogfights. Here a red-scaled dragon’s jaws would crush through the shield of a frightened mage. There, the Tower’s forces regrouped and shot down a dragon or a transport.

Only one airship remained undocked, the largest of them all. A tree with a burning sword through it loomed on the side of its balloons. This was the flagship, carrying the wizard Astro, the adventurers Steve Brine and Jennifer, and Herobrine himself. Finally, after several attempts, an opening large enough was made, and it slammed its hull forward, a complex series of pistons designed by the Eye-and-Claws readying to open it up and allow its troops to charge forward.

This went almost unobserved on the ground, however, as the falling airships were redirected by Shadow and her mages to crash into Tower holdouts. The balloons slowed their descent and limited the damage they would do to the structures themselves, but their size made them intimidating enough that even many of the boldest officers relocated further back just to be safe.

The Mencur-Besh reached the massive staircase up to the main entrance and began methodically clearing through the remaining defenders. They were soon joined by the Shelter and the Vanillans, and this united force pushed firmly up the stairs. Now, the charge was led by Fire, Tyron, and Kay, battling fiercely through this last line of defence. With every step, and every successful swing, their sense of triumph swelled, forcing them onwards. And yet, simultaneously, their trepidation seemed to grow greater and heavier, as they realised that inside would be a harder fight still. Miles of endless rooms and corridors, each packed with crueller traps and fiercer defenders.

At the top of the stairs, a small swarm of mages lay in wait. They had their shields clustered around a white-robed witch as she attempted to fuse the colossal, metal doors together.

Fire, Tyron and Kay came face to face with this group and readied to square off. Kay flourished his sword and drew a dagger from his flank to accompany it. Tyron formed a spike of ice around one of his fists. Fire ignited the blade of his zweihander in a continuous inferno. And the mages in return fortified their shields, summoned spectral weapons, and prepared mighty bolts of lightning.

They heard a clanging noise. A metal cylinder clattered onto the ground between them. Immediately recognising this, Kay and Tyron covered their eyes, and Kir warned Fire to do the same, though he already seemed to know what was about to happen.

“Flash out!” a voice shouted from above.

The cylinder exploded and the top of the staircase was consumed by blinding light. The mages were completely blinded and deafened, leaving them open to attack, and the Shelter’s three commanders weren’t in much better condition despite their last-minute precautions. They heard a light thud as someone landed in front of them, then the snap of a crossbow being fired. A sound like glass breaking followed, and the mage nearest the centre dropped dead.

Fire’s eyes cleared just in time for him to see it. Warnado, a fiery purple warhammer held over his head, landed where the dead mage had once stood. The white-robed witch turned with tears streaming from her still-dazzled eyes and raised a shield. With his red eyes gleaming, and his teeth bared in a wild grin, Warnado brought the hammer down. There was another intense flash as the hammer made contact. Deep, purple demonfire swept out in a circle, overpowering the disoriented mages completely. The fire dissipated and Warnado stood alone, leaning against the door and tapping his foot.

“So, are we cracking this baby open or not?” he asked.

Tyron and Kay walked up and inspected the door. It was pretty clearly fused together, but with enough force it would buckle. They returned and took up their positions to the left and right of Fire respectively. Warnado and Amanda stood just behind Fire, momentarily allowing their hands to touch.

A glance back revealed many noteworthy faces. Seth and Rathina trash-talked each other, hyping up their competitive spirit before the battle. Lupe examined her sword as Clarke and Kami did stretches. Ryan, administrator of the Vanilla Craft, twisted his staff in his hands. Tauto Chrone of the Brotherhood muttered his mantras beneath his steel mask. Wolfric the mage thumbed through his spell book for one last incantation he might need.

Far behind them, Lucy rallied the Legionnaires and the artillery corps into a rear-guard. For the moment, the hit-and-run attacks had ceased, but between the buildings flashes of movement could be seen as the Tower forces regrouped.

Fire stood before the gate, waiting for his sister to arrive. She was essential to finding and disabling the machine, which lay somewhere deep beneath their feet. There was no point attacking until she was there. Finally, she drifted down from the sky and came to rest before him.

“Ready?” Fire asked.

Shadow nodded. “Let’s go save the multiverse.”

Issa ran through the halls, assailed by a cacophony of radio and telepathic messages.

“Enemy flagship preparing to breach,” the speaker crackled in her left ear. “Reallocating forces to deal with anticipated incursion… Possible instance of archetype designated ‘Herobrine’, please conduct identification procedures so we know what we’re dealing with...”

“Regrouping for attempt to retake the Inner Compound,” croaked an enderman general in her right. “Unable to ascertain which mercenary units have deserted and whether they may still be a threat. Please advise.”

“Confirming reports,” recited one telepath within her mind. “General Marcus is dead. Recovery efforts have thus far proven ineffective.”

The tower’s head of reconnaissance rapidly scribbled down responses, handing them out to various aides with instructions to individually contact the relevant units. Normally, this wouldn’t be an issue, she always had a cloud of reports and requests following her during any major operation, but with Bul dead, Claw MIA, the Ender apparently turned traitor, and the Entity pushing its already reclusive nature to new extremes, she was bearing the whole weight of military intelligence on her shoulders.

“Efforts to seal the main gates were successful despite high casualties. Breach anticipated shortly, please advise as to status of reserve troops.”

Then, another aide approached and directed her to a radio, from which a lesser officer could be heard screaming: “Storage Wing Delta is compromised - our defences aren’t doing anything! She’s cutting right through the walls!”

Issa lifted her head.

“What is in Storage Wing Delta?”

“Entity’s personal collection - broken music disks, mostly. And hats, so many hats.”

Issa groaned and lifted the receiver.

“See what you can do about drawing enemy attention to Storage Wing Delta. The busier they are there the less progress they’re making on the important stuff.”

“Will do, General Issa.”

She shook her head and dispelled the crowd of aides, walking straight to the conference room at the end of the hall. Forgelight wanted to talk to her. With a deep breath, she threw the double-doors open.

General Forgelight stood on the opposite side of the table, head bowed, and fingers splayed across its surface. He was a gigantic man with stern eyes and a firm, square jaw. As leader of the Tower’s Command & Control unit, he had spent the last decade governing the Tower’s holdings outside Nexus, spreading the good news of the unity and infrastructure the Tower would bring. Issa prayed he had brought some good news home with him.

There was also a crystal ball apparition of Archmage Wisp, shaking with rage. A small circle of lesser leaders surrounded them, all in various states of concern.

“He cannot be allowed to get away with this,” seethed the wizard. “Today of all days he cannot simply decide to-”

Forgelight cut across him with a voice like a grim steamroller.

“-He has, Wisp, and we shall deal with that shortly. Issa, what’s our situation?”

“Marcus confirmed dead, incursions imminent on main hall and upper floors. Efforts are being made to encircle them in the inner compound, but desertions and high casualties have hampered our attempts to regroup.”

“So, ‘awful’ is the word of the day, is it?”

Issa smiled.

“Pretty much.”

Forgelight straightened his hair and turned away from her. He fixed his eyes on a landscape painting of a mountain range made of gold and glass.

“They have us on the ropes, friends,” he boomed. “But time is on our side. Dr. Mercury is making the final adjustments to the machine as we speak. Once it is activated, there will be nothing they can do to stop the convergence of worlds. In short, they will have lost - that is when we will be able to crush them completely. Our tactics should therefore not focus on outright repulsing the rebels, but on delaying them.”

Issa nodded.

“How do you plan to slow them?”

Forgelight turned to face them, brushing his eyes across everyone present. Even the illusory Wisp seemed to momentarily bend under the weight of his gaze. He clapped his hands, and a servant ran out into the hall.

“Our holdings are vast, and our vassals are loyal. I have not gathered nearly as many as I might have liked at such short notice, but I was able to pick out the best.” He returned his gaze to the vast double-doors.

Boom! The doors opened so rapidly they slammed into the walls and came away rattling. Standing in the centre were four figures.

“Meet your champions!” roared Forgelight.

He first pointed to the creature which had presumably enabled this dramatic entrance. A colossal, grey beast thundered its way in, each of its four legs as thick as a tree. Its huge, rectangular head bobbed up and down like a mighty warhammer. Iron bands large enough to shield a giant wrapped around its legs and shoulders. And on its back a small, grey-skinned villager sneered.

“The emissary from the Illager people of World 1110, who successfully rose up and overthrew their oppressors in the Overworld, Nether and End. A people committed, as we are, to the prosperous unification of all under one. He shall help to defend the Entity’s chambers and the activation mechanism.”

To the left stood a tall, skeletal creature with luminous green eyes and a long staff glowing in the same hue. A crown sat on its head, adorned with faded jewels. And around its neck hung a tattered cloak which still glinted with royal purple. It had no legs, instead hanging suspended in the air like a mutilated puppet.

“The Nameless One, ruler of World 720, otherwise known as the Land of the Slain Sun. He has been a valuable ally for several years, providing us with a ready supply of mobs for combat and testing purposes. And, as Archmage Wisp can attest, The Nameless One possesses a knowledge of sorcery to rival even his own.”

The Archmage narrowed his eyes and cocked his head at the skeletal lord. The Nameless One simply gazed into the light of its staff, ruminating upon its mysteries.

And then there were the last two. A pair of warriors clad in near-identical grey armour, the only difference being that the shorter and slighter of the two wore a stiff purple cape which seemed to split in two - unless… were those wings? On closer examination one was a man with brown hair and a beard, the other was a redheaded woman. The man pulled out a glowing, golden apple and took a bite, cocking his eyebrow defiantly as the definitive swirls of regeneration and fire resistance potions began to rise off him.

Forgelight bit his tongue before introducing them, and a distinctive wrinkling of his nose clued Issa into his thoughts. These last two weren’t vassals, they were mercenaries or some other ideological traitors who did not believe in the perfect union of worlds for which Forgelight fought.

“This is Steve and Alex. They have a… let’s say a personal stake in this.”

Suddenly, a row of words appeared in front of the man in a sharp, angular font. His mouth remained closed, and his eyes burned with anger.

WHERE IS THE LESSER STEVE?

Forgelight cleared his throat.

“You shall be informed shortly, though his companion, Jennifer, was sighted accompanying their airfleet-”

He drew an axe and a shield and stormed off down the corridor. Alex lingered a moment, loading a rocket into her crossbow, then after a cursory glance at the assembled leaders, wordlessly left.

Forgelight seemed a little deflated after this but recovered himself.

“We thank you for your loyalty,” he said to the remaining champions.

Once they had left, Archmage Wisp spoke up.

“That’s all well and good, but a few curios from the colonies-”

“-They are not colonies,” warned Forgelight.

“Sorry, a few loyal vassals are useless in the face of the Ape’s betrayal.”

Issa looked sharply at Forgelight.

“What’s he talking about?”

Forgelight sighed and gestured for her to follow. He hefted his colossal shieldaxe from his chair.

“A situation I am about to put an end to.”

As they turned the corner and briskly marched toward a nearby hall, Forgelight explained what had happened. When the first reports of a retreat came through, Glibby had immediately pledged to withhold his troops until he was recognised as the Ender’s rightful successor in essence, that he be recognised as commander of all endermen in the Tower in addition to those he had already convinced or forced to defect.

“What does the Silhouette have to say about this?” Issa asked.

“He claims to be acting at his behest,” growled Forgelight. “We should never have trusted that crook…”

They entered the hall where Glibby was based. A few days ago, it had been a banquet hall. Now the tables had been pushed aside to make room for crates of weapons and armour. Hundreds of endermen moved between them, all of them with grey paint smeared over the scales of their chests, in memory of the original Grey Ones. Even now, Issa saw unmarked endermen sitting, waiting to receive the mark. She couldn’t fathom the reasoning. Was it fear of Glibby and the reprisals he had enacted after the Ender’s attempted coup? A desire to escape the frontlines with news being as bad as it was? Had they been seduced by the wealth of the Silhouette? Whatever it was that had moved them, they needed these troops back in the fight, fast.

At the end of the hall, Issa saw a hulking shadow standing on a balcony - The Ape himself. He had his obsidian armour on, and now one of his heavy boots was planted on a parapet. He grinned wildly as he tracked a red-scaled dragon across the sky.

“Pass me a bow!” He shouted.

A shrivelled young enderman carried him a longbow almost as tall as Issa. He picked it up and began to strain against the string, one eye scrunched shut. Then, when he could pull no further, he let it loose. The arrow struck true, catching the dragon in the flank. Glibby cheered and raised the bow above his head. However, his grin quickly subsided as he saw the dragon right itself. It made a beeline for the balcony.

“Huskers,” he grunted. “Handle it.”

An old man with glassy blue eyes hefted a long metal firearm against his shoulder and pointed it calmly out at the dragon. He sucked in a long, soft breath and squeezed the trigger. The bullet hit the dragon through the left eye. It plummeted. The Ape turned his head and saw Issa and Forgelight coming. He quickly corrected his dour visage and roared with laughter.

“This is hunting!” he declared.

A man in a pin-striped suit, and another whose very skin seemed to be made of diamond armour made sure to cheer half-heartedly before returning to their conversation. Satisfied at this declaration, Glibby sauntered down from the balcony towards Forgelight and Issa. The two Generals remained silent as the Ape began to speak.

“That’s what Claw might say at least,” The Ape sneered. “Is that what it would take to get some modicum of respect from you? A hunter’s prowess?”

The man in the suit shot a wild grin at Issa, flashing a mouth full of purple, metal teeth. Issa shuddered.

“Is that why you refused to acknowledge my rightful office, Forgelight? After all I did to restore order in the aftermath of the Ender’s coup, did you and Marcus decide to slight me simply because I do not boast of my killer instinct as Claw does? How dreadfully shallow of you. Short-sighted, too, as a slight against me is, of course, a direct insult to my master.”

Forgelight took a step forward, the axe still in hand. A set of talon-like blades appeared between the knuckles of the diamond-skinned man. The man in the pin-striped suit flicked his wrists and a wand appeared in either hand. The sniper didn’t point his rifle at Forgelight, but he fixed his glassy gaze fixed on him and began to reload. Issa reached for the kukri at her side and tried to figure out what sort of mage the pin-striped man could be, and whether there were any obvious weaknesses she could exploit.

Glibby went over to a nearby table and began to pour a bottle of red wine out into two glasses.

