PART XI: OUT OF DARKNESS, PART II

Gasping for breath, I burst into my small bedchambers. My pack was sprawled on the bed, open and with its contents spilling out. I lunged for it, snatching it up to quickly and letting several of the contents fall out. I rummaged through it urgently, until my fingers brushed the smooth leather cover. Seizing the ancient tome, I flew out of the room, the Book of Notch in hand.

Several passageways later, I slowed and bent back to try and ease the stitch in my side. It was cooler in the fortress, but the Nether was still bloody hot. I wore out pretty fast down there. Absently, I flipped through the silky age-worn pages, glancing over the blue-inked text as I walked.

It occurred to me suddenly that this text wasn't exactly identical to the Book of Herobrine. Stopping completely, I took a closer look. Before, I had assumed they were in the same language, and both had frustrated me equally with their illegibility in my untrained eyes. Now I'd seen more of the language, and it seemed like there were differences. I didn't have the Book of Herobrine to reference again, but here and there were shortened words, and slightly less neat characters that I hadn't seen before.

Interesting.

Stowing the book in the only empty slot in my inventory, I rushed along to the throne room. Hopefully, Herobrine could read it. If not- well, that's why I got excited about the blue ink. Some way or another, we would read this book. We would have our answers...I hoped.

Crashing through the double doors and sending a squad of guards scattering, I entered the throne room to find Herobrine lounging in his throne, with Dragon standing to his side down the dais. Out of breath again, I loped up the runner rug and produced the Book of Notch, slapping it into Dragon's awaiting palms. He in turn handed it over to Herobrine.

Herobrine turned over the cover and smoothed back the end-pages, stroking the ancient leafs absently. I watched his eyes slide over the text, and his brow furrow.

"This won't do at all," he mused. Dragon looked up at him.

"Uh, come again?" He asked, and Herobrine looked up suddenly and resettled his focus on us. He abruptly snapped the book shut.

"I can't read it," he said bluntly. I sighed- a gesture lost in my panting. Of course. Things were never that easy. Ever. Hadn't I learned that by now?

"So, We're going to have to go up to..." Dragon began.

"The Temple." I finished, straightening, my breathing slowing down. "I thought the two Books were in the same language, but I guess not. How unreadable is it?" I asked, addressing Herobrine directly. He opened the Book again to a random page.

"Well," he said, gesturing in the air, "I can pick out a word here and there, and get the general meaning of one or two sentences in a chapter, but it would take me at least a weak to properly translate this. I believe this was written some time after my exile. A long time, in fact. The author was probably a Villager of the Temple village. It looks like mortal handwriting, and it's in a sort of shorthand I can't understand. Highly simplified and altered from the original high language. "

"So, basically," Dragon cut in, "It'll take to long to let you at it, so we go to the Overworld and use the beacon light. If that will work that is..." he trailed off, gesturing for confirmation. Herobrine nodded.

"The ink is old, but it should still work in the beacon light. You were right Huntress, you will be able to use the beacon to read this."

"So we go!" Dragon clapped his hands and began to turn away.

"Not so fast, young one," Herobrine interrupted. Dragon stopped in his tracks and turned back, his face blank.

"Just Huntress and me for this one." he said. I blinked.

"What?" Dragon and I said at the same time. Herobrine stood.

"It is exactly as I said," Herobrine said. "I will only be taking Huntress to the surface world." Dragon stood there stunned for a moment. Looking at him, I could tell he was getting ready for an outburst. His eyes were turning a very dark, dark blue.

Herobrine caught his gaze before the protest began, and I watched something pass between those smouldering white eyes and those stormy blue ones. Dragon backed down ever so slightly and seemed to deflate.

"We've already discussed this, Dragon. You cannot protect her. I will explain further at the portal." Herobrine's voice was colder than I had heard in a while. Dragon nodded, but his entire body still thrummed with tension. Not good.

"Uh," I piped up, nervous and impatient, "Are we going to go anytime soon?"

