Prologue
Jay sighed, leaning back against the bed. Today was one of his rare moments of peace, and one of the few that didn't include a visit from Polaris. He knew the Enderdragon was worried about him. Sometimes, she seemed to be the only one to really remember his existence. Jordan and the other humans would stop by on the rare occasion to invite him to join them in their ventures, but he always turned them down. He'd been pranking Tom less and less, too.
Recently, the Overworld didn't seem like fun. But he stayed – because he promised her that he would. He promised her that he'd live happily, and he was trying so hard to do that for her. He was probably succeeding less than Jace was, though, and that was saying something. Jace had taken over Lara's job at trying to micromanage everything the Mianitees did or needed.
"Laying down, I see. Just like you did when I died," a voice noted aloud.
Her voice.
He growled to himself, closing his eyes. "Shut up, you damned liar. You aren't Lara."
She probably smirked at him. He was sure she did. This… thing always wore a smirk when he said anything to it. It had hurt, at first, to see it. To say her name. He had thought that it really was her, until recently, when it began blaming him.
But, at the back of his mind, there was always a small part of him – growing larger and larger with every time he saw the thing – that made him question if he was right, or if it really was Lara, angry over her death. Blaming him for her death.
Hadn't it been his fault…?
If not for him, she would—
"Yeah, tell yourself that, coward," it said.
Jay could feel his body beginning to shake with pent up rage. How dare this thing look like her. How dare it! How dare it make a mockery of her memory, and torment him like this? Didn't it understand that he felt guilty enough? That he blamed himself?
"Shut up," he shouted, voice powerful enough to cause the foundation of her cabin to start to tremble and the shadows along the walls and floor to lengthen, feeling beckoned by their new master.
It laughed at him. "You know, this is all your fault. You could easily shut me up. You just don't want to."
"Fuck. You," he growled as he turned himself away from it. He faced the wall and covered his ears with the pillow that over the course of the last few months had lost her smell. It was one of the few heartaches he had left to get past.
"You would like to, I'm sure," it purred.
He shook his head. "I would like for you to shut the fuck up."
It chuckled at him. "Oh, Jay... If only you'd let me. I'd much rather be dead and gone than babysitting you from the afterlife."
"You're not her, ghostly bitch. Say anything else and I'll smack your wispy ass."
"Denial is a pitiful, awful thing. Why do you always doubt me?"
"Because you're not the woman I fell in love with."
He sat up, swatting at the incorporeal form. It was made of some sort of smoke or mist, which dispersed at his touch only to return to the same, heart-wrenching appearance. Standing over him, looking unamused and frustrated, was Lara. Her wings were damaged, as they had been when he'd last seen her. Her robes were as pristine as ever. Her hair was neat. The only difference was that her eyes were darker and colder, lacking life and light, and her body was bordering transparency. It was a horrible reminder of her last moments.
The ghost sighed at him, sounding exhausted and angry. "You know you'll just call me back, but I suppose I can humor you. Give us both a break."
As it vanished, Jay let out another scream. This was not the first time it had visited him; he doubted it would be the last. The ground around him cracked dangerously, causing the cabin to quiver again and dust to fall from the rafters. The building was no longer as neat as it had been with its previous occupant, but Jay couldn't bring himself to leave it. It was the only thing he knew that was left of her.
"Dammit," Jace growled as he entered. Jay was sure he had taken the time to knock, but he hadn't paid it mind. "You're going to decimate the hillside if you continue."
Jay looked up at him and noticed that he crossed his arms. His wings twitched and his tail flitted about angrily behind him. Jay wasn't sure how it had happened, but Jace's wings had gone from their previous black to a brilliant shade of red. They'd only been that way since he'd gotten free of whatever Netherian prison Lara had put him into to protect him.
Jace growled at him, clearly exhausted from trying to take over Lara's job. "Who are you even having a shouting match with? I could hear you all the way back at Nade's house," he demanded.
"It's… It's someone. It's not Lara, but it looks like her," Jay answered, desperate for Jace to give him a look of anything but the displeased disbelief that he was currently offering. "He looks like her, dammit!" He put his head in his hands, sighing.
For a moment, Jace was silent. He sighed and walked over, placing a hand on Jay's shoulder in what Jay knew was an attempt to be comforting. He knew it was hard on Jace, too. Jace had lost his sister. His lifetime companion. His playmate.
Jay had only lost the love of his life.
"Jay—" Jace cut himself off, clearly believing what he was going to start to say was wrong, and then he continued, "Kid, move on already. There's no one here. Lara's… Lara's been dead for months. The only one making you see her is yourself." He reached up and prodded Jay's temple with a finger, as if doing so would accentuate his point.