"However, my master is a forgiving man, Forge. He has sent his best operatives to reinforce me - the Family." He gestured to the sniper: "Huskers, Complex Ten, expert marksman and prophet." To the talon-ed, diamond-skinned man. "Beatman is Complex Eight, our close quarters specialist." To the giggling, pin-striped mage: "And Muffin, Complex Twelve, is a Thaumturge of considerable might. If you've never heard of them, just ask our Vanillan attackers - they have justly learned to fear them! And, of course, I have a force of hundreds of loyal Grey Ones, well-stocked and waiting in reserve for the order to go into battle."

He delicately lifted the two glasses despite his gauntlets and offered one to Forgelight.

“All you have to do pay us the respect we’re owed by acknowledging that it is I, and not Claw, who commands the Endlings of the Tower.”

His lips stretched into a horrible, skin-coloured gorge of a smile. Issa looked carefully at Forgelight’s severe features. His eyes burned with outrage and his breathing became heavy. There was a shattering sound. He had knocked the glass to the floor. General Forgelight leaned in and growled at Glibby:

“You will go down to the frontlines right now, Ape, and I will contemplate sparing your master the full wrath of the Tower. If you don’t, my first action in the new world will be to ensure there is not a corner of it where your damnable Silhouette can hide from the reckoning for which he is so plainly aching.”

The Ape snorted and cracked his knuckles. The Family were all on their feet, slowly advancing. Issa readied to draw her weapon, then a toothy, yellow grin momentarily flashed into view in the corner of her eye. She turned her head. It had vanished.

“Forgelight… stand-down.”

Both Glibby and the Generals looked at the source of the voice and were surprised to see the Entity standing in the middle of the room, zweihander in hand.

“My lord,” said General Forgelight, suddenly bowing. “I was simply attempting to-”

“-Glibby-shall have his… appoint-ment, while Claw remains-incapacitated. Thank you, Ape… Please, lead-the counterattack.”

Glibby had a half-smile on his face which suggested he was confused but too disinclined to discard a gift like this.

“Thank you, great Entity. I assure you, you will not be disappointed.”

Glibby checked his pocket, pulled out a small vial of purple dust, then looked around.

“Roll on, gentlemen.”

He extended his arms and gave Forgelight a malignant grin. An enderman came up on either side, grabbed him by the shoulders, and teleported away. Soon, the entire hall was filled with the warping growl of teleportation, and sooner still the Grey Ones were gone.

“My lord,” Issa began, “I must strongly advise-”

She turned to look for the Entity, but it too had vanished. Forgelight had his eyes fixed on the floor.

“What do we do now?” She asked him.

He was quiet for a long time.

“We fight on. For glorious union.”

Issa nodded and tried to ignore the chill climbing up her back.

We sit on a pillbox overlooking the Shelter’s entrance, watching the columns of Mencur-Besh marching by. Myself, dangling my legs off the edge and kicking back and forth. Tyron sits to my right and slightly further up, bowlegged, and relaxed. Kir is propped against his knee, as though lounging in the sun itself. Steve and Jennifer are also there, arms around each other and watching the procession. A light breeze drifts by, and the sun tenderly roasts us from above. It’s a nice little island of relaxation in the midst of all this.

Unfortunately, I’m not able to completely forget my cares. There are guards around us - a mixture of Shelter troops and Mencur-Besh (mostly green-eyed, but one blue-eyed one, I believe that means they’re earth, and water attuned respectively). The Mencur-Besh are still and stoic, and when they speak to one another, it is in the headache-inducing demonic tongue, which no matter how hard I listen to I cannot pick a word out of. But they have taken up all the right positions and assure us they have the situation under control. In comparison, our lot don’t seem to know what to do with themselves, and two have started carving a game of tic-tac-toe into the side of one of the few remaining trees on the ridge. Their presence is a reminder of the war to come - a war we still don’t have enough fighters to win.

And, of course, Kay stands some way off, flanked by two guards, contemplating his shackles.

I track the far-off shapes of Fire and Shadow through the crowd, but without magic I wouldn’t have been able to manage it. Their normally distinctive colour scheme of jet black and stark white is no longer nearly as distinctive. They stop to talk to someone I reckon must be Lucy. Whether I’m right or not, they dart back inside. Fire then gets up to the podium and starts surveying the mass of black scales.

“Lady Justice… Y’know, because he has scales,” remembers Kir in our minds.

I sigh and try to push away the suspicion that we’re disrespecting Destiny’s memory by having a moment of respite.

“Well, I guess the scales really are tipped in our favour this time,” chuckles Steve.

He says it to no one in particular, but he squeezes Jennifer a little closer. She snorts and shakes her head.

Tyron smiles and hangs his head.

“I still think puns are stupid.”

I catch Kay looking over his shoulder before quickly returning his attention to the horizon. I wonder if Kir said to him as well.

I redirect my attention to Fire and the Mencur-Besh ranks, and something immediately seems off. Before, there was a certain chaotic oscillation that can be expected from a crowd of living beings, now that movement is gone. The Mencur-Besh stand perfectly still, as if anticipating something, even the guards close to us seem to stop.

I try to catch Tyron’s eye, but he appears to have drifted off. I roll my eyes and exchange a glance with Jennifer. She’s noticed it too. We hop down from the pillbox and approach the blue-eyed Mencur-Besh. I try to remember the name Fire called her by.

“Stream?” I test. I look at Jennifer and she seems to agree I’ve gotten it right. “Stream, is everything alright?”

Her body stands statuesque, but her eyes remain lively. They stare intently at something right before her that I cannot see. A multitude of emotions flicker across them - emotions that had previously been absent. Bliss, joy, anger, despair, confusion all take their fleeting turns. Then, suddenly her face returns, not quite to neutrality but to a certain clarity. The Mencur-Besh begin moving again, slowly.

I crane my head to get into her field of vision. Finally, her eyes begin to follow me.

“Stream, good to have you back,” says Jennifer. “Are you feeling okay?”

Stream replies: “I… we… the collective just linked up in its entirety. Normally we can only directly link a dozen Mencur-Besh together, never more than that.”

“Oh, is… is that good or bad?” I ask, feeling my jaw clench.

“It shouldn’t be anything for you to worry about, in fact it might even be useful once we decide what to do with this new potential. This world, Nexus, certainly holds uncharted possibilities.”

“I mean, is it a good thing for your abilities,” I press. “Will it make you fight better, or could it be a problem?”

Kay is now looking at us directly. Jennifer glares at him and he averts his gaze.

Stream explains: “During battles we share strategic information over our network, but there is always a delay and a limit on how much can be shared. Now with this, we might be able to act as one mind with many bodies. Our existence as one has also briefly afforded us the luxury of emotions. According to what Fire shared with us, Freak is worthy of our hatred.”

I nod in satisfaction and look to Jennifer. She seems happy with this too. Kay seems to be walking up with more questions, and from the way he’s looking at me I can tell they’re not for Stream.

“Thanks for filling us in Stream, that’s good news. Was just a little confused there.”

I bow out and walk back toward the pillbox. Tyron is still asleep. Steve, however, is now crouched in the centre of the roof. He is talking to Fire, who now looks very pleased with himself and is discoursing openly about the possibilities the linkup opens up. Shadow stands a ways off, smiling with similar confidence.

I walk up to them. I hear Kay’s footfalls behind me. Fire speaks with uncharacteristic enthusiasm:

“...it’s possible that if they link up for longer, the collective might form a full personality of its own, it’s what the experiment that created the Mencur-Besh was originally trying to achieve, an artificial mind.”

Whatever-academic-left-in-me’s ears ***** up several miles. That sounds fascinating, and a bunch of sincere questions begin flooding into my mind. What if this project succeeded? Would Fire let me look at the notes? Could this success be replicated in my own world?

After all, before the Golden Revolution the Testificates had successfully created artificial life in the form of their golems, only they’d lost the knowledge of how when the Divines cursed them, and the remaining golems had been hunted down and destroyed. Beings with full autonomy and even some sense of individual identity, completely stomped out. And this wasn’t idle mythologisation either - Ray and Fedwin managed to get one of them back online to fight for Overlord and until Aaron finally killed it. I’ve always wished they’d found a way to take Antioch alive, finding a way to communicate with them would have been fascinating. Did it remember the world before the Golden Revolution? What did it think of the world as it was? Did it consider itself alive? All wonderful, scintillating questions that very successfully keep me from thinking about-

“Fire, I hate to say this while you’re in a good mood, but I’m ready.”

Kay stands beside me, back straight and eyes closed. With his chin raised, and his aspect as despondent as it is, he looks as though he’s presenting himself for a shave with a murderously clumsy barber.

“Ready for what?” I ask. I look at Fire and repeat: “Ready for what?”

Fire says: “While we talked in the manor, Kay thought that we should give asking your people for support a shot. The Tower’s mercenary armies outnumber ours by a great margin, even with the Mencur-Besh. We need any reinforcements we can get.”

I feel my stomach twist. Of all the decisions The King in Ash made, the decision not to show up to the True Court and demand their fealty was quite possibly the only good one. Granted, that was almost certainly because of Kay’s vanity convincing him he didn’t want or need their help. But this would be ugly. For both of us. For the first time since he tried to murder that child, I almost feel sorry for Kay. Mostly I feel bad for myself, and all our friends he hurt who are now going to see him again. I nod silently. We head back to the Shelter.

What follows is a blur. We are in the armoury. Rose gives a demon specifications for a new knife she wants. She barely acknowledges us, but Kay shoots a furtive glare in her direction. Voidblade momentarily warps in to carry a message. The nearest portal will come out in the Fields of Acrisius. It will still be Winter. After what Zerg did I wonder if it will ever stop being Winter out there. I put on furs and robes. I try to modulate my concerns. The Silhouette likely holds the portal - it’s near where I was kidnapped.

“Is he a threat?” Fire asks.

I try to think about what he has. He wouldn’t accept a Tower garrison, I know that much, so it will be in-house. The usual coterie of thugs. Glibby is here, but who else is on his payroll that he’d trust with this? I killed Hamish. The Family are mostly dead or captured. Muffin was on the loose. I try to recall if they ever caught Huskers. Would Mathias have gone into his service after escaping? Truly, I don’t know the extent of his network.

Kay sits on a nearby bench, head bowed. The light hits him so that his right eye is all darkness. I remember the eye Tauto took from him. The wound I could have stopped if I’d been there to protect him. The wound Kay brought upon himself by waging a guerilla campaign and not going into hiding. The wound that tormented him. The wound he wore like a badge of honour.

“Maybe,” I say.

Fire nods and picks out his diamond halberd.

Stocking up. Potions. Lucy asking if I’m alright. Me jabbering out about how great I am. Health, strength, speed, so many. I check my rings again and again. They are full. I am strong. I will fight and kill and kill and kill. I check again.

The portal looms. Shadow nods at me. Steve and Jennifer wish us luck. Tyron operates the console. I catch a glimpse of Warnado for the first time since the prison, we lock eyes and there is solidarity at last. We have both survived him. He is muttering prayers. He has his red scarf-hood raised, his mouth covered. I follow suit with my navy-blue robe and furs. Fire stands between us, clad for war. It’s just the three of us. I pray this is wise.

Tyron presses buttons and the portal flashes to life. I feel a wind whipping my face. Maybe from the portal, maybe from what waits on the other side. I remember the snow-covered corpses, seemingly innumerable. Many faces I recognised, still more I’d never seen. I remember their weight upon my back as I carried them to the cart.

I draw my sword. Kay follows suit. Fire raises his halberd. We rush through.

We emerge in the entrance to some sort of old mine. Carts are scattered around the place. Old, frozen tracks lead down tunnels. And wind and light howl in through a half-broken gate. It must be daytime outside, but it is still too dark to make out much. I want to summon a light, but then I hear Fire and Kay pull the corks from night vision potions and I reach for my own. An arrow shatters the glass.

I see light begin to glow from between Fire’s scales and I summon an orb of light. There are corpses all around. Blue cloaks and quartz masks lie scattered across the floor. Blood mingles with black ice. In this state of desolation, I struggle to believe that anyone could be living, and yet they come, armed, hooded, and roaring. Kay roars back, Fire assumes a fighting stance.

I throw a fireball at the ground, and they leap back long enough for me to get a good look at them. An archer with a blue breastplate, the flash of a red beard just about visible. One of them, apparently the leader, steps forward and draws a gigantic greatsword, inlaid with faded gold and cracked lapis gems.

“WAIT!” I yell as Fire prepares to intercept them.

The Mencur-Besh does so, with some hesitancy. The archer cocks his head as I walk forward. Our assailants hold the line, but they don’t attack.

“What is your business with us?” I ask in a low voice.

The leader speaks up.

“If you are loyal to the Silhouette, we’re here to take our friend back.”

His voice is as familiar as it is deadpan.

I can’t help but grin. I remove the covering from my mouth and pull my hood back.

“What if he refused to be taken?”

The leader pulls his hood back. My suspicions are confirmed. Aaron’s dark hair pokes out from beneath his skullcap, and despite all they’ve seen his eyes are bright with relief. I barely have a second to start laughing before he rushes up and lifts me into a bearhug.

“Aaron,” I strain through laughter and compressed lungs. “By Notch, it’s been a long time!”

“You always say exactly that,” he grunts. “Get another greeting for Mods’ sake!”

He puts me down and I see the other assailants begin to pull down their hoods. The members of my Guild, who joined me in my plot to trick Falcon, to get Tassadar back from the dead, and who shared in my punishment. Secret, grinning, lowers his hood and reveals himself to be the archer who shot the potion from my hand. Mo straightens his bandana, attempting to look collected. And, of course, Tassadar leans against a post, offering a two-fingered salute. I smile guiltily at her.

I decide to distract myself with a more immediate concern.

“Have you guys just been waiting here for me for the last, what has it been?”

“Three months?” Secret explains, clapping me on the shoulder. “No, we were looking for you for three weeks. That’s when Arcation gave up helping - Gogyst said their pact was with you, not the rest of us, and gave up. Jeb summoned him and he went back to the Old Craft. Let us stay on in the Manor, though, so that was nice enough.”

“Then,” Aaron cuts in. “We sent word to Brit, and he sent back a tip-off about the Silhouette using this mine for smuggling goods out of the Old Craft - but he couldn’t figure out where to. Even accounting for Nether travel, The Fields of Acrisius are well out of the way of anywhere you’d want to smuggle goods to.”

“So, naturally,” Tassadar calls over. “We had to pay them a little visit.”

“And we killed them all,” Secret concludes, stepping on a quartz mask and cracking it in two. “A few of them escaped through the portal. We couldn’t get it working again - not the way they did, at least. That was a week ago.”