Both of them shot me razor looks. I cringed and shrank back, unsure of exactly what I had just interrupted. Oh, heck, what was I supposed to do?

Suddenly, Herobrine's expression lightened up. He gave a sharp bark of laughter that made me jump. I had expected an angry outburst instead, or worse, one of his cold looks. Instead, Herobrine stepped down off the dais, handed the Book of Notch back to me, and, still chuckling, looked me in the eye with a more cheerful demeanor.

"Well," Herobrine began more calmly, "If this courageous young Steve here wants to be off, who am I to argue?" At that, he turned and walked right between Dragon and I and past, waving open the doors of the throne room before him. "I have a few preparations to make," he called as he went, then paused right in the doorway. "Be ready at the portal within the hour." He breezed out of the hall.

Dragon, still fuming with tension, had the good grace to lighten up then. A sudden bemused expression possessed his features as he looked from me, to the doorway, and then back to me.

"Now I know where that came from," Dragon sighed to himself, and turned and started out of the chamber in a very Herobrine-ish fashion.

"What?" I asked, and when I realized he wasn't responding, hurried after Dragon. "Where did what come from? Dragon?"

All I got from him was humorless laughter.


"You promised to explain. I'm not letting you go without explaining."

Herobrine tensed, his eyes flaring at Dragon's steady gaze, but I noticed them fade just a tad bit. He reluctantly backed off. With a disgusted sigh, he pushed his hair back from his face with one hand and coldly met Dragon's eyes once more.

Dragon, Herobrine, and I were standing a ways down the path from the portal, nearly ready to go. Herobrine was swathed in a black cloak with his diamond pick resting in a sling over his back. I stood armored in black obsidian- the same as was provided by the dragon of the End. I disliked its origins, but...I couldn't deny how much better it fit than the diamond I had. Or how much stronger it was. The black sword rested at my hip, ready for a quick draw should the need arise.

"It's too dangerous for you." Herobrine hissed through clenched teeth. He threw up his hands to stop Dragon's outraged retaliation, catching the fist before it met his face. Herobrine's fingers tightened around Dragon's hand, and I watched as Dragon's stubborn expression began to twist in pain. I watched as he tried to hide it. Dragon swore and tried harder to get at Herobrine.

"You slimy little piece of-"

My hand landed heavily on Herobrine's shoulder. Surprised, he turned to look at me, but I didn't return the look. I was focused instead on Dragon. His eyes widened as he realized how far he was going, and with as much dignity as he could muster, he jerked his fist away from Herobrine's hand. I closed my eyes and let out a slow breath.

"Dragon," I said gently, looking back at him with a softer expression, "Please. Just let him explain. One way or another, I have to get the Book to the Temple." He didn't move. "Please."

Dragon gave me a look of betrayal that twisted my heart. With a blank expression, he slowly nodded and backed off. I looked away. Herobrine, making an effort to be discreet, carefully brushed my hand off his shoulder and calmly addressed Dragon.

"As I said before," he began, "it is simply too dangerous for you to come. This is for more than one reason." Dragon looked between me and Herobrine incredulously.

"How can this be?" he asked, clearly struggling with his temper. "I am both the oldest and best fighter of all the Steves. What she", pointing at me, "can't handle, I still can." Herobrine gave him a strict, I-don't-believe-you look. (He had fought us both, after all. He would be able to judge the better. Looking back, I'm kind of flattered.)

"Seniority and skill are not the issue at hand. The danger all along has not been in physical monsters or untrustworthy terrain. Think Dragon! You're smarter than that!" Taking a deep breath, Herobrine paused to recollect his own dignity. Holding out a hand, he began to tick off on his fingers all his points.

"First, familiarity of terrain. Who, out of all the Steves, has traversed the Temple grounds the most? Huntress, of course, because of all the questing she's been doing to save her Overworld. Second, numbers. Two are harder to spot and track than three. Thirdly, Huntress is