A/N: Hey, Ender here, and welcome to my new story. I will be updating it once a week on the weekend like I was doing before, and I hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Minecraft
Izra's POV
Everything hurt. Even doing simple things like walking and stretching caused me immense pain. The sand was slowly taking over, and like so many things associated with Chaos magic, it was not an enjoyable process. Pulling myself shakily up off the floor and into a half siting position, I remembered back to the day that had put me into this situation. It hadn't been all that long ago, but the weight of what had happened in the time since made it seem like a long forgotten age. It had been when I was traveling with Ender, a part of her quest to overthrow Teloxen, but things hadn't gone exactly as planned. Notchie and Ender had ended up getting separated from everyone else and trapped in some deep section of the Crafter prison. To save them, I had cut a deal with Sallen, promising that I would do one thing for him in exchange for their safety. The memory of the day I had to make good on that deal was still vivid, every second of it etched permanently into my memory.
Flashback
I was sitting under a tree overlooking the prison, making sure to stay under the cover of the tall grass which obscured the gaze of anyone who would be looking up from there.
"I put your friends at the camp." I heard a voice say from the tree behind me. Startled, I looked up and saw the figure from before stretched out over several leaf blocks. "You better make good on your promise."
"I will." I assured him "What do I have to do?"
"Well its simple see," he said, jumping down and sitting next to me. As he talked, I wondered what I had gotten myself into.
Sallen gestured to a small bag he had placed in front of him. "All you have to do is stick your hand in this."
Hesitantly I reached over and grabbed the bag, opening it a bit so I could see what was inside. A single block of sand lay within, twisting gray patterns winding through the grains.
"What is this?" I gasped, its shifting pattern capturing the entirety of my focus.
"Chaos sand." said Sallen, glancing at it. "Just touch it."
I reached one hand into the bag, placing my palm just above the surface of the block. Closing my eyes, I jerked my arm downwards, bringing it into contact with the block. Sharp stabs of pain arced through my hand. Falling to my knees as I reeled in pain, I struggled to remove my hand from the block. As I moved though, the block moved with me, tendrils reaching out from it and winding around my wrist, snaking higher as I watched.
"There is no use in resisting." said Sallen "Chaos sand is not something that can be controlled by your kind. It has its own will and so only those who are true followers of Chaos have any influence over it. Even then though, it is still difficult to deal with. It you don't accept it though, it will be a much more painful process."
"But.. I can't!" I gasped, supporting myself on my one good arm, eyes locked on the sand as it climbed higher "I've got to protect my friends!"
"That's too bad." said Sallen "It would have sped up the process immensely. Now I've got to sit here and wait for it to overpower you."
While speaking in had lost track of how far the sand had progressed. Looking down, I saw that thin chains of sand had wound themselves around me. All at once, the chains tightened, driving the partials of sand deep into my skin. Screaming, I lost the strength in my arm that kept me up, dropping myself flat on the ground. This only served to drive many of the grains further into my skin. This increase in pain was too much for me. A wall of blackness engulfed me, bringing with it the bliss of unconsciousness.
When I awoke, the pain had lessened, replaced with a dull ache that pulsed through my body. Groaning, I rolled over onto my back. My eyes caught a glimpse of a blue-gray blur, and I stiffened, wondering if I was about to be attacked. After a moment of panic in which no attacked occurred, I finally got my eyes to focus enough to identify the shape. The blur resolved itself into the figure of Sallen, standing a little ways off, leaning against a tree.
"You!" I hissed. Sallen glanced over, pursing his lips in amusement.
"Yes me." he said "What of it?"
"You did this to me!" I hissed.
"You brought this upon yourself." said Sallen, walking a few steps closer "All I did was give you a choice, and in all fairness, I was just going to have you do something really stupid, like try to catch fish with your toes or something. But when Zeren found out, it was either this happens to you or I get locked up in some nasty dungeon. So if you want to blame someone, blame him."
"I don't care why it happened!" I screeched "Someone needs to be punished for it now, and you are the only one convenient."
"I didn't think it would work it this fast." said Sallen, his face showing surprise and alight concern.
"What do you mean?" I asked, taken aback by his response.
"The sand," he said "It gives powers, but it also causes personality shifts. It is an entity in itself, so you could say that it boosts a negative trait associated with Chaos kind. In your case, it seems like it is affecting your aggression, unless you would normally try to obliterate someone with a power much stronger than yours?"
"Maybe you are right." I sighed. Struggling to sit up, I noticed a faint stain of blood around me, as well as gray tinged scars that snaked across my arms and continued across my body.
"What happened?" I asked, my eyes tracing the scars, the twisting lines mimicking those that had appeared on the sand block.
Sallen bit his lip and said "The sand, um, well how much do you remember?"
"The sand had wrapped around me and started digging into my skin." I said "Tell me what happened after that."