“Anyway, what’s new with you?” asks Aaron with a certain smugness.

Secret rolls his eyes.

“Aaron’s come up with one of his scenarios,” he mutters. “It’s stupid, you don’t have to answer.”

“I’m telling you, Secret, I’ve been wrong in the past, but I’m really confident of this one.”

I cast an apologetic look back to Fire, gesturing to him to come down. This is going to go one of two ways.

“Perhaps my new friend should explain this to you,” I beam. “Fire, meet Aaron, Secret, and the Guild. Secret, Aaron, and the Guild, meet Fire.”

Fire begins: “I had to say this a lot recently, so here is the gist. A cosmic force turned person and warlord called the Entity started merging worlds and built itself a base of operations called the Tower. It allied with the one you call the Silhouette and captured Astro. I met him after he broke out of the Tower’s prison. Through a prophecy that I was apparently the champion of, I came into a position that allowed me to build the Shelter, the name is self-explanatory, and lead an opposing force to the Entity. Through various twists and turns, the Entity ended up betrayed by one of its subordinates when he found out that it intended to absorb all of reality into its being. Now said subordinate, a phantom of fear named Freak, has usurped the Entity, and is now planning to unite all worlds into his perfect realm of fear. I glossed over some details near the middle, but that is why we are here. We are seeking aid against Freak.”

“Thank you, Fire,” I say.

I appreciated him leaving out the stuff about Kay. I shoot an anxious look in his direction, and see him staring at his feet, trying not to draw attention to himself. I redirect my attention to the Guild. Its various members are all horrified at the news that not only was our world much larger than we’d thought, but that it was now in imminent danger. All except two.

“Well,” says Secret sheepishly to Aaron. “You didn’t get every detail right.”

Aaron cocks an eyebrow and looks Fire dead in the eye.

“Was there a dog with a monocle?”

Fire suppresses a chuckle. “Yes, there is one, his name is Bartholomew. A few things surrounding him are starting to make more sense now.”

“Mother****er,” breathes Secret.

Tass howls with laughter in the corner.

“Thank you, Fire,” says Aaron. He turns to Secret: “In your face!”

He turns to me.

“We’re glad to help however we can.”

I hug him.

“We’re going to need a lot more than just us,” I continue. “We’re actually here to… to try and enlist the True Court. Is Jeb still camped out in the Old Craft?”

“Yeah,” grunts Secret. “Show trials haven’t even properly kicked off yet. He insists on continuing to investigate the attack of the Citadel, even though Dominus pretty much confessed it was all him. Half the Vanilla Craft is still considered a suspect.”

“That sounds bad,” I say.

“He wants a big, grand purge,” elaborates Tassadar. “Get everyone he thinks the Court of Whispers could ever turn against him in one go.”

“I’m going to level with you Astro,” says Aaron. “You’re not going to have any luck there. You’re not exactly in Jeb or Herobrine’s good books and, Fire, you seem nice but they’re not going to trust an outsider, especially not one who looks as… Endling as you do. You just don’t have anyone the Divines would be obligated to pay attention to.”

I chew my lip, realising I am now going to have to unveil the reason Jeb was going to listen to us. For better, or for worse, he took that responsibility out of my hands.

“Well, that’s not strictly true.”

He pulls back his scarf. His face is a mixture of despair and hope.

Aaron steps back. He clasps a hand over his mouth and his eyes quiver wildly. Secret drops his bow. Tassadar doesn’t seem to know what to do with herself, looking back and forth between me and Kay. Mo draws his sword, but I shoot him a reluctant warning glance.

“Hail captain!” says Kay. “How goes the watch?”

His eyes are quivering almost as much as Aaron’s. Tears well in both. Aaron looks at me. I can’t bring myself to look back. My friend walks toward the ghost.

“Kay…” he says. He places a hand on Kay’s face and looks at the eye he will one day lose. He is quiet for a long time. Finally, he rallies: “Watch’s going well.”

Aaron hugs him, but over Kay’s shoulder I can see the haunted look on his face. His eyes are cavernous.

He pulls away and turns abruptly so Kay doesn’t see his expression. He manages to keep the energy in his voice.

“We’d best get back to the Craft,” Aaron explains, blinking away the tears. “Cossack is our best bet of an audience with Jeb.”

And so, we leave.

I warm my hands over the fire. We are in the Old Vanilla Craft, in the Kingdom of Gaia’s holdings. Specifically, we are in an interrogation room of the Palace which was once called the Court of Righteous Protest. Kay and I sit near the fire. Fire looms in the corner, head bowed slightly for a ceiling that is too low for him.

In here, there is only the hearth, a few small stools, and a large mural barely disguising a two-way mirror. I say “barely disguising”, Fire noticed it immediately and I remembered some blueprints I read an age ago for an interrogation room just like this.

None of us speak. Fire is busy calculating his pitch. Kay is busy having a silent fit of panic and shame. And I can’t stop trying to keep track of who’s still here that I might be able to leverage if Cossack proves unhelpful. Arcation, maybe. Ozzy would throw what weight he has left behind this. Legion? No, Palmer is gone and Ruary never liked me.

Aaron is off somewhere, explaining things to Cossack, I presume. Secret’s probably hit the bar with Small by now. Maybe they invited that lesser Persson from the Blue Alliance… no, he was gone too.

I sigh.

The second we arrived on Gaian soil, we were surrounded by members of the Order of Gaia, in their green berets and bronze plating. We warned Kay not to draw attention to himself - after he appointed a double agent as their leader and arguably got his successor killed, many in the Order would have gladly tried to enact a violent retribution. Actually, since seeing Aaron and Secret he had hardly said anything, and even then, only in a hoarse whisper.

Thankfully, the head of the patrol recognised Aaron and Secret as two of the most recent Commanders of Gaia’s military and immediately passed on word to their boss. As it turns out, our buddy Small is the new head of the Order.

We had told Kay to be inconspicuous and keep his hood up in front of the Order and for once he actually listened. And he kept that up once we were in the courtyard, even as Small came out and leapt up to hug Secret, then made his way around the group in a flurry of more restrained handshakes and respectful nods.

“I thought you said firearms were irrelevant in your world?” Fire had whispered, with a gesture to the wind-up rifles of several palace guards.

“Kay’s a little behind on that,” I said. “They’ve been making a comeback recently.”

And then Small had finally made it to us, recognised Kay’s hood and didn’t even bother questioning Fire. He’d been polite about it, and shook all our hands, but it clearly made him uneasy. He had taken in a deep breath, and apologised:

“I’d best talk to Cossack about this. I’m sorry Astro, but the boys will have to take you three to an interrogation room until then.”

And so, here we are, waiting for Coss. I’m not looking forward to it. Of all the people still alive out of our little group, I had been good friends with pretty much all of them. I’d known Aaron since childhood. Secret had known Aaron originally, then became one of Kay’s mercenary buddies but he’d always trusted my judgement. Small trusted Secret’s judgement. And I just got on pretty mundanely with Brit, Gracey, Bokane and Mini. I’d even gotten on pretty well with Linx before he turned out to be a sleeper agent for the Family. Cossack was a different story.

He was a navy man who then became a “banker”, and by “banker” I mean “loan shark”, and he knew Kay and Secret because they collected loans for him from time to time. Then, Kay had gotten spooked, tried to get away from that lifestyle and Cossack had ridden his coattails ever since. As far as I was concerned, he was callous, oblivious and a dead weight on the group’s moral character. Also, while my experience in Nexus had made me aware of several noteworthy defects in Kay’s character, Cossack had still been the head of Kay’s “Circle”, and I still held him accountable for enabling many of the worst crimes he committed in the last days of his life.

The door opens. Brit steps in. He holds the handle with a handkerchief, and his stern face is still dominated by a handlebar moustache. I smile.

“Alright Astro,” he says flatly but not indifferently. He looks up. “Endling, you come with us. You stay here, Kay.”

Kay pulls down his hood, looking more than a little indignant and flustered at Brit’s lack of surprise. I would actually agree with him on this one if it were any of our other friends, but it’s Brit. Nothing ever fazes him. I see Gracey momentarily peer over Brit’s shoulder and retreat into the hall with a panicked cackle which I consider more or less appropriate.

They lead us slightly further up the corridor and into another room. Lo and behold, it’s the other side of the mirror. And Cossack’s leaning against it, staring at the now unhooded Kay. He’s not wearing his normal lilac suit. Instead, he wears a green cloak over an old navy outfit, adorned with a few Gaian military awards. He is the Commander, the closest thing the Kingdom has to a leader in the absence of a King.

“Hello Astro,” he says.

“Hello Cossack.”

I approach slowly. Cossack’s eyes remain fixed on Kay as he draws his stool closer to the interrogation room’s hearth.

“I didn’t believe Aaron when he told me,” he says. “How could I be expected to? It’s ludicrous. An utterly ludicrous proposition. And yet here you both are.”

He turns to fully face us, and I realise he is even more heavy-set than I remember.

“Stresses of leadership, I suppose,” I think in an effort to be charitable.

He points at Fire: “And don’t think you’ve missed my attention, you big bloody lizard. You’re just as ludicrous. My friend here disappears for three months, and he shows up with a ghost and a scaly ******* oozing prophecies,” he laughs. “Well, what do you want from me? What does the great absurdity wish from humble Cossack?”

I grit my teeth and prepare for one of our usual arguments, but thankfully Fire proves a bit more level-headed and explains what we want:

“Our enemy has upwards of a hundred-thousand soldiers at their disposal, we currently have less than a quarter of that, even if some of them are of vastly higher quality. If we want any hope of not becoming part of a megalomaniac phantom’s personal playground, we need more soldiers.”

Cossack chewed his lip and nodded.

“Well, let’s see, after the war and Jeb’s demilitarisation orders I can offer you maybe twelve thousand on a good day. They are charitably of mixed quality; motivation is low after losing two Kings, our army, and our actual home; and Jeb would probably come in here and execute me himself if he discovered I planned on fielding them anywhere. How exactly would any of this help your cause?”

He’s trying to act obstinate, but I know him well enough to recognise his negotiating style. I hate it, but he’s at least spelling out what he needs to get the ball rolling. Against all pretences, he hasn’t said no.

“That’s kind of the thing,” I say. “Gaia alone would indeed just bring down the True Court’s wrath. Even more so if we recruited any other Vanillans. They’d perceive that as a renewed conspiracy. So, we were hoping to maybe…” I stretch out my spine. “Run this past Jeb. I need you to get us a meeting with Jeb.”

He looks to Fire.

“Apologies for calling you a big, ludicrous lizard,” he begins. “Obviously, my friend has lost his mind and you’re the only one I can expect any sense from. He has forgotten that Jeb sentenced him to clear the Fields of Acrisius of corpses, and that, as I presume the Fields are not yet spotless, he has committed treason by his mere presence. I am in considerable danger just talking to him. Telling Jeb would lead to his summary execution, and probably mine, too.”

“I am unfamiliar with that part of your world’s history, what prevents you from calling the meeting?”

“Since Dominus and Falcon’s little gambits got exposed, Jeb has been treating everyone as a prospective traitor. Every Craft or Great House involved in the conflict between the Vanilla and Superlative Crafts is now being treated as a vassal. Before that, we were all effectively treated as allies or constituent parts of the True Court with a right to be heard before the Gathering Council. Now, we’re here to be snubbed until proven supplicant.”

“That’s the thing,” I jump in. “We have someone from before. Kay is here from-”

“Yes, I know,” Cossack waves his hand. “From just after the Onslaught. Peak of his prestige, all that.”

“Yes, and with a justification like that, you wouldn’t even have to send a letter, you could just show up and demand an audience.”

He nods reluctantly.

“I could, but I won’t.”

“Cossack-”

“You know that they will skin him alive the second he shows his face. Kay was still facing trial for treason before the Silhouette got him and… he could have gotten away with so much of it, even massacring the Brotherhood, if only he hadn’t… all that about Sansoleil.”

I nod slowly. My anger against Kay surges. Gaia’s Blessed had been just about tolerated by the True Court, even with their prophecy about the lost Divine, Sansoleil, coming to free his kin from their physical forms at the end of days. Then, Kay had tried to manufacture a Sansoleil-centric heresy in order to justify massacring the Brotherhood. Claim to be Sansoleil, get them to bend the knee, slaughter away. Surprisingly, this only succeeded in incriminating him massively and led to a lot of people dying needlessly. And the Blessed… the less said about what Jeb did to them, the better.

I try to hide my lack of concern for Kay’s wellbeing.

“The extra eye should be proof enough that he hasn’t done that yet,” I rationalise. “And at the very least, Kay Mandy being back from the dead is a decent pretext for an audience before the Gathered.”

Cossack shakes his head with more resolve.

“Coss,” I press. “He’s on board with this. He knows the risks and he will go through with this.”

“Astro, what you’re telling me is happening, it’s terrifying. It’s wretched. It must be stopped… I want to help. I’ll even risk my neck committing Gaian troops but I - I helped him tie his own noose once before. I can’t do it again.”

I place a hand on his shoulder. He digs his nails into his forehead and stares despairingly at Kay. I grab his chin and force him to look me in the eye.

“Cossack, it wasn’t your fault. Believe me, from what I’ve seen, this was all a long time coming. He is responsible for his fate. You are responsible for yours.”

I lift my hands from him and back up. He stares at me with so much anger.

“Why don’t you ask him yourself?” I conclude.

Cossack shambles out of the room. He says to Brit to guard the door, and the detective leans against it and draws his signature pistol. He doesn’t point it at us, but he starts polishing it with his handkerchief so hard I am surprised it doesn’t shatter under the force of his efforts. Nearby, Gracey shrugs and starts fooling around with his knife, a characteristically nasty glint in his eyes. I remember the things Kay asked them to do, which they did with little question, and I feel a little ill. Poor Walt…

I go over to the window, and watch Cossack come in. He and Kay don’t say anything for a while, though the latter puts on this sad little smile. Cossack’s features remain trapped in the same indignant glower, like an unwilling statue. Then, he asks:

“Will you do it?”

Kay’s smile vanishes. He has a philosophical look on his face, as though scrutinising the taste of a sharp-tasting but prestigious wine. Cossack grunts encouragingly. Kay finally answers:

“Yes.”

Cossack turns his eyes to the window, and I could swear he’s staring right at me.

“Then, we’re going to see Jeb.”

He leaves. I finally wonder if Cossack and I understand each other a little better. Then, I see the look of fear and rage in Kay’s eyes, and I realise we don’t. Unlike Cossack, I can only muster contempt for him. I make efforts to remind myself why I once wasted so much emotion on him. They ring hollower every time.