Jay shoved his hand away. "Dammit, Jace. That's not it! Something is going on…" Jace rolled his eyes and left, silent the entire while.
Jay clutched the bed, listening as the ground began to crack again. He knew Jace was right. Over the last few months, his 'fits' had caused earthquakes – and if he didn't calm down, another one was going to be on the way. Tom's house had laughably taken the brunt of the quakes. It had already racked up a hefty fine of diamonds for the Wizards with how often it needed rebuilding.
Wasn't this what Lara had wanted, though?
"I suppose you'll have to remember to blow up Tom's house for me."
That was what she had told him to do, right?
He was only doing what she wanted and embracing destruction.
He belonged to chaos.
The ghost appeared again at his side, as if beckoned forth by his thoughts of her. It – she – clicked her tongue at him chidingly. "Or maybe," she sing-songed, "I'm your own pretty little creation. Created by your powers taking and twisting mine, turning them into something horrible. You do bring trouble, don't you, Jay? You break everything you touch."
He kept his eyes low, not wanting to look at her. "Destroy everything," he agreed, rocking himself slowly. The shadows moved back and forth, bending to follow him like greedy, hungry sharks. Or like loyal pets waiting to comfort and soothe their disturbed master.
Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see a devious smile cross her face. It was a foreign expression, but like she had suggested, maybe his powers had taken his and twisted them. Maybe she was angry. Maybe this ghost of her was just his punishment for letting something pure and wonderful die.
She leaned in closer to him and settled a hand on his arm, whispering in his ear, "Why don't you go and visit some of the others? Try not to break them, though. Mortals are fragile little things. I would hate to see any of them broken, even a little. You'll do that for me, you won't, Jay?"
I'll do anything for you, Lara, he thought. If it makes you smile, I'll do it.
He raised his head slowly. "Broken," he confirmed.
He sunk into the shadows and reappeared outside of Tom's house. The night was rising. He felt extremely powerful. Perhaps more than he had even in the last few months, or in an existence of nights. Part of him knew he should question the amount of power he felt, but it was too much to focus on. He had to focus on other things. Like Tom.
"Mate, you better? My house safe?" Tom joked as he noticed Jay. He offered a sigh of relief.
Jay wondered why.
"No one is safe," he growled, vaguely aware of the strange, almost layered tone his voice held, like multiple people were speaking his words.
Tom narrowed his eyes and reached around his back for the sword Jay knew was settled there. "Mate? You alright there?"
"Yes, I can see clearly. I can see ahead. Chaos. Death. By my hands," he muttered in return.
Tom hesitated, moving his hand away from the sword and to his chat-pad. Jay was sure his intention was to message his friends. The Mianitees who had left him and allowed Lara to die. Or perhaps Tom was just worried about his silly little house and the debt he owed to the Wizards. Jay knew Tom had begun storing his things elsewhere. Jace had told him that much during an earlier visit.
"Whoa, calm down there, Jay. You're speakin' nonsense," Tom said.
Jay shook his head. "Not nonsense, Tom. I speak the truth." He stepped forward and cracks spread along the ground underneath his feet, spider-webbing out as he moved closer to Tom. "Everything comes to an end, Tom. Sometimes, you have to bring it faster."
With every step he took forward, Tom took two back. "What's gotten into you?"
Jay laughed. Even to him, his laughter sounded deranged. Insane. "Tom, I think it's more like who has gotten into me."
"What?" Tom asked.
The ghost appeared, sitting atop a branch in one of the trees nearby. "Now, now, shh," she scolded, "don't tell him too much. His fragile, little mind may not understand. You wouldn't want to ruin him forever, Jay. He'll be no fun then."
Jay sighed. "I… Nothing. Point is, you're going down."
He noticed Tom glance up and knew that in any second, the others would arrive.
"And here comes the cavalry, charging down to save him. Wouldn't want them to think you're the villain, would you," the ghost suggested.
Jay frowned. "Yeah, suppose not," he replied. When Tom raised a brow, clearly unaware that the ghost was there and Jay was responding to it, Jay ignored him.
He turned his attention back to Tom as he heard the others getting closer. "Sorry 'bout your house, man."
"Um… yeah, man," Tom offered, stance rigid. Jay knew he wasn't expecting an apology. "It's fine. I can fix it…"
"Good, good. It won't happen again, will it, Tom?" Jay said with a false smile plastered on his face. Once Tom nodded, Jay started off, managing to hear a bit of the conversation before he got out of earshot..
"He's got to get ahold of himself," Jace said. "With how he's acting and how much damage he's doing, he's going to tear the Overworld apart."
"And me with it, Mate," Tom added.
A/N: Welcome back to the main story series! I just edited this last night. I'll probably be editing the chapters a night in advanced for each one so I don't lose track of which chapter is which.