A/N:Hey, Ender here. I would like to thank DementedDarkness, Blueseas17, Spazington36, and Shade the Fox for reviewing or sending me an OC by PM. On with the story.
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Minecraft.
Ender's POV
I thought about Herobrine's words for a moment, before glancing at the others who were in his company and asking "Is there a more private place where we may speak? The matters that we must discuss should not be heard by those who would speak to Teloxen's allies and betray our secrets."
"The lords in my company can be trusted to keep what is said to themselves" said Herobrine "Though we must hope that Teloxen has not chosen today to listen to my goings on."
"What do you mean?" I asked "Surely he can not listen into your realm."
"He can" said Herobrine "And unfortunately, I can only blame myself for this. Shadow warned me that I should have included wards when I created my realm, but by then it was too late. The chaos had made itself known in my realm, and any wards that were put in place would simply be broken down by the chaos that remained within their boarders."
"But if he can hear what is spoken here" I said "Then what keeps him from discovering the prophecy?"
"Nothing" said Herobrine "But that does not really matter. Teloxen got his hands on a copy of the prophecy not long after it was first made."
"What?" I gasped "How?"
"Steve" said Herobrine "After he gave me the copy of the prophecy that I had, he still had one for himself. But what Shadow did not count on was that Teloxen was waiting for Steve when he returned from the Nether. When he discovered that Steve knew who he really was, he changed Steve's memories. When he did this, he found the memories of the prophecy and the copy itself. I had no way of telling Shadow about this, so he has spent all this time thinking that the secret we swore to protect was safely guarded."
"Teloxen is worse than you think Ender" said Bekka "He did a terrible thing in order to try to prevent the prophecy from occurring."
"What?" I asked, wondering what terrible deed the lord of chaos had done.
To my surprise, it was Izra who answered "You know how the prophecy speaks of a lord of stars right?"
"Yes" I said hesitantly, wondering where this was going.
"Well Teloxen accused all the lords of stars of plotting with Herobrine against him, and had them all put to death. He figures that if there were no lords of stars, then his reign was safe."
"What!?" I gasped, my shock and horror sending conflicting waves of emotion throughout my body.
"Yeah" said Izra "It was a horrible time. Battalions of Valkyrie were sent throughout the Overworld to capture all the star lords who tried to escape."
"But if there are not lords of stars left" I said "Then how can the prophecy ever be fulfilled? And if we can not do that, then Teloxen has won and we are doomed."
"We just have to hope" said Bekka "Maybe one survived somewhere, or there is another way to defeat Teloxen. You just have to get lucky."
"You do not know me very well do you?" said Herobrine "No one in my family ever seems to have any good luck, and it seems to effect those who are around us as well."
"Well then, it seems it is the perfect time for some of that lost luck to find you" said Bekka "If you help these guys out, maybe things would get better. They really could not get worse anyway."
A sound from outside the Nether fortress broke into our conversation. "What was that?" asked Izra, standing perfectly still and straining to hear any further sounds.
"I do not know" said Herobrine "But it can not be good." Turning to Bekka, he said "You just had to say that things could not get any worse didn't you. That is always when fate seems to decide that the next huge and horrible thing needs to become a part of your life."
"Whoops, my bad" said Bekka, laughing a little in embarrassment.
"I do not like this" said Demented "There are not many creatures in this realm or any other that could make a noise loud enough to be heard in here, and few of them are creatures who could be considered allies."
A crashing noise could be heard, louder than the last. The sound was quickly followed by the loud sound of breaking blocks. "What was that?" I asked.
"I have no idea" said Flare "But whatever it is, it seems like it is getting closer."
Herobrine and Demented seemed to be having a conversation that they wished to prevent the rest of us from hearing, but I could hear snatches of it whenever the block breaking sound paused for a moment. "Do you think it could be him?" whispered Herobrine.
"Possibly" said Demented "Few other things in any realm could cause this type of destruction" This last portion of their conversation occurred after the block breaking had come to a stop. They looked at us and realized that we had overheard what they were talking about. Our confused but intrigued expressions made it obvious that they were not going to be able to just say that it was nothing important and moved on.
"So what type of creature do you think it is Demented?" asked Bekka, getting straight to the point.
"Um. Well it is kind of hard to explain" he said hesitantly, glancing at Herobrine as if to encourage him to answer.
He was spared from having to figure out what to say when Jump ran into the room, panting and gasping as if he had been running from something. I had not seen him leave the room before, but then again, I had been paying more attention to what was being said than what was taking place in the room we stood in.
"What is wrong?" asked Bekka, walking over to where Jump had collapsed from exhaustion and was lying on the netherbrick floor. She crouched down, and after taking his hand, she helped him rise to his feet.
Jump managed to stay on his feet although it was clear it took all his strength to do so. "I went out to see what was causing the noises" he said. His voice as shaky as the rest of him. "And I saw this... thing. I do not even know how to describe it. It was this enormous, gray skeletal creature, but it was... different from a normal skeleton." Jump collapsed once more, and Bekka barely caught him before his head hit the floor. He appeared to be unconscious this time, and as Bekka struggled to get him into a better position to be carried, a burned patch about the size of my hand was revealed on his right side. The section of his jumpsuit had been burned away, revealing a severe burn. However, where most burns were an angry red color, this one was dark gray at the center, and the color was a progressively lighter shade of gray in areas further from the center.
"Flare, get some healing potions" said Demented, eyes rooted to the burned area "And hurry. If we do not do this fast, I do not know if jump will survive."
"Got it" said Flare, his confusion evident, but refraining from asking any questions.
"What happened" I asked.