###

We enter the throne room. It used to be Void’s. Technically it’s Ryan’s. But now the Administrator of the Vanilla Craft does not sit in pride of place. Instead, the fiery locks of Jeb glint in that sunlight which dares break the clouds and force its way through a stained-glass window. In his right hand he clasps the glossy, sea green heart of the first Dragon, in his right he twists his adamantine spear. Even from the end of the hall, I can see his amusement.

To his right stands the Blind Watcher: Herobrine. He towers over other men, only Fire exceeding him, but even then, the Watcher intimidates me more than even Claw ever could. His armour is obsidian. A bedrock-plated sword adorns his back. His frame is mountainous. And those white, luminous eyes see more in a moment than I could ever hope to learn.

Cossack is at the head of us, head bowed respectfully. I follow suit, as does Fire. We trail after him. Then, Aaron, Secret and Tassadar. At the back of our train, Kay is escorted by two Gaian soldiers, one of whom Cossack called Thomas. There is a sack over his head to hide his identity, though an astute observer might still see a flash of his scarf around the shoulders, where his cloak connects to his armour.

I catch glimpses of many familiar faces, some friends, many foes. I see the sympathetic eyes of Ozzy the Selvan; of Ruary the Legionnaire; of Wolves and Trillian Glare of shining Vangaard; of Bost from ruined Concordis; at a distance I see the familiar hood of Gogyst, chief priest of Arcation, dip into a respectful nod. Their gazes betray friendly recognition, but also deep fear.

Other recognitions are less than friendly. Ellen Domini, the Raven, glares at me for my part in her husband’s downfall. Ray Tunes averts his eyes and looks ashamed at the sight of Tassadar. Carsey, who tormented us all the way back in Zine, looks gobsmacked to see me again.

And, of course, they are there: what remains of the Brotherhood. Komplex looks ready to summon his armour at any moment. Ubi adjusts his turtle mask and reaches for a chakram that isn’t there. And Tauto Chrone, the leader of their Chapter, brushes a strand of black hair from his eyes and scrutinises my face. I see the flaming whip his brother once wielded at his hip, and I feel a puzzling sense of guilt. Jay Chrone, the Jolly Saint, had been a wretched man, but he didn’t deserve to die in Kay’s little plot.

I feel like a hypocrite. Kay had taken to fighting the Brotherhood on my part. Now, I’m more concerned about the hurt he caused them than I am about the imminent threat to Kay’s life. I am a poison.

We reach the front and kneel. Jeb stares smugly down at us. Cossack attempts to engage in the normal formal greeting and the ruler of the Divines cuts him off.

“What brings you here, Astro? I doubt you have fully atoned for your failure. I assure you, redemption is not wholly impossible.”

A round of chuckles sounds out from among the lesser Divines sown throughout the crowd. Grumm, Bone… I think about the number of soldiers each of them commands and feel a mixture of terror and tentative hope. Jeb casts his eyes around the vassalised lords of the Vanilla Craft and some more scattered laughter breaks out, some half-hearted, the rest overcompensating. I see Ryan, the Administrator, exhale politely and return his focus to a list in his hand.

“I apologise, my lord,” I say, still kneeling. “But I was abducted, and in the process became aware of a much bigger threat.”

“Is it that beast next to you?” Jeb scoffs again. Then, after waiting for his subjugated audience to laugh again, he continues, “What is he? Endling? Half-breed? Either way he has no place in my presence,” he rises, “I am Jeb Persson, King of the Divines, Protector of Man, son of Notch the Ascended and I shall not abide the spawn of Ishinge.”

I grimace and shoot an apologetic glance at Fire. Outside of a slight lowering of eyelids and a short sigh, Fire remains stoic.

“He is neither, actually, he is a friend of mine and an ally of the Court. This is Fire, founder of the Shelter and Leader of the Mencur-Besh. He seeks your aid in battle.”

I rise to one knee.

“Will you hear his plea?”

Jeb smirks and attempts to exchange the emotion with Herobrine, but the Blind watcher, with a subtle twitch of his neck, indicates that Jeb should do it, for prudency’s sake. Notch’s son rolls his eyes and acquiesces.

“He may speak. What I hear is up to him.”

Fire begins formally: “Beyond your world are many more, one of which, called Nexus, was up until recently ruled by a warlord without equal, the Entity. This warlord captured not just cities or countries, but entire worlds, with the eventual goal of using a machine to bring all of existence into one. This warlord is also a cosmic embodiment of order, and as such does not tolerate the chaos brought on by consciousness, once the unification of worlds is done it would absorb all that exists to achieve its perfect state of order.”

Fire pauses briefly to let the information settle. “The Shelter is a group of rebels, intent on overthrowing this warlord. In a recent turn of events, the Entity was betrayed by one of its underlings, a phantom of fear called Freak, who is now impersonating it. While the danger of existential absorption is gone, we now face the possibility of existence under the rule of fear itself. We require additional military support to assault the enemy base of operations and prevent their plan from coming to fruition. At best we have a week to prepare for the assault if we want to preserve our worlds as they are.”

Jeb chews on a tuft of his beard. I see his eyes spark up as he connects the dots of power.

“If you had come to me sooner, we could perhaps have come to an arrangement. But, with only a week to go, you’re a tad bit close to the wire. Most of my armies are at least a week away. And that is without mention of the Court of Whispers out to the East. They have been mobile.”

This is his trick, start out sympathetic, and then…

“And this is all assuming you’re being truthful isn’t it. I would need time to evaluate the threat your Freak poses to us. Whether his goals are what you claim them to be, whether this machine exists, and whether the Shelter is any better. And that’s assuming I believe your premise of other worlds beyond the Sane Realm, the Nether and End existing. As it is, I only have your word you’re from anywhere but the Shore of Oddities. This could be a trick from the Court of Whispers to redirect our efforts. In the absence of proof, what do you expect me to say?”

There is a rumbling from among the assembled leaders. It’s not a bad dismissal. A soundly justified explanation for a colossally stupid decision. Even those I consider friends are caught in consternation at the thought of the Endlings and their peers marching into the Old Continent once again. I hear Kay’s boots scraping on the tiles as he almost rises and then is stopped by Thomas Bone. I want to vomit. I stand up.

“We do have some proof, my lord.”

I walk over to Kay.

“Ah, there is a point in the prisoner after all,” says Herobrine with a cocked eyebrow. “And here I was starting to think you’d brought him along for good luck.”

“Praise be for that,” Jeb chuckles. “It certainly wasn’t working.”

Some slightly more sincere laughter rings out. I feel a little comforted, but as I put my hand on the cloth it sinks in that this really is a do-or-die moment. Either we cow Jeb with shock, or we shock him into violence. I hear Kay underneath the sack.

“...How are we Jeb it’s been some time - ****! No, that’s wrong. What else…”

He is practising his entrance. Of course he is. All sympathetic emotion flows out of me. I shake my head.

“Note that we tried to avoid this,” I grumble loudly. “But it’s the best we could do. Allow me to introduce you to the Shelter’s former Commander.”

I rip the sack from his head. There is a collective gasp. Ryan drops his scroll. Chrone instinctively reaches for his right eye. Gogyst forces his way through the crowd to get a better look. Herobrine looks mesmerised.

“Hail my lord,” says Kay to Jeb, “My master,” he says to Herobrine. He kneels.

All eyes fall on Jeb. He is speechless. He presses a knuckle into his beard so hard it should be leaving an indent.

“What trickery is this?” hisses the King of the Divines.

He tries to take a step forward, but Herobrine puts a hand out to stop him.

Kay isn’t paying attention, he squints around, looking at the faces which gape at him. When he has done a full circuit, he returns his attention to the throne. Notionally, he does it to address Jeb. His eyes are fixed on Herobrine. The Watcher’s blank eyes are unreadable. Jeb’s are sparking, incoherent - the eyes of a wounded animal.

“My custom,” he begins. “Would be to make a grand speech where I retell my service with much poeticism. Let’s say something along the lines of: ‘I am Kay Mandy, Commandant of the Tenth, Lap Dog of Herobrine. Did I not bleed for this Court, for the reunification of the House of Persson, for the defeat of the Endlings and the ascension of Notch? And in return for this blood, did I ever demand any recompense? Wealth? Land? Office? No, I took with me only what I won through service: good reputation and trust. Will you not then hear this loyal soldier as he finally demands payment?’ Yes, that sounds about right. It would be my custom to say almost exactly that. But my custom is not worth much these days, is it?”

He begins to rub his shoulder and to look around.

“I can see it. In your faces. My fears are confirmed. Once I was a hero. I was your hero,” he gestures to Herobrine. “You spoke to me, called me from nothing and you made me better. I wasn’t some mercenary, some common crook, I was a General fighting in a holy war for truth, justice, for independence for the Thaumlands - do you remember them?!”

He whirls around and marches towards me. I back away. He is quaking with fury. His accent fluttering between precision and brogue like a war-tattered banner. Aaron shoots me a look which asks, ‘should we stop this?’ I shake my head. Somehow, I feel ecstatic. Somehow, I’m smiling. A look at Jeb’s venomous countenance fails to dim it: I’ve gone mad.

“Do you remember how we revered you, Herobrine? Worshipped you? Made offerings at your feet? Do you remember how you promised us safety, security, peace? You stood by as he burned the home you promised us!”

His finger points at Jeb like a spear. He pants. I see a tear land on the floor. He staggers and then sits down.

“I was going to join them. Guard them. Lead them, maybe. And suddenly, they were gone. And you stopped answering my prayers. I was alone and I had no purpose, all I had was the training you gave me. So, I made a vow, to you, to the world, to myself, that I would be the hero you asked me to be. I would return to my friends, protect them, be a paragon and beacon of light to them and all those who gazed upon me!”

He wipes the tears from his eyes. He rises and approaches the throne. A line of guards with glowing, blue-tipped spears emerges from the crowd. He halts before coming in range, just about. He breathes deeply, closes his eyes, and lowers his tone.

“But I failed in that. I am prideful, I am violent, I am vindictive and that is not on you, that is me. I am the reason I failed. And by the way everyone here is looking at me, it looks like I keep on failing, and I am sorry. I wish I could say something that doesn’t sound false, but here and now I am begging your forgiveness for what I come to do! I…” He trails off, Herobrine has looked away. “Fire’s made the big appeal to self-preservation and reason but I beg you, as a man who has seen the legacy he leaves, join me. Give me one last chance to be a hero to you.”

He cranes his neck and tries to catch Herobrine’s eye again, but Notch’s brother turns around to face the wall. Kay talks to his back, hand outstretched as though cupping water from a dwindling spring.

“Give me one last chance to be as we were. Then, I’ll disappear into my disgrace, and I’ll not trouble you again.”

He kneels.

“Please.”

I look around. No one is speaking and I wish they would just hurry up and say anything. Jeb glowers away, glaring at Kay without actually looking at him - his mind is a million miles away, summoning thunderclouds and conjuring winds that would eviscerate this creature who has slighted him.

“Good,” I think, “Jeb’s deserved a slighting for a long, long time.”

Finally, he scoffs.

“Get out of my sight. I will give the Shelter no aid. Perhaps some of the vassals will help you. I’ll ensure their holdings are protected in their absence.”

He smiles his cold little smile, and the warning is clear. If you leave, Jeb will take everything from you. I want to cry. I look to Fire in apology, but his eyes are fixed on the throne.

“And to ensure you understand how serious we are about the safeguarding of your holdings, I shall come with you as hostage.”

My eyes snap towards the throne. Herobrine has turned around. He has a mad grin on his face and his eyes are wide as rivers. There are murmurs of approval.

“Should any move be made against your lands, I should be held personally liable to you and shall provide recompense from my own fortune.”

Herobrine throws his sword to the ground and shoots an encouraging look around the hall.

Gogyst marches forward first and throws his staff of tricks atop the bedrock blade.

“Arcation stands with you, Watcher! We are few in number, but we are mighty!” He kneels.

“Fear not for numbers!” Herobrine responds, “Those troops I have here shall accompany us to ensure the effort’s success. Leader of the Mencur-Besh, what say you to five thousand Blackshells, and ten thousand Pigmen?”

I look at Fire, beaming.

With barely suppressed satisfaction Fire replies: “Gladly accepted. The Shelter already houses people of many different worlds so there are no issues from our side.”

“Then come, be housed and be many! We go to war!” Herobrine calls.

He doesn’t even seem to care that only around a third of the hall cheers in earnest. Fewer still come forward. The usual suspects do. Ozzy the Selvan jogs up and throws his emerald short sword into the pile. Wolves Glare approaches and offers his wooden blade. Ruary of the Legion throws in his shield. Cossack, bearing no weapon, offers his hat.

And then no one moves. I am more than happy to accept this. Herobrine is powerful, we have the Gaians, and even after all this strife Legion still has considerable numbers, we can work with this. But then, something truly unexpected happens.

A knife, and a glove which sparks with lightning are thrown into the pile. Tauto Chrone, looking right at Kay, says:

“The Brotherhood stands with you.”

Kay looks confused but elated. I am mystified. Chrone puts on the black, iron mask Kay won from him at the Battle of the Nether Highway, and which he won back at the Sansoleil Massacre, and he kneels beside Gogyst.

And with that there is a new influx. Bost and the Concordites; the librarian pirates of Woobly; Ray Tunes and Viral, bringing with them what remains of Williamsburg and the Ghosts of Calais respectively; the administrator Ryan and his warlike moderators; a band of Thaumic warriors under Zeratul; even old Halberdson. Their numbers are no longer great, but one last time the Vanilla Craft has put aside its differences and become whole. I feel warmth swell up within me.

Herobrine leads us outside and far into the nearby plains, in deep discussion with Fire the whole way. He summons his pigmen and they begin to build a portal to his specifications. Obsidian piles on top of obsidian, until there is a great portal before us.

I marvel at the army that is beginning to amass, as Pigmen join Gaians, join Legionnaires, join Vangaardians and so on, forming their ranks and bringing hastily gathered materials. I know their numbers cannot exceed the tens of thousands, but it feels like all the world is here.

Then, I hear Fire calling to me. I go over. He stands with Herobrine and Aaron. Aaron has a dumb grin on his face.

“What is it?” I ask. “How can I help?”

“We need to get word back to Nexus so they can dial in this bigger portal. The whole reason this was built is because I can’t repeat what I did back in my world, no ender eyes to guide the magic.”

