Destruction Among Us

Chapter Nine

A loud crash echoed throughout the abandoned building. "Be quiet!" Ssundee hissed behind him. Husky chuckled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck, slowly walking away from a fallen chair. Ant smirked and rolled his eyes, continuing to move forward with a slight limp.

It had been two weeks since the battle with Herobrine and Faye's passing. Ant had healed, only slightly limping from his injuries. At first, they had all been worried for some people's mental health, considering the fact they all lost several people. They later found out that Noah had a mental breakdown, or any that a seven year old could.

Ssundee and Noah had become a lot closer in the past weeks and could rarely be seen without the other. Jerome had become a lot clingier lately, talking to everyone about more sentimental things. He was obviously affected more than the others—not to mention Mitch had become more protective of him.

The seven of them had finally gotten prepared enough to return to their old village's library where Faye said there was a book. They were sneaking around, hoping to keep quiet and not attract hostile attentions. They had been searching the nearly empty bookcases for half an hour now and had no luck.

"Sky, are you sure she didn't tell you where the book was?" Mitch asked, placing a book on the ground.

"I don't remember man, it was a while ago," Sky replied, blowing dust off a book. He sneezed and rubbed at his nose.

"Oh, I found something!" Jerome exclaimed from across the room. Mitch walked over to his side and looked over his friend's shoulder. Jerome brushed off the worn book cover, reading out the title. "The Corpse."

"Oh, I remember! Faye used to read that book a lot!" Ssundee exclaimed from his spot, rushing over to take the book from Jerome. He opened the front cover and read what was there. "Turn to page 34." He did as it said and found a small note there. "Look in the book called A Dreamer's Wish."

"I just saw that one!" Husky shouted, jumping over a pile of books, tripping, sending books flying before falling into a pile and groaned. He lifted a book out from under him, "Found it." Jason rolled his eyes and walked over to get the book Husky was holding up. He opened the cover and flipped through the pages, stopping when he found a letter confined in an envelope. He removed the letter and began to open it.

"What's it say?"

Jason cleared his throat and began reading from the letter. "It's that time now, huh?

"If you boys are reading this, or anyone is reading this then it must mean I told you where to find this letter. If I never told you, then you have to be good at finding things.

"If I am with you while you read this then I forgot the coordinates to the portal, and if I'm not, then I'm probably dead and it's time to take down Herobrine. But, let's get on with what I actually have to tell you.

"When I turned seventeen, I went out on a small journey—or at least it was supposed to be a small journey. I had left Ssundee with Sky and Ant's family so I could go out in search of more silver, what I didn't expect was to stumble upon a stronghold. I wandered that forgotten place for what seemed like days. I placed torches everywhere and found an ancient library inside it. I found so many forgotten items that you can't find anywhere in the world. I was fascinated by the stronghold that I didn't expect to one day find the End Portal.

"This portal was already activated, as if someone had already been there. I studied the portal, making sure I knew what caused it to form and many other things. But one day, while I was inspecting the Ender Eye's in the keyholes, I was pushed inside the portal and entered the End.

"I was transported to an obsidian platform underground. There was already a staircase built upwards to the surface, and I followed it. Around the End Stone were several Endermen and Obsidian Towers with glowing balls on top of them. There was a screech above me and a dragon blew past me, knocking me to the ground. I had stood to stare at the dragon in awe. I had never seen one before and it amazed me. I didn't try to fight the dragon—and he didn't attack me back. I had decided to do research on it to bring back home.

"I built a base up in the sky and several times the dragon came to destroy it, but I continued on. I was careful not to look at the Endermen but they watched me with curiosity. When it seemed as though days passed—which was only a few hours—I had run out of food to keep my exhaustion away. I had to resort to eating the Golden Apples I had found inside the stronghold. But when I took one from my pack, the dragon appeared before me, tilting its head in curiosity, like that of a dog.