"Well the sand forced itself into you," said Sallen "Presumably into your bloodstream. And its not like I could just leave you here to bleed to death, because if you lived then I would be hunted down." Sallen seemed to calm slightly as he focused on relaying facts rather than the emotion of the situation. "So I healed your injuries, and trust me, it was not easy. You were flailing about, and I got all scratched up trying to help." When he said this, I noticed that he has several long scratches on each arm, fresh enough that scabs were only now beginning to form.
"What am I going to do?" I whispered, placing my hands over my face. "I can't go back to the others like this." I heard a strange noise, and when I looked up, I saw Sallen brushing away a tear.
"What's wrong?" I asked, suddenly concerned as to what could make a chaos lord cry.
"Its nothing" murmured Sallen "Just not great with emotions. As for what you are going to do, I do have a way to help you, but you would have to trust me."
"What do I have to do?" I asked hesitantly, remembering how the last time I had asked that had turned out."
"Just eat this." said Sallen, holding out a small piece of bread. "Its enchanted, and it will put up an illusion spell on you to cover up your scars. It should go unnoticed, but have some kind of excuse just in case."
"Why should I trust you?" I asked, eying the item warily. "You could have poisoned it or something.
"Yes" sighed Sallen "I went through all of the trouble of saving you just so I could poison you. Are all lords really this dense?"
After that I had taken the bread without question, knowing though that it would not last forever and I would be indebted to Sallen. It hadn't mattered. All that had mattered was staying with my friends to make sure that they were okay. A decision which almost cost a friend her life.
End Flashback
Pulling myself back into the present, I pushed my palms against my eyes in a vain attempt to stem the flow of tears. The memory of what had happened in the Aether still brought tears to my eyes, even now, many months after it had happened. I had lost control there. The sand had taken over and I had nearly killed Ender. If Notchie had not known how to counteract the poison, her fate would have been much different.
After that night, the nightmares came. Present every night, yet their contents shifted. Realms burned, lords fell, wars raged. Then the worst night. The night of prophecy. A dream I had told to only one lord, and even then not in its entirety. The dream which had shown me the prophecy of the sands. Closing my eyes, I could practically see the words, that's how vividly they stood out in my mind.
When fallen lord is given power,
The world prepares for it's darkest hour.
Chaos' sand rules the lord's mind,
Presenting new goals for him to find.
The land does fall to storms of sand,
Yet some do live to make a stand.
Into another world the lord is cast,
All do hope the danger is past.
A second war does bring his rise,
And new quests lead to new allies.
Space and earth together quest,
Together facing every test.
Realmkind watch and Realmkind fear,
Forbidden to help when danger's near.
One lord per realm does break the rule,
In secret they help them keep their cool.
When final fight does come one day,
To bring him down there's but one way.
If to save a friend lord you do desire,
It must be done with the power of fire.
Lords shall change and realms shall bend,
Those called enemies now called friend.
And with the fall of sand a new order shall rise,
One which shall hasten chaos' demise.
But listen well to all who hear,
Many wish to kill all things they fear.
Yet balance is required in every place,
And those who lack shall find defeat in whatever they face.
The prophecy that spelled out my fate, that told the terrors I would do. And judging from the progress of the sand, it would not be far off. Every time I used my powers, the consequences were worse. I would pass out randomly, falling into a restless sleep, only to be awoken by terrible pain. The night I received the prophecy was the night I finally accepted Sallen's offer. An alliance to take down Zeren when he deemed the time was right. I wanted to ensure I was able to accept as myself. For when the sand took hold, it was Israphel who was present, not me. And I wanted to make Zeren pay for what he had forced upon me. For forcing me to attack my friends and ultimately into this situation in the first place. But most of all, the alliance gave me some time, not matter how short , to try to protect my friends before the sand took permanent control.
The sound of the door opening caused me to look up, revealing Teloxen silhouetted in the doorway, the light of the hallway pouring into my darkened room. Teloxen had been allowed out of the prison a few days after Zeren had disowned him, but the experience had broken him partially, and even after this time his shattered heart was just starting repair. His wings had finally been cleared of the infections that had plagued him since Zeren had mangled them, thanks to constant tending by Sallen. No one ever dared to say it, but we all knew that if Zeren ever found out, the same thing that had happened to Teloxen would probably happen to Sallen. Both Rayko and Teloxen had reluctantly accepted membership to our alliance for protection. I hoped these extra members would give our alliance a better chance of success when Sallen determined it was time to act.
"Are you okay?" Teloxen asked, helping me to my feet.
"As well as you can expect" I sighed "What did you need?"
"Sallen asked us if we could meet him in his lab" said Teloxen "Don't know why though."
"Might as well go now" I sighed, heading to the doorway "It's not like I've got better things to do."
A/N: I hope that you guys enjoyed this first chapter. As always, reviews are greatly appreciated and I read them all. Also, you should all go check out the Yogscast's new song "Moon Quest: The Epic Journey". Even if you don't watch their series' it is an inspirational stand alone song. If you have any questions for the characters, they can be left in a review or PM'ed to me. I hope you have a great day and I shall see you all next chapter. Bye! :D