“Oh, I could absolutely head back and convey the news?”

“Well,” Aaron says, “You know the earpieces? Well, while we were looking for you, Brit started work on an improved version with longer range - long enough to talk to Mo back at the portal. Thankfully, he finished it and Fire reckons he can upgrade it to help interface the entire army. We were wondering if you wanted to do the honours of telling Mo the coordinates the Shelter needs to input?”

I begin beaming anew.

“Naturally.”

Fire pulls out the dimensional scanner, Aaron hands me his earpiece and attaches the microphone to my sleeve.

“Hello Mo, can you hear me?”

“Loud and clear, boss,” he oozes smugly.

“Note down these coordinates for me, will you?”

Fire holds up the screen and I squint down at the figures, the glow of the screen stinging my eyes. I recite them with some hesitancy, laughing nervously and joyously all at once.

“You got all that?”

“Absolutely.”

“Now, I need you to go through that portal and tell them to open this baby up. We might need some space cleared. Ask for Steve and Jennifer. Tell them we have a lot of new arrivals.”

“Got it, talk soon,” he says with a little chuckle, “Take it Kay came through?”

I look over in his direction. I see him chatting hesitantly with Cossack, often stopping, and staring off into space. And I keep thinking back to the ridge we sat on looking at the Mencur-Besh coming through only this morning - and how much I reviled him then. And somehow, during that speech he had recaptured everything that had made me cherish him for so long. His passion, fierce and affectionate, his anger at the injustices of the world, and his contrapuntal, idealist belief that they didn’t have to exist. For a brief moment, I had seen my friend again.

And somehow, I resented him all the more for coming back, knowing full well he wouldn’t stay.

“He did fine,” I say flatly, tightening my fist.

We wait for some time. Herobrine moves on to issue orders and establish contact with the factions who have joined us - we believe that, on top of Herobrine’s army, we’ll be able to leverage twenty-five thousand men from our various allies by the time everyone is mobilised. discussing favours that could call in for supplies.

Halberdson seems to be very eager to get Herobrine to purchase anything and everything under the sun from his wide array of trade contacts. Armour, guns, food, materials for airships. He has someone for everything, and he rattles off ideas and opportunities so rapidly he has the aspect of a man fleeing a fire in his own house. Occasionally, he’ll call Fire over to inquire about what the Shelter can support or could best use. Fire is less receptive than Herobrine, but I’m still pretty sure Halberdson will have managed to sell him a metric fortune’s worth of something or other by the end of it.

Tassadar catches up with Zeratul. Ray helps the elderly Viral equip his armour. The Brotherhood stand in a circle, repeating their mantras. Not a stone’s throw away, Arcation kneel before Gogyst as he recites their sacred rites. Last time I saw them, these two groups had to be put on opposite ends of the battlefield so they didn’t end up fighting. I remind myself why I hate the Brotherhood, but I’m glad they’re on our side. I am quietly contented.

Then, a strange wind whips through my hair. It leads toward the portal. I turn just in time for it to flash into life, for the blue, gel-like surface to fill the frame, and for the shadows of the world on the other side to begin to flit across it.

Fire and Herobrine begin issuing orders and the neat ranks of the Herobrinian army, the Legion, the Vangaardian knights and the Gaian host begin to form a column to advance neatly in. The others, smaller in number and more focused on individual than collective discipline, filter between them, filling up any space that is not obviously taken.

As they do so, several members of Shadow’s coven rush through. Iridia comes up to me and I brace myself for some sort of argument. But, in a manifestly pleasant surprise, she is friendly.

“The master told us to help with teleporting things to the portal, from what I hear we’ll be reinforced by the Mencur-Besh soon.”

“Yes,” I respond. “We’ll need supplies in particular. Most airships have been decommissioned since the War, so we’ll need help transporting materials to make new ones. Also, the usual shipments of food, armour, weapons - actually, firearms will be a big one.” I realise I’m running away with myself. “Apologies, that’s a lot to keep track of. This is just all so huge.”

I clap her on the shoulder and walk up to Fire, who stands near the portal.

“Well, how do you feel about our chances?” I ask him with a grin.

“Significantly better than before, I can say that much. Aside from that, there are some weaknesses in the Tower’s defence plans that I am fairly sure will stay open with neither the Ender nor Claw around to close them. But more about that once we have our formal strategy planning session.”

I nod. I’d hoped for a more energised response, but I suppose it’s good Fire has his eye on the ball.

“Oh, naturally. At least we have an actual army this time. And a literal god on our side,” I laugh. “I’d like to see how Freak deals with that.”

Before Fire can bring me back to earth, Herobrine gives the order for his men to advance, and the first Pigmen begin to step through. The column of troops seems to stretch for miles, armour gleaming even in the sparse light of an overcast day.

“We’ve got a chance,” I reassure myself.

I close my eyes on this image of imminent victory, and I step through the portal.

Amanda only realised how crowded Shelter had gotten when she realised she was about to be late to a major planning meeting and had to tuck and roll between the throngs of people. In addition to the normal humans and occasional villagers, towering Mencur-Besh, stern-looking Pigmen and even long, winding dragons now seemed to fill every hall.

As she ducked between the pattering legs of Steve’s pet Enderdragon, Drake, she wished she’d just waited for Helix to finish up his training. He could have just flown her over and saved time. Then again, she wasn’t actually sure he’d go. And Drake playfully snapped at her as she ran past, so she could only imagine how excited he’d get at the sight of two people flying by. Ozen was already struggling to keep him focused as it was.

Helix had been getting better. He was eating his usual six tacos a day again and he even insisted on calling that a diet in what she hoped to Light was a joke. But he still avoided contact with most people other than her or Shadow, and he never voluntarily started a conversation with anyone other than her. He’d completely given up on his demonic training and no one felt comfortable pressuring him into continuing. Instead, he had dedicated his entire time to training with Rose, or if she wasn’t available, the Mencur-Besh. All dodging and punching and chucking swords everywhere. And he’d developed this weird obsession with trying to summon lava that he couldn’t always magic away - some of the Coven mages were actually starting to complain about having to constantly clean up after him. Never to his face though.

This time he’d been about to finish up when he caught a glimpse of Herobrine walking by with a group of his Blackshell troops - whose faces were hidden completely behind heavy obsidian armour - and then immediately went back to sparring with the nearest Mencur-Besh. Having a living reminder of the long journey ahead of him even if they beat Freak really wasn’t helping Helix’s emotional state.

She passed the infirmary and saw a patrol of hunters being patched up. They had gotten restless pretty soon after arriving and so Tyron and the others had decided to let them set up their own encampment nearby and send out packs to track down any Tower scouts or patrols. Unfortunately, they found more than expected and kept coming back pretty dinged up. So far, they’d killed twelve endermen. She knew because they kept bringing the bodies back and mounting them outside their camp. She really wished they’d stop because that was really gross and kind of sinister. People were actually starting to miss the Jackals.

Then she heard a snippet of conversation from inside.

“And you’re certain there’s no chance Claw could return? That he’s not hiding amongst them?” asked a male voice.

“No, Claw died with the Entity. I assure you, Destiny did good work.”

Kay walked out from behind a divider, rubbing his knee. The husband and wife leading the hunters followed him out, looking concerned.

“So you keep saying,” said the wife. “But you must understand our concern that we were enlisted to kill Claw only to be greeted by a portal filled with creatures exactly matching his description.”

“And how can you be sure he’s not lying dormant, waiting to seize control?”

“We can’t, but we do have enough force to contain him this time. Claw was strong. Herobrine is stronger.”

Amanda realised she’d stopped. She also realised her hands had clenched preemptively into fists. She started walking away before Kay noticed her.

“Herobrine and that guy in the one room,” she thought. “Helix is not coming today.”

She walked past Lucy, who smiled genuinely at her. Amanda tried to reciprocate and felt happy enough that she succeeded.

Inside, Amanda scanned the room quickly before deciding to lean against the wall next to Rose. Together, they observed the people at the table and those continuing to enter.

Astro and Shadow sat with one seat between them, clearly intended for Tyron who was using ice magic to adjust the temperature of the furnace. Fire stood behind Tyron’s chair, head craned down to hear their conversation. Astro leaned over, Shadow remained perfectly upright, smiling serenely. She seemed to have recovered some of that air of confidence she had back when Amanda first met her.

Then, Steve and Jennifer sat together, Steve worrying about Ozen’s ability to steer Drake through the Shelter. Jennifer saw Amanda looking in their direction and rolled her eyes as she tried to calm him down without giggling.

“He’s just not used to that many people…” Amanda picked out of the general chatter. “... And he’s only what, like a year old? Basically a baby.”

“I’m sure that is much higher in dragon years,” said Jennifer as she flicked through some blueprints.

Next, Kir sat on a cushion, pulsing happily. He had been put there to relay messages to and from Tyron’s army of dragons.

Voidblade and Urist sat together. The dwarf chatted away and the enderman really seemed to be making an effort not to look that tormented. As much as Voidblade tried, adapting to non-End culture took more than a few months of living among them.

Just on from them were the first real representatives from outside the Shelter. Two humans and a Water Mencur-Besh. Amanda had seen them before, the humans Andras and Brad were old friends of Fire, and Stream the Mencur-Besh apparently was one of the oldest of her kind, aside from Fire.

After that, two empty chairs struggled to remain upright under the weight of heavy cloaks made from furs and pierced through with bones. Obviously for the hunters. Right beside these vacancies, a pigman and a pale man with purple tattoos conferred with each other, with Herobrine towering behind them. He had a hand clamped onto the back of the pigman’s chair, making it look like a doll’s chair in comparison. Lucy came up and offered to get a chair that might fit him better, but he declined with surprising politeness.

Then came a smattering of people from Kay and Astro’s world who Amanda didn’t really care about. All she knew was that their leader was a thin, bureaucratic-looking guy called Ryan, and that Astro had been really reluctant to let them all in. Apparently, most of them would usually hate each other and they all had a tendency to argue over “stupid, tribal crap.” However, Tyron had decided that they would probably try and play nice in front of Herobrine and maybe be a little daunted by the general situation, limiting the likelihood they would derail things.

Amanda noticed that one of them had a hood which obscured his face with supernatural darkness, like Helix. She suddenly felt very alone, despite Rose being right next to her, and wished he were there with his red eyes, his soft robes…

Anyone else at or around the table was internal to the Shelter. Raphoe skulked around near the hunters’ chairs in his red scarf, not quite sure where he fit into everything now that Kay’s boss had shown up and the former King in Ash kept doffing the hat to everyone under the sun. A fast-builder from resource-gathering here. Talita and Iridia from the Coven there. One or two infantry and combat mages. Lucy flitted between everyone, checking them to her list.

Finally, Kay entered with the hunter-chief power couple, Lucy made some ticks, and she took up a position next to Fire.

Kay saw Raphoe’s aimlessness, grunted and gestured for him to follow him. Kay took him around and leaned against the furnace, slightly into the shadows but firmly within the eyeline of Herobrine and the hunters.

Then, unnoticed by most but greatly appreciated by Amanda, Helix entered. His red eyes looked dimmer than usual, but he had a slight smile on. He came up beside her and slipped his fingers in between hers. She felt warm.

“Hi,” she said.

“Hi, sorry I’m late,” he responded, making sure not to look over in the direction of the furnace.

Tyron cleared his throat, and the session began.

“So, I guess the first question is, what’s our situation?” he began. “Well, I can tell you we’re glad for every last person we’ve gotten. After the Prophet’s Hill Massacre, we fell somewhere below fifteen-hundred trained soldiers and then began to slowly recover after gaining access to portal technology. Now, you all have graciously devoted yourselves to our cause, and we can safely say our forces number somewhere around forty thousand, the highest they have ever been. Thank you for your support.”

There were polite murmurs of approval around the table. The hooded man even banged on the table with his fist and cried out “Hear, hear!”, unconcerned that his raucousness did not match the general tone.

“Unfortunately, I’ve got to acknowledge that we are still, in fact, outnumbered. The Tower is an interdimensional organisation, in some places it could definitely be called an empire. It has a lot of troops at its disposal and a lot of places it can draw them from. However, that means, even though they’ve consolidated all their troops within Nexus, they have a lot of their conquering forces spread out across the multiverse. Thanks to the efforts of the internal scouting corps under Voidblade and the…” Tyron checked his notes calmly. “‘Most honourable librarian pirates of Woobly’ under… Scrumping Pup, as well as a Tower-internal source, we have been able to confirm their numbers at around one hundred thousand.

“Still outnumbered, but bear in mind, the Entity is dead, the Ender is dead. The endermen are tough but leaderless, and as far as we are aware Freak can’t replicate the abilities which made the Entity such a threat in combat. Most of the rest are mercenary forces, a lot of whom got stuck in Nexus by accident. We have skill and experience on our side, and we will win this.”

The hooded man yelled “hear, hear!” louder still and this time several others cheered in response, mostly from the same world but Urist also offered some typically dwarfish encouragement. Tyron smirked slightly then continued.

“Of course, this brings us on to the matter of strategy. The Shelter is some ways out from the Tower by design. Previously we had floated plans of attacking villages near the Tower to establish a beachhead from which to launch a full assault. However, with the machine so close to completion, and with the risk that the Tower would call for reinforcements from its off-world holdings, we cannot waste time on that. We propose a full-frontal assault.”

No cheers went up this time. The hooded man assumed a pose of great contemplation. Steve looked disappointed he hadn’t joined in when he had the chance.

“Glowstar asks: ‘So, they’ll see us coming?’” chirped Kir.

Tyron sighed.

“Yes.”

A general feeling of discomfort descended on everyone in the room. Amanda reshuffled her fingers and held Helix’s hand all the tighter.

“So, we’re going to loudly announce our presence to the enemy? Is there no prospect of a sneak attack?” Asked the male hunter chief.

“We have investigated that possibility,” answered Tyron confidently. “There was a route into the Tower that the enemy were unaware of, but it was too small for a large-scale attack. And, since Destiny used that portal to get in and kill the Entity, Freak was aware of it and has sealed it off.”

“Excuse me,” said Herobrine calmly. “I was under the impression that the Entity was ‘usurped’ by Freak, I believe that was the word you used, Fire. Am I to understand that the Shelter deliberately installed Freak?”

Tyron looked directly at Herobrine for the first time since the meeting had started and gritted his teeth. It occurred to Amanda just how weird this must be for him.