"I watched it shortly before offering the Golden Apple to the dragon, which took it and ate it happily. He became like a giant, flying dog. He had even licked my face like a dog and allowed me to ride on top him—I had even given him a name, Elliot. It was amazing, to actually be able to fly even if it was a short time. I knew I had to get back home to everyone—but the End, it was peaceful, without any of the fighting and wars. But the day I was going to try and find a way out, he appeared.

"He had shown up out of nowhere, flying down from the purple sky. His wings reminded me of the Enderdragon's, his red eyes cold and piercing through my very being. I had at first thought it was Endless, the ruler of the End, but he said he wasn't when I asked him. He told me that Endless was his father and he had been watching me for the time that I had been there. He had asked me how he knew that the Enderdragon's one weakness was someone that treated him with kindness and gave him a treat. I only told him that I thought everyone needed a bit of kindness in their lives.

"When I asked for his name he told me it was Deadlox. He said that while he was watching me, he wanted to know more about me. His plan was to keep me there—so that he could learn about the beings outside of the dimension he resides in. I had even met his friend Seto the Sorcerer. Seto was the one that came through the portal before me, but didn't have the heart do destroy a magnificent dragon as the only way to return home. Seto was over hundreds of years old, as was Deadlox because, you don't age in the End.

"I spent a few days with Deadlox and Seto, telling them about the Overworld, but I knew that I had to leave soon. They told me the only way out was to kill Elliot, but I couldn't. They said there was another way, but wouldn't tell me when I asked. Neither of them wanted me to leave.

"I told them I had to go back, that I had a younger brother waiting for me. They had refused, but I promised to return the next year. Deadlox was stubborn about it and refused to allow me to leave, claiming that I was his. Seto convinced him otherwise. They created a portal for me to go back after I promised to visit again.

"I had gone back several times before, making up excuses that I wanted to search for lost treasures. On my eighteenth birthday, I had gone to the End a total of seventeen times. When I got there again, Deadlox claimed that he had fallen in love with me during my visits. I didn't want to tell him that I had as well, but he kept bugging me about it. I had continued going back and eventually I did tell him, but nothing much happened.

"I had to stop returning to the End because the paranoid people in our village were becoming suspicious every time I disappeared with no real explanation. That was the year Ssundee and his friends all turned twelve. And that finishes the story of so long ago.

"But that is only the beginning. I know that Deadlox's power is the only power that can hold up against Herobrine's, especially if he keeps gaining more power over the years. Spies sent to the Underworld—the ones that would come back—told us that Herobrine was coming up with new armies to fight us. I wrote this note soon after that and left the coordinates to the End Portal in its confinements.

"Whoever is reading this, please, you have to convince Deadlox to come to the Overworld and fight on our side. It's time Herobrine is taken down and only the person that has the portal's coordinates will find him.

"When you reach the portal and enter it, give the Enderdragon a golden apple and call him Elliot, see if he responds. If he does, tell him that Faye sent you and go get Deadlox. Please, you have to stop Herobrine once and for all!

"Faye."

When Jason finished reading the letter, the others were in shock. Sure, they remembered Faye leaving for certain amounts of time, but thought nothing of it. They trusted Faye and didn't think she was up to anything. "Never in a million year would I have thought that Ms. Faye had found an End Portal," Ant said, breaking the silence.

"We have to go there," Ssundee said, his face determined. He took the letter from Jason and turned it over. "The End Portals' coordinates are on the back."

"But what about—"

"I don't care, we have to go there and stop Herobrine like Faye wanted us to from this letter," Ssundee told them. "If you don't agree with me, then I'll go by myself."

Sky sighed, looking at the letter in his friend's hands. "It's what Ms. Faye wanted, wasn't it?" He grinned at Ssundee and stuck his hand in the middle. "For Ms. Faye." The others agreed one at a time, all putting their hands on top of Sky's, grinning.

"For Ms. Faye!"