Demented looked at me and said "He has been contaminated by the wither poison like you and your friend were, but this appears to be a much stronger version, or at least one that lasts longer. The fact that the effect has not gone away is not a good sign at all."
"But what could have caused such a thing?" I asked, hoping that he would reveal what I could tell he was hiding. It may not have been clear to the others, but after years of living with Shadow, who was an expert at hiding the fact that he was holding back information, it was not at all that difficult to tell when information was being withheld.
"I shall tell you later" said Demented, giving Herobrine an unhappy look.
In return, Herobrine gave him a sympathetic look and said "We will both tell you. Perhaps it is time for the truth to be told."
Flare returned, out of breath and carrying a few healing potions in his arms, along with some light purple ones that I did not recognize. "Whatever that thing is, it sure is fast" said Flare "I had to run at top speed to get across the walkway between here and the nearest potion workshop, and the whole time I could hear it blowing blocks out of the ground behind me."
"Hand the potions here" said Demented. Flare passed him the potions, most of which he put into various pockets of this robes. He kept out one of each type, and carefully, he removed the top of the healing potion, which looked different than the other potions I had seen.
Sensing my interest, mist said *It is a splash potion. They work only when applied to the outside of the body, where they are absorbed through the skin.*
Demented dumped the potion onto Jump, making sure that the majority of it landed on the ever growing gray patch where he had been wounded. When Jump began to stir, he opened the other potion and put it to Jump's lips "Drink" he said "It will make you feel better" Jump weakly obeyed, and soon the potion bottle was empty.
"Is it working?" asked Bekka, her face a mask of concern as she looked down at Jump's limp form.
"No" said Demented, checking the progress of the gray stain on Jump's side "It is moving too fast. All the potions did was give him a bit more time."
"What else can we do?" asked Izra.
"Not much" said Demented "Not unless you know where we can find a bucket of milk in the Nether."
"I have a bucket of milk" said Izra, pulling out a small covered bucket "I was making cake before I came here, and I had a bit extra left over."
"Hand it here" said Demented, a small light of hope showing in his eyes. Izra gave him the bucket after removing the cover of it. Demented held the bucket to Jump's lips, but when he did not drink after a few seconds, he opened Jump's mouth and poured in some of the milk. Jump swallowed weakly, and we sat there, waiting to see what would happen, barely daring to hope that Jump would be ok.
We did not have to wait long. The tiny amount of milk had a devastating effect on the gray patch of skin. It rapidly shrank, until it was about half of its previous size. After a few more sips of milk, it was gone completely, and Jump was sleeping peacefully in Bekka's arms.
"He should be fine now" said Demented.
"I will take him to his room" said Bekka.
"I would suggest that you did not do that" said Herobrine "The creature outside would not appreciate any intrusion into its territory."
"What exactly is this creature?" demanded Bekka "I am sure you know, and I am tired of you putting it off. Tell us now, or I will set the Pigmen on you"
"There is no need for that" said Demented, looking offended "I was going to tell you now anyway."
"Well get on with it then" said Bekka "We have not got all day"
"Well" said Demented "The creature who is currently trying to knock down the walls of this place and get to us is a Wither. It is a member of a species that was created, like my own species, by Teloxen."
"Wait, what?" gasped Flare "Were you aware of this?" He asked Herobrine.
Herobrine paused for a moment, then said "Yes, I was. We had decided not to tell any others about it except when it became a necessity."
"If you were created by Teloxen, then why are you allied with Herobrine" asked Izra curiously.
"Well, my people were created first by Teloxen, then he created the Withers to oversee us. Some of us did not agree with what Teloxen and the Withers wanted us to do, so we snuck away and went to Herobrine for help in resisting the powers of the others, and we have never looked back."
"So that is why some of the Wither skeletons do not listen to you" said Bekka.
"Yes" said Demented "I am sorry I did not tell you before, but I believe that it was the right choice."
When Demented had finished his story, we stood, considering what had been said. Our thoughts were interrupted by an enormous crashing noise, and the left wall of the room tumbled down, revealing a T shaped flying creature with rib-like protrusions on its lower section, and three skull-like heads spaced evenly on the top of the shape.
"Oh dear" gulped Demented "It is a Wither"
A/N:I hope that you guys all enjoyed this chapter. Now it is time for questions for the characters.
From DementedDarkness to Herobrine:Herobrine, you are a lord of the Nether, do you have more titles and also if Teloxen banished you too the Nether then why can he not
hear anything in it? he basically has powers of Notch and chaos so how is it
possile he can't listen in a realm?
Herobrine: Other titles, hm... I am an honorary lord of many mob types both in the Nether and overworld because I created them. Other than that, I would have to say lord of pranks and trickery, and lord of traitors, which is what Teloxen calls me. Teloxen can hear what happens in my realm, but he doesn't really listen much. He is not concerned with what we say there, because none of his allies are there to hear it and switch sides. Most of his listening focuses on the Overworld, where his allies could become his enemies.
Me:One note about Herobrine being banished. Notch actually was the one who banished Herobrine, although he did use a lot of Teloxen's power to do it. It was right after that when Teloxen started to pretend to be Notch instead of just influencing his choices.
From DementedDarkness to Demented: You originally had a half a white and half black mask, why was that changed.
Demented: I do not know. I guess I just decided to change it up a bit. Also I can't find my old mask. I think Jump might have "Borrowed" it.
Remember, leave any questions that you have for the characters in a review or PM them to me. If you have anything else that you would like to comment on, I would be glad to hear it, and you can leave it in a review. I hope that you have a great day, and I shall see you all next chapter. Bye! :D