Fire ended up replying: “While Destiny’s actions have resulted in a significant edge for the Shelter, it was a plan of her and Freak alone. I’d hazard a guess that Freak betrayed the Entity and used Destiny to get rid of it, which happened to align with our goals, but that is where our ‘collaboration’ ends. Now Freak is in the same position as the Entity, but he is individually much less powerful than it.”

Tyron shuffled in discomfort, realising the questions this raised.

“So, this plot occurred without the knowledge of Shelter leadership? How was this allowed to happen?”

Kay cut in: “The Shelter was under my administration in the lead-up to the assassination, during Fire’s captivity. The failing was mine, my lord. Freak is a phantom and can, when he wishes, be visible to only one individual at a time. Precautions have been taken - a benevolent phantom known as the Lady of Dreams has been contacted - and this error will not be repeated.”

Herobrine nodded, satisfied but still obviously concerned to receive confirmation of the mildly chaotic recent history of the Shelter. Amanda was just glad he didn’t ask why Kay wasn’t leading any more. Helix definitely wouldn’t have been able to keep quiet about that. Or maybe he’d just have stormed ominously out of the room, which might actually have been worse.

“So,” declared Tyron in an effort to regain control. “We have the outline established. Now for specifics. We’re currently planning for the Mencur-Besh to take the lead on the ground, serving as a vanguard under the command of Fire, followed up by a broader force under my own direction. Of course, we will have combat mages as skirmishers, a sizeable ranged corps comprised of conventional archers and firearms users, and a mixture of magical and non-magical artillery in support.

“Our goal will be to use range to our advantage to disrupt the Tower’s defences, allowing our infantry a chance to force their way through the main gate and make it to the Tower proper, which unfortunately only has one entrance. Once inside, in addition to attempting to seize control of as much of the structure as possible, a contingent shall break off to fight its way down to the Deep Labs with the goal of locating and disabling the machine. Shadow and a collective of mages from our various factions shall be a priority asset in this situation, as they are most likely to be able to figure out how to stop it from activating to begin with.

“At the same time, an air assault under the command of Herobrine will be conducted. Guarded by the dragons of Minecraftia, our airships will attempt to infiltrate the Tower’s upper floors. This will help relieve pressure from the force on the lower floors, but more importantly this force shall attempt to locate the machine’s activation mechanism and prevent Freak from using it. It is believed to be within the Entity’s former throne room and is supposed to be guarded by a particularly advanced breed of golems. Our internal source suggests they are made of bedrock, but otherwise we are unclear of their capabilities. Be extremely careful when engaging them.”

Herobrine smirked and stroked his adamantine sword.

A man in a steel mask scoffed, “Tricked-out golems? A machine with a ticking clock? Megalomaniacs in pursuit of godhood? Forgive me, I’m feeling downright nostalgic.”

Astro glared at him.

“Don’t worry, Brother Chrone,” he said. “You will be in the ground assault, so you shall be as far away as can be from your fear of repetition.”

“Wonderful,” he said. “Very considerate of you.”

His face was invisible beneath his mask, but his eyes assumed the glazed quality of a smirk.

Astro chewed his lip and looked at his notes, clearly a little embarrassed.

“Well,” Helix whispered to her. “At least we know Astro’s above all that ‘stupid, tribal crap’.”

She snorted with laughter a little harder than the joke merited. It was nice that he had his sense of humour back. Unfortunately, Herobrine turned his head at the sound, and while the blind guy looked at them with nothing but good-natured bemusement at the thought of two kids in a war-room, Helix glared back fiercely until he returned his attention to the table.

“With the plan firmly established. That brings us,” Tyron said. “To the matter of division leaders. All very dry troop assignment stuff, but necessary.”

He began to recite the assignments. It reminded Amanda of the travelling storytellers who would sometimes come through the villages, when they would recite ancient poems, and then to give a sense of grandeur and maybe to avoid having to describe any elaborate battle scenes for a while they’d list everyone involved for a full chapter. Except somehow more boring.

Long and short of it, Brad, one of Fire’s buddies in the Eye-and-Claws had the air, coordinating the attack until they made an entrance in the side of the Tower, at which point Herobrine would take over the infiltration force. Glowstar would lead a dragon escort. Steve and Jennifer would initially be part of the escort on the back of Drake Junior, then join the infiltration force alongside some of their usual divisions, using their fast-building abilities to help prevent loss of ground. Astro would do much the same, flying around until they found an opening, at which point he would take partial command of a group called the “Guild of Twenty-Four Diamonds”, who she assumed were the heavily armoured dunk squad who always jeered playfully at him when he ran by on an errand.

Voidblade and Urist would also serve as officers in the infiltration force, the former helping to locate and harass Tower forces, the latter helping to flesh out Steve and Jennifer’s quickly built fortifications into real footholds. Rose smirked as her role was explained. Her duty was to help make an opening for the infiltration force, both by killing anyone who tried to impede them, but also by literally making an opening in the wall of the Tower where artillery fire hadn’t created a wide enough gap. She explained in a mutter that they had found the alloy they used to coat the Tower. Apparently, her blades made it look like crap and cut through about as easily.

Tyron would, of course, coordinate the ground forces, with Fire leading the Mencur-Besh in the vanguard. Amanda and Helix would be accompanying Tyron personally, but if their last outing had been any indication, that meant they would be part of the attack with Tyron lending a handy assist any time they got overwhelmed. The hunters would attack from a slightly different angle, hoping to hop the fortifications and engage the forces within, with the goal of disrupting internal defences and engaging the enemy in tight spaces where proper formations became more difficult. Notionally, they were independent, but they would also be accompanied by a brigade comprising Kay’s remaining loyalists in the Shelter and a small group of Herobrine’s pigmen. So, basically the naughty corner crew.

Amanda considered making a quip about that to Helix, but one look at his face confirmed he was not at all ready to joke about that.

Shadow would, of course, command her Coven of mages and provide any aerial and ground support needed throughout, then hand over operational leadership to Talita after the Tower was breached so she could focus on locating and disabling the machine. Lucy had the duty of co-directing the artillery and generally running logistics for the ground assault. This unfortunately put her in the unenviable duty of making sure the rear-guard - a group called Legion - held firm and prevented the Tower from encircling them. When Lucy heard about her responsibility she nodded, then immediately took on the look of someone mentally preparing several comprehensive checklists for the tasks ahead.

“Well, you know your duties,” said Tyron gravely. “We attack in three days. Do what you can to prepare. May Notch be with you - or whoever you worship. Sorry, didn’t mean to be exclusionary, Notch just seems to be common across a lot of places and - I’m getting off topic.”

Tyron sighed and Amanda heard Helix mutter “Light be with you,” under his breath. Rathina placed a hand on Tyron’s shoulder, and he recollected himself, and looked strangely pleased with himself as he said the next sentence.

“You are brave for being here, your bravery will be remembered, let’s make sure it’s rewarded. It’s about time we all got a happy ending.”

Amanda caught his eye and smiled reassuringly, shooting him a smirk and a laid-back thumbs-up. He smiled slightly but warmly and left with Rathina.

Helix had his head hung like he was observing a moment of silence. She squeezed his hand.

“Hey, you heard him, happy ending’s on its way.”

He smiled.

“Yeah, it sure is,” he accepted.

They left, still holding hands, ready for what was yet to come.

They sat in the officer’s lounge. It was late. Most people had already left. But they stayed on, not to drink, just to talk. After the strategy meeting everything was starting to feel a little real, so talking felt good.

At the start, it had been the expected groups, people talking to their friends. Jennifer had been spleefing away with Voidblade; Astro and his guild talking gravely and yearningly about old times, absent friends; Steve talking the ear off Urist, Wolfric and his brother; Fire and Shadow catching up with their Eye-and-Claw friends; and Tyron had, of course, been talking to Seth and Rathina, with Kir relaying the occasional comment from Glowstar up on the cliffs.

It had been strange, seeing people talking to their normal friends. The people they had history with. Fire in particular was just… strange. Seeing him talking and laughing with Brad and Andras, as though nothing had happened. Tyron had always known him as such a serious, detached guy and he still wasn’t exactly Mr. Expressiveness over there, but there was an ease to him in that conversation that made the whole thing feel uncanny. He wondered if other people thought he looked weird talking to his friends.

“Already look weird,” Kir had quipped.

He smiled. He felt Rathina’s fingers in the fur of his arm.

“Astro is a terrible influence on you.”

But slowly, people peeled away for sleep or duty or whatever, until a somehow weirder group remained, sitting on the central pit of sofas. Rathina sat at his right. Steve and Jennifer sat opposite him. Shadow lounged on a sofa off to the left, flicking through a book hardly taking up any space on account of her small stature. Astro sat at the other end of the same sofa, listening to a guy called Andras who had way too many artificial limbs for Tyron’s liking.

“...so, there I was, standing on the mountaintop, finally facing down the Roc I had been tracking for the past days. It was there, defending its nest. No eggs, but that didn’t matter, the client paid for claws, feathers, and bones. The battle took quite a lot out of me, more than one of these scars is from that damn bird’s kicks. So, here’s how it went down…”

Tyron thought on his own scars, hidden beneath his fur. He wondered if they would ever become visible if he carried on adventuring long enough.

“Okay, you’ve told us about some of your mightiest battles,” said Rathina conspiratorially, “But what’s the absolute easiest, you’ve ever had. What day did Andras Thornhook go into work and think, ‘By Notch, I can’t believe they’re paying me to do this?’”

Tyron caught her eye. He wondered what she was driving at. She winked. She always had some game going.

Andras roared with laughter. “That’s got to be the time that snooty alchemist asked me to track down ‘a lock of cursed hair’, well that’s what I did. On my own head! The curses might stop me from growing my hand and leg back, but that one time they came in useful. Naturally had to wait a month for it all to grow back so he wouldn’t know.”

“Fascinating,” Rathina said. “Do you ever think about what you’d do if you retired?”

“Okay, what’s this about?” Tyron asked her through Kir, suddenly wondering if this was a conversation she was having with Andras, or one she was having with him via Andras.

“Well, Shadow told me he’s an NPC. So, naturally, I asked ‘What’s an NPC?’ And apparently, it’s like anyone but you in a dream. He is just based on the thoughts of anyone who enters their Server. But now, he’s outside the Server. No strings attached.”

Thank Notch, it wasn’t one of those conversations.

“Oh… That is weird. So, you’re trying to figure out how… I don’t know how to put it.”

“Ty, this is a telepathic broadcast, I literally get the idea.”

Tyron snorted with laughter and tried to play it off as a sneeze.

“But yeah, I just want to see how complete he is separated from that. How close can you wind up to being a person when you’re just made up of inputs from other people? I mean, he existed for a purpose, but now he’s served that purpose for so long and he’s received so much data from so many people, you have to ask, what is he now?”

Suddenly, something felt off to Tyron.

“Wait…”

“Boom, pranked! This conversation was secretly about us!”

“Okay you got me. I’m a bad boyfriend for not getting it out sooner.”

“Relax, I just like messing with you. But seriously though, what are we doing once this is all done?”

“Well, if we beat Freak-”

“-Okay, when we beat Freak, what are we doing?”

He sat back and thought about it, momentarily cutting off his thoughts from Kir to avoid just blasting an incomprehensible stream-of-consciousness out there. He’d spent a long, long time trying to take Herobrine down. Then he spent a long time just sort of moving between places, hero-ing away without much thought for what his goal was. He liked helping people, he liked being a hero, but now that the big bads were beaten, could he really just go on adventuring forever? He caught a glimpse of Andras’ rolling, blue prosthetic eye-crystal, and wondered once again when his scars would start showing. But then again, people would never stop needing help, and if he just stopped being selfless and started prioritising his own wellbeing, was he really all that heroic to start with?

“I think I want to find a plains biome somewhere, build a house, and start farming. Not even to sell or eat, maybe just to go into town and give it away to random people. I don’t know, farming sounds fun.”

He nodded contentedly. Bravery had to be rewarded, he’d said it himself.

Rathina turned his head to him and looked sincerely into his eyes.

“That sounds pretty chilled out. I’d be up for that for a while.”

He felt his cheeks go red and looked down. She pecked him on the forehead.

“Anyway, that’s me for tonight,” said Rathina. “Thanks, Andras, great stories.”

People said goodbye to her. Shadow even looked up from her book. Then, Steve proposed grabbing another drink from the bar, and Andras proposed Drandinian Heavybrew.

“I don’t know what that is, but I’m willing to try!” said Steve.

“Great, we’ll need a bucket!”

And Andras dragged him off to the bar. Jennifer looked at Shadow, realised she was smirking, and decided to keep an eye on this brewery process. In her own words, “I won’t stop him brewing the stuff, I just want to know what we’re dealing with.”

Astro turned to Tyron.

“Rathina seems lovely. You make a great couple.”

“Thank you, pal,” said Tyron. “I never would have thought we’d end up together. I met her when she ambushed us in a forest. Not a great start, but I guess she’s grown on me since then.”

“You’d be surprised,” quipped Astro, alcohol restoring a little bit of his sarcastic wit. “I’m pretty sure getting ambushed by Kay in the forests of Zine Craft was when I…”

He stopped talking and developed a very sad aspect.

“How are you feeling? This can’t be an easy time for you,” prodded Tyron.

Shadow took on a look of stern concentration behind her book.

“I could be better, but I can’t complain. Aaron, Secret, and all are here now. They went through it all alongside me, and I have them to talk about it with. But… Somehow, they’re not angry, at least, not angry enough. I expected one of them to complain about it, but they almost seem glad to see him. How can they just be okay with him wandering around free? They were actually there for all of the awful stuff. I just caught the tail-end of it.”

Tyron thought on it.

“Maybe that’s why. They saw the gradual decline, you just saw him after he’d already started getting punished. Like, it was kind of a shock to you, and you couldn’t reconcile the image you had of your friend with the guy who did all this heinous crap.”

Astro took a deep gulp of his drink, then slammed it down.

“You might be right there. I just… It took me so long to acknowledge that he was a bad guy, and yet he gave that big speech, and I was almost ready to forgive him then and there. And I don’t know what it was. Was it because of reflex, like tying your shoes or riding a horse? Or did he actually say something worth forgiving. Is there this magic sequence of words that makes everything okay?”

Suddenly, Shadow muttered profoundly:

“These fragments I have shored against my ruins. Why then I’ll fit you. Hieronymo’s mad again. Datta. Dayadhvam. Damyata. Shantih. Shantih. Shantih.”

Tyron and Astro reshuffled themselves into wary positions from which they’d better be able to take off. Was that a spell? Was the pressure getting to her again?

“Friendly coup?” Kir tested nervously.

“Sorry, you’re going to have to elaborate on that,” Tyron asked. “I don’t understand. At all.”

Shadow giggled. “It’s a quote. An old poem.”

Astro chuckled and nodded.

“That makes sense. Yes, but what does the poem mean?”

Tyron breathed a sigh of relief.

“It’s complicated, it’s this weird, fragmentary thing packed with spiritual mantras, quotes from old books and references. It makes no sense until you realise it’s based on the story of a king who could only be healed by someone saying the right words. But no one who ever came to heal him ever knew what they were. So, the narrator’s going through all these famous phrases, trying to accidentally hit on the right one and make everything okay. Those last words are an old saying of one of our world’s religions, I think.”

Tyron and Astro looked at each other. Steve, Jennifer and Andras came back with their bucket of Heavybrew.

“Okay but how does that tie back to Astro?” Asked Jennifer with a cocked eyebrow. “Sorry, there’s not many people here so I heard you from across the room.”

“I said about Kay saying the right set of words to make me almost want to forgive him,” said Astro. “So, I suppose you’re saying, maybe he did. Does that ‘Shantih’ phrase bring the narrator comfort?”

“The poem ends ambiguously,” clarified Shadow, sitting up. “Those are the last lines.”

“Oh, so is it supposed to trail off in a pessimistic sort of way?” Asked Tyron. “As though he’ll be doing this forever?”

“Well, does the king get healed in the original story?” asked Steve.

“Yes, eventually.”

“Then, surely there’s an underlying assumption that there are words that will, one day, work and set everything right? And that it’s therefore worth seeking them endlessly even when the world appears to offer no likelihood of a definitive cure?”

Jennifer looked at Steve with complete surprise at his poetic turn.

“I’m sorry, you just came back here with a literal bucket of the dirtiest drink I’ve ever seen - and I know I only discovered alcohol a few weeks ago, but that’s still saying a lot, and now you want to wax lyrical about the pursuit of meaning?”

“You’re right, let’s drink.”

They each dipped a mug in and felt the shock of warmth and the choke of spice as it filled them. Only Shadow failed to react as she drank it. It was as if she was drinking water instead of strong alcohol.

“What I don’t understand is, you’re ascended, right Shadow?” Asked Steve, evidently on a hot streak with his curiosity that night. “You underwent a whole ritual to do so? But I’ve heard you and Astro talking about it, and you almost talk about it like it was an accident and you’re still finding out the damages. What’s the deal? I saw the steps involved when I was looking through Fire’s notes once, and it sounded messed up yeah, but also really deliberate. You have to prepare a potion, carve some runes in yourself… Did you just not know what would happen?”

Shadow replied: “It has to be deliberate, it requires a lot of infrastructure to get all the components, not to mention the enchanters and mages needed for the ritual itself. We performed the ritual a great number of times before it was attempted on me. Fire needed to be sure everything was just right. The goal really was just to set me free from being imprisoned in my own mind, with the known side-effect of magical empowerment. Everything else, we didn’t anticipate, couldn’t have anticipated.

“That said, it was a painful ordeal. Having runes carved in my skin, feeling my blood drain, the burning runes embedding themselves in my flesh, the magic infusion… definitely not something anyone would agree to without good reason.”

“Would you do it again?” He pressed.

The mage thought for a moment. “Difficult to answer, knowing what I do now. But I think so, it gave me a chance at a proper life outside of the server’s world. Outside of the memories, the pain is temporary.”

Steve sat back, still eyebrows furrowing a little deeper still. Tyron rolled his tongue over his teeth, drawing it back like an arrow to shoot down any follow-up question from Steve. He meant well, but he got the impression Shadow was trying to mask discomfort with politeness. Or maybe Tyron was just projecting. Even with her powers stabilised, Shadow remained as hard to read as ever. All he knew was that if anyone but Rathina had asked him what he wanted to do after this, he probably would have gotten very tense very fast.

Thankfully, before Steve could cross the line and make things awkward, Kir drew Tyron’s attention to a black-haired woman marching sternly up to them.

“Reaching out, but won’t respond. Seems mad.”

Tyron pushed his drink away, apologised and turned to face the new arrival. Just as he did so, a question came out like a slap.

“Are you Dragoknight?”

She was tall, black-haired, and pale-skinned. Perhaps in her early thirties. She wore a black V-neck, ripped gray jeans, and half an arsenal of weaponry - a machete, a steel bow, a knife which looked pretty redundant compared to the machete, and pouches containing everything from bandages to worn rope for climbing to bloody rope for garroting. And, despite being encumbered with all those weapons, she had this strange gracefulness to her. It was like watching Rose if she couldn’t magically produce knives but still insisted on throwing just as many.

Tyron decided not to waste her time.

“Yes, that’s me. Tyron Dragoknight, Shelter Commander, at your service.”

He stood up and offered her his hand. She looked at it, cocked an eyebrow, then briefly seized his furry hand before letting it fall.

“I’m Lupe, of the Remaining - formerly known as the Liberators.”

Tyron drooped his eyes respectfully as he realised what this was about. He wished he hadn’t drank before this, it would either make him seem detached or make him feel even worse. Maybe both.

“Then you got my message about-”

“-About David and Destiny. Yes.”

Tyron searched for something to say until the silence became conspicuous. Jennifer came to his rescue:

“I’m sorry. They went down doing the right thing. We should have done more.” She shot Tyron an encouraging look, telling him to go further down this path.

“Yes,” the Dragoknight agreed. “I didn’t get to know David or Destiny half as well as I should have, but they were good people. And neither of them lost sight of their purpose. David went down protecting Destiny, and Destiny went down protecting-”

“-Went down killing the big bad, yeah I get you, don’t oversell it,” said Lupe. “Thank you though.”

She smiled slightly.

“Well, is there anything else I can help you with?”

“Yeah, Clarke, Kami and I just got here. They’re still looking for a room. I’m interested in doing a little farewell ceremony for David and Destiny. Do you have the bodies?”

“We gave David a burial at the time. It’s a ways off but shouldn’t be too hard to find if you don’t mind dodging Tower patrols. Destiny died on their territory. We don’t know what they did with her, but bearing in mind her plan involved a tear in reality…”

Lupe nodded solemnly.

“That sucks. In which case, do you have any belongings of Destiny’s? We could bury them next to David.”

“Yes, certainly.”

Tyron reached into his inventory and pulled out a key ring, then flipped through them until he found the right one.

“This should be the key for Destiny’s room, it’s in the officers’ quarters. Do you know the way or-”

“-I'll be able to find it.”

“Okay.”

Lupe rolled the key over in her hand.

“Destiny’s room,” she smirked. “Glad she finally got to settle down for a while, at least. She never loved all the rushing from place to place due to cataclysmic enemy ambushes.”

“Who would?” Tyron laughed. “Running from Herobrine’s servants, it keeps you fit but it’s not great for that homely feeling.”

Lupe chuckled and out burst a wide grin for a moment, like the sun on a cloudy day.

“Is the gravesite near the frontlines?”

“Yes.”

“Then we’ll have the ceremony on the day of the attack. After that, we’ll help you finish this.”

“Thank-”

“-Don’t thank me, it’s a point of principle. Besides, thank you for the key, Dragoknight. That means a lot.”

She turned away, tossing the key up and down in her hand. Her other hand was plunged deep into her jeans pocket.

“You can call me Tyron,” he called. “Just so you know.”

“Noted.”

“Friend?” chirped Kir.

“If it helps you sleep at night, sure,” she said with a wink.

Tyron waited until she left, then sat down with a heavy sigh of relief.

“That was stressful. Turned out better than expected though, she seems nice.”

“Tell me about it,” snorted Astro. “I was pretty sure she was about to try and kill you.”

“Really, that bad?”

“Well, maybe not that bad, but definitely something like a big rant about how we all let Destiny down - which, we absolutely did. Good idea on leading with that, Jennifer. I think it defused things a lot.”

“She looked upset. She needed to know her anger was justified,” answered Jennifer with a shrug. “And like you said, we did let her down.”

The mood suddenly dropped a lot. A faint melancholy landed on their shoulders, like a bird with really sharp talons. Andras didn’t seem to know how to engage with this, lacking a lot of necessary context. If Tyron hadn’t known it would make him feel terrible, he might have let himself a stifled laugh at the sight of a hardened adventurer struggling to deal with an unpleasant lull in the conversation.

Shadow spoke up: “Not to make this into a game of misery poker, but you know, if you really think about it, I was the last person with the opportunity to stop Destiny. If it makes you feel any better about your part in her fate, the final responsibility was mine.”

“Well, no,” said Jennifer. “That’s not fair either.”

“Yes, you made an executive decision based on a pretty dire set of circumstances. Not necessarily a good one, but you made a decision,” said Astro.

“It feels like the rest of us just let Destiny slip through the cracks,” agreed Jennifer. “Steve and I made a token effort at first, but after she went off to establish this place with Fire… I guess we just stopped trying. We had our own stuff to deal with.”

Astro nodded limply. Tyron couldn’t help but agree.

“I guess, we all got so wrapped up in our own problems that we lost sight of our goal. Destiny didn’t, she kept going for it. We should all have tried to be a bit more like her.”

“Well, let’s not whitewash things,” Astro challenged. “She kind of shut down after Fristad died - not that I blame her - and as a result Freak was able to manipulate her. She sacrificed herself taking down the Entity, and that was a brave, brave thing, but do you honestly think she was happy in the end?”

“Is that really that important?” asked Jennifer, a little confused. “Aren’t we heroes supposed to be selfless?”

Steve sat back, chewing his lip.

“We’re not all heroes here, Jen,” said Astro with a morbid shake of the head.

Tyron pressed past this. “Okay, she wasn’t a paragon, but the big issue is that she shouldn’t have had to make that sacrifice. She only felt she had to because of our collective decisions, but she did it anyway.”

“Well, when could we have changed things so she didn’t have to do it?” asked Jennifer. “You know, for next time.”

Tyron took a swig of his drink and nervously put it down. It connected with the table a little hard, and some heavybrew spilled out.

“Don’t do that to yourself Jennifer,” said Astro. “You’re never going to find the perfect sequence.”

Tyron’s mind slipped down to a memory he tried not to examine. During the first prison break. The failed one.

Shadow nodded. “At least not the first time, and the power needed to do it over would allow you to win without having to find a sequence at all.”

“Maybe if David hadn’t been so dinged up…” Tyron said. “In the first breakout I… I jumped that first enderman even though Bul wasn’t there. Freak had been working on me for weeks, I couldn’t control myself. I was just so… angry.”

He sat back, staring into space.

“Not your fault,” said Kir.

But in that moment, to him, it was.

“I - I should have just waited until we saw Bul, so Glibby didn’t show up, so David’s gauntlet didn’t burn his arm, so Freak didn’t get the drop on him so easily…”

Everyone got very quiet. The spilled heavybrew slipped from the table, drip, drip, dripping on Tyron’s foot. He noticed that his glass had chipped the surface where he put it down.

“Okay, I’ve got it,” said Steve, stifling a belch.

“Got what?” asked Astro.

“The words that’ll make everything okay, from earlier.”

“Oh. Okay then, philosopher, I think we all need it.”

Tyron allowed himself a bitter chuckle. Steve continued undeterred.

“Well, here’s my reasoning: despite all the stupid drama, the mistakes we made, the fights we lost, I think we’ve all been trying our best. And that hasn’t always been good enough, but we can’t change the past, and without it we wouldn’t know the bar we have to clear. So, I think the words are: ‘I’m glad I know you people. I know you’re giving it your all. And don’t worry, you don’t have to be perfect, you only have to be good enough.’ So, there.”

Steve took another swig. Tyron smiled at him. Astro furrowed his eyebrows and looked at the ceiling. Jennifer rubbed his shoulder affectionately. Shadow leaned back into the cushions with a smile. Andras stroked his beard in contemplation.

“Also,” Steve continued, turning his head to Andras. “This heavybrew stuff is great.” He turned to Shadow. “I can’t believe you and Fire have been holding out on us this long.”

“Apparently Fire shared it with Kay, at least according to Warnado, but that was before I came to Nexus. But I do wonder if the fungus the base substance is harvested from would grow in other worlds.”

Steve howled with laughter.

“Shadow, I was joking, sheesh,” he wiped a tear from his eye. “But also, thanks for the earnest response.” A pause. “I am glad I know you people.”

Tyron nodded, his faint smile becoming a wide grin as Steve’s eyes drifted closed, and his head lolled onto Jennifer’s shoulder.

“Believe me, it’s getting bad in there,” he jabbered in the tongue of the End. “Entity said the Ender tried to kill it, Claw’s still recovering. Just told us all to keep guarding the machine. That it changed nothing. Ordered in some reinforcements, but not as many as you’d think. Humans shut up, but we endfolk, we had to be smarter and keep asking questions.”

He sipped the Chorus juice on the table in front of him. His obsidian armour rattled as he did so.

“Some officers got hung up on why none of them had been appointed to succeed the Ender. Entity said it was because Claw would be better any day now. Still wouldn’t tell us where he was being treated. Entity got sick of questions, set Glibby on them…”

The enderman flinched at the memory, let out a guttural noise of discomfort.

“Only Glibby did more. Killed the officers, then told their men to smear grey goop on their scales, recognise him as the new leader. I said yes, I liked the Grey Ones - Silver and I were once brothers in battle - he was good Endfolk. Many said no. Some died. Entity just said ‘Claw will be better any day now’. Then, I ask myself, why is Freak not doing this? Why Glibby? Then I realise, Freak is scared.” He cackles. “The Entity’s pet ghost has fled. Why should I stay?”

Voidblade finished transcribing the defector’s account.

“You say they called for reinforcements? How many?”

“Don’t know. Asked Marcus to come back from campaign, and Forgelight to come back from colonies. Did not specify troop numbers.”

Voidblade grumbled and tapped his pen against the page.

“You know I did not come here out of altruism,” said the defector. “I’m here because Glibby wronged us. You are Endfolk, you know the phrase, ‘They strike one, they fight whole End?’”

Voidblade didn’t say anything. Of course he knew the phrase. His people had gotten themselves driven most of the way to extinction for that phrase.

“I won’t fight my brothers, but I’ll sell you information. I was bodyguard to a very important scientist. Her name was…” He strained out his best human impression. “Veronica Mercury.”

Voidblade jotted the information down.

“Name?”

“Steelborn.”

“Excuse me.”

Voidblade stood up and went into the next room, which looked in on the interrogation room from behind black-tinted glass. Fire and a man with a black handlebar moustache were waiting for the report. Astro paced in the corner.

Voidblade handed it to the man with the handlebar moustache because he did not speak the tongue of the End. He wiped it precisely with a handkerchief, then took it. He said very little, but Astro called him ‘Brit’. Voidblade liked him, not nearly as dramatic as most humans.

After some consideration, Brit spoke.

“Glibby doesn’t form armies. Packs of servants, fanatical drinking clubs, that’s him all over. Something’s got him spooked about whether he’ll be protected or not. Maybe Herobrine joining up has made the Silhouette reconsider his relationship with the Tower.”

And then he fell silent.

“If what the defector said is true, Freak does not have as much control over the situation as we thought. Never a bad thing to be overprepared, though.” Fire said.

“He does feed on fear,” added Astro. “Maybe he thinks he’ll be stronger if his forces are on edge.”

Fire responded: “That might be part of it, but I saw enough of him to know he doesn’t think far ahead. Overall, his fearmongering might benefit us more as a whole.”

Brit nodded impatiently, rapping on a folder hanging from his shoulder with his fingers.

“Will you be needing me further? Don’t trust the demons with my rifles.”

“No, that should be all, thanks Brit,” said Astro. “And, it should be all for you Voidblade.”

“You do not want me to ask follow-up questions?” Voidblade asked, with a glance in the direction of the door.

Fire got up from his chair. “I think it might be best if I talked to him. Directly confronting him with a walking discrepancy in what ‘the Entity’ told him should be effective. Doubly because Claw and him built some rapport.”

As Fire left the room with Astro in tow, Voidblade considered himself dismissed, and warped back up to the surface.

He stood in the entrance of the Shelter, as the sun drifted slowly past the centre of the sky. Thousands rushed to and fro. He teleported up on top of the frame of the entrance and decided to survey the preparations.

On a series of scaffolds set against the ridge, Mencur-Besh and humans darted back and forth, carrying munitions and materials through the almost-finished forms of airships. On the one directly opposite the shelter door, a human directed two of the scaled behemoths as they guided a large mechanism into place on the back, where the rudder might have been on a boat. Voidblade shuddered at the thought of a naval assault, then distracted himself with thoughts of the new machine. Apparently the Mencur-Besh had been working on airships in their own world, and had brought along an engine schematic that used some combination of redstone and glowstone, as well as “mini-pistons”, whatever exactly that entailed.

The plump man in the lilac hat and green cloak came out on the quarterdeck and sat against the railing, calling over the shoulder to the human below.

“And you’re certain this won’t affect mobility, Brad? There is a reason we normally make the rudders out of wood, after all.”

His thick eyebrows were so tightly furrowed that, from that distance, Voidblade could have sworn they were a single grey bar he was about to pull off and scold Brad with.

The Eye-and-Claws officer looked wearily up and said:

“The engine is lighter than you think, the redstone-glowstone mixture creates its own lift once heated and powered, plus the metal holds up much better under the peak forces of the mini-pistons.” He paused. “Look, I can’t guarantee anything until we get this one up in the air, but once we can confirm our design still plays nice in Nexus, there shouldn’t be problems rolling the other ones out.”

The plump man nodded but was obviously chewing on a response he reckoned would get the argument going. Voidblade got the impression this conversation had been happening twice a day for the last few days with neither gaining any ground over the other, so he didn’t see what he would really get out of it. So, as the plump man pulled off his hat and dabbed his brow with it, and Brad the engineer returned warily to his task, expecting an interruption at any second, Voidblade turned his attention to the people below the scaffolding.

He saw Urist and Steve emerging from a mineshaft, each carrying a fortune’s worth of resources. Mostly iron, some diamond. Voidblade had always been dumbfounded by the ability of humans to crawl down into the earth and tear out its riches - it this tendency that made their attacks so constant, their victories so total - but now he couldn’t help but feel relief. More swords, more armour.

They started distributing it to a series of demons who had set up makeshift forges in the open air. Then, a stern, pale man with purple tattoos came up and held out his hand, almost in accusation. Steve stopped and his eyes seemed to glaze over as this happened, and he stood there motionless until Urist laughed and pulled out a stack of obsidian.

“Ye won’t be fittin’ this in yer palm!” laughed the dwarf over the din.

Voidblade rasped jovially, then a strange wave swept over him, a sort of not-unpleasant emptiness. A few years ago, he would never have indulged such a superfluous gesture. The Enderborn had no need for laughter, they savoured wit, they did not spit it out like the humans. But now, after a few weeks of not just living beside them, but living among them, the dam was bursting, and their ways were flooding in, burning him away in the tide. Just as they had burned away his people in back home, with great floods and diamond swords. Was he wrong to mirror them, even if it was just for ease of interaction?

But it wasn’t just humanity. The Villagers, the dwarves like Urist, and even the newly arrived pigmen all seemed to act this way. Why did the endermen stand along in their laconic detachment? The only creatures that seemed to slightly mirror his own were the dragons.

He stood up and scanned the clifftops and sure enough he caught a glimpse of Glowstar swooping down, regal, and elegant, followed by the enthusiastic plummet of Brine’s pet - the fledgling enderdragon. The young one had apparently never been among his people, and kept mimicking their every move, even when it was clearly beyond his abilities. Glowstar began to pull up a long way above the people preparing below, and still Drake struggled to correct his course, managing to drift into a nearby jungle tree. The elder dragon saw this and literally roared with laughter, drawing some heads but not nearly as many as he used to with such a gesture.

That was what Voidblade meant - even the dragons engaged in these loud, crass displays of emotion. And that’s not to say he wanted to join them - he had tried every now and then to mimic human speech when alone and confident no one could hear him, and it simply felt barbaric - but he couldn’t help but wonder why they felt the need to do this.

He looked out at the fields. Entire battalions trained out there, and tents stretched as far as the sunrise. And, somewhere amidst them, Herobrine, the butcher of Voidblade’s people, or someone rather like him, roamed free as a wild beast. He thought about what would have happened if he had convinced his own people to come. Chances are, if they had even come this far, they would have seen the tents, the swords, and the airships and teleported as far away as they could. Voidblade would have done the same a few months ago. But now he wouldn’t, he would actually feel comforted. Could he bring this feeling back home? Obviously, things were different - there was the war to think about - but did they have to stay that way?

A small shower of dirt and rocks signaled the return of a party of hunters from the mountains, carrying two dead endermen with them. Kay stood at their head, flanked by two of his red-scarved loyalists. He cast an eye around the camp in an attempt at regal satisfaction, but he must not have liked what he saw, because he turned his face away and began to wipe his bloody sword off in the grass.

Beneath him, he heard some interesting chatter.

“No, I’m glad I could help you out,” said Jennifer, head bobbing like a leaf in fierce winds. “If there’s anything else I can tell you about her… um, stay in Nexus, just let me know.”

“Thank you, Jennifer,” said the one they called Clarke, one of the Remaining. “We’ll let you and Tyron know about the ceremony. Unless there is anyone else you can think of?”

“I’ll put the word about, naturally. We all owe Destiny a lot, David too. But no one specific comes to mind.”

“I’ll come,” called Kay. He straightened up and sheathed his sword. “If I’d be welcome, of course.”

“Yes, of course!” the one they called Kami cheered back. Then, in a lower voice: “Is he the prisoner she let out?”

Both Jennifer and Lupe nodded, sharing an askance look.

“Just wanted to make sure. Obviously she trusted him at least a little.”

Kay pretended not to hear and excused himself. Sensing they were about to leave, Voidblade poked his head out over the lip of the Shelter’s entrance. He locked eyes with Lupe, and before he had really thought about it, croaked:

“May I come, too?”

He hoped they didn’t ask him why. “She’s the only one who didn’t try to talk to me all the time,” would be a little difficult for the humans to understand.

“She was respectful,” tried Voidblade.

“Sure, we’ll let you know on the day.”

Their plan was to go to David’s grave, and bury a broken, golden necklace she used to wear back in her world. Voidblade had never seen it. Maybe she brought it with her and kept it secret, maybe she left it behind for a reason. That was not for them to know.

The Remaining left. Jennifer looked up at him.

“You okay up there V?”

“I am getting some fresh air.”

“Haha! You sure are, be careful up there! Need you healthy for our rematch,” she laughed.

She slipped back inside, trailing a shock of bright red hair, and Voidblade mulled over her reaction. He hadn’t been making a ‘joke’, but he had known it would make her laugh because humans laughed at incongruity and understatements. A human wouldn’t normally go up to a very high place just to get some air, ergo it must be a joke. He didn’t know that a few weeks ago. But he still didn’t feel much satisfaction from ‘cracking’ it. Not to Jennifer, at least.

Voidblade cast one eye out to those preparing. He saw Tyron, flanked by Rose on one side and Lucy on the other. Lucy - there was someone he might be happy cracking a joke at. He felt a smile creep over his face. He looked intensely at her, trying to catch her eye. Eventually she got snagged on his stare and beamed. She waved wildly and jumped up so he could see. He responded with a stiff, little jerk of the hand, as though he were wiping a dusty window so as to see through. His lips parted and he allowed himself something like a smile. He didn’t entirely feel it, but it seemed to make Lucy beam brighter still, so he reckoned it was worth it.

Beneath the flapping of dragon’s wings, the hammering of demons and airship builders, and the distant yells of warriors out on drills, Voidblade heard another noise that seemed all the more urgent - his stomach rumbled. And a very specific meal came to mind. Something he hadn’t had in far too long, and which Jennifer calling him ‘V’ had just reminded him of.

He teleported to the training room, and immediately saw who he was looking for. Warnado, the small, hooded demon child was surrounded by bullseyes and skewered meat. As Rose had instructed him, he summoned a chicken drumstick and let it fall in front of the target, then he would summon one of his luminous weapons and pin it to the bullseye.

At the far end of the training room, he could see a slight shimmer in the air, indicating Shadow had slipped into a pocket dimension to safely instruct her more advanced Coven members.”

Amanda stood off to the side, practising more conventionally with her crossbow under the supervision of a red-haired man in diamond armour.

“So, a thing I like to do is, if I’m in close quarters, shunt the weapon forward as though you’re going to hit them…” he guided her arms forward. “Then, stop! Nine times out of ten, your attacker will flinch. That’s when you shoot them.”

She repeated the motion.

“Like that?”

“Aye.”

“Thanks, I’ve been making axes work in close range, but crossbows are my hometown.”

“Well, if you ever want to visit axe country,” he twirled a chipped hand axe demonstratively. “Don’t hesitate to send me a letter. I’d best be off.”

“Thanks again, you didn’t tell me your name?”

“I’m Secret, you might know K-” He saw the look on Amanda’s face. Warnado froze up. “-Astro. I’m Astro’s friend.”

“Of course you are,” she sighed. “I’m Amanda, I’ll see you around.”

The red-haired archer walked past Voidblade with a respectful nod, chewing his lip and looking haunted.

She turned to Warnado.

“Sorry, Helix, I didn’t know who he was, he just came up and offered help. Like I knew he was one of Astro’s guys, but I didn’t know he used to be one of Kay’s.”

Warnado finished another round.

“Amanda, you don’t need to keep apologising every time you come across someone who knows him. Kay has talked a lot of crap to a lot of people, and sometimes it’s crap that makes them like him.”

He started doing stretches. Voidblade wondered if he should come back.

“Yeah, but, you know, if that’s Secret from the files-”

Voidblade remembered the rundown Astro gave the other officers ‘just in case’. Secret wasn’t actually that bad. Aside from some of the ‘contract work’ he and Kay used to do. After that he seems to have become quite respectable.

“-Kay has a type. I don’t know if he picks friendly people and makes them killers, or whether he picks killers and slaps a smiley face on them, but they’re probably not all bad. Don’t worry, I’m not going to be traumatised by their presence.”

Amanda smiled.

“And if Kay tries anything again - I already beat the Book - I’ll just give him a wedgie and that should settle things.”

He shadowboxed demonstratively. Then, his luminous, red eyes somehow lit up even further.

“Or, I’ll summon lava.”

“No.”

“Sorry-can’t-hear-you! V, my man, I know what you’re doing here! I see you sniffing around every time I’m doing accuracy exercises.”

Voidblade warped down to him and gestured to the chicken legs strewn across the room.

“May I?”

Warnado clicked his fingers and a pile of fresh chicken drumsticks appeared in the air before Voidblade. He held out his arms and hugged a considerable number to his chest, but still more spilled every which way. Seconds after the chicken, the smell cascaded down on him. There was something about the way they seasoned chicken wherever the child was summoning them from. Voidblade just couldn’t get enough of them.

“Thank you.”

“Glad to be of service, V.”

Voidblade turned and put on foot on the step, but seeing as he was reckoning with how humans were influencing his interpersonal relationships, he contemplated a risky manoeuvre. He wanted to try and be heartfelt - just to see how it worked, and because Warnado was clearly still in a pretty fragile place.

“And for the nickname.”

“Huh?”

“My nickname, ‘V’, you started it. Thank you, I like it.”

“Oh, it’s a little elementary but-”

“-Basic is good, I had not had a nickname before. It was nice to start simple.”

“You’re welcome. I mean, I could give you another?”

The child developed another improbable glow in his eyes. Voidblade realised he was about to lose control of this conversation, but the child seemed to need this. Probably. At least, Voidblade hoped the child had some emotional need for this.

“Please.”

Warnado stroked his chin, then whispered to Amanda intently, who also assumed a look of utmost focus. Finally, he concluded.

“How about V.B.?”

“Just one extra letter? Is that necessary?”

“Okay, I’ve got it.” He summoned another chicken-leg and shot another bullseye. “Veebs!”

“Definitely not,” said Amanda and Voidblade in unison.

“Veebus Apollo!” he fired this one through his legs, missing the bullseye completely but seeming completely unfazed in his enthusiasm.

“Is that a reference to something?” asked Amanda with an eyebrow cocked in Voidblade’s direction.

“Probably,” cackled Warnado. “Don’t know what, though. Sometimes words just come to me.”

The saliva building in Voidblade’s mouth became too much to bear so he started to back away. The demon-child kept pacing, firing increasingly inaccurate shots in the direction of the bullseyes.

“Blade Lively, star of Sisterhood of the Teleporting Pants!”

Amanda shot Voidblade a thumbs up and a grateful smile. Voidblade considered this a successful manoeuvre in the dangerous world of human socialising. Voidblade’s foot crossed the threshold, and he teleported away to enjoy his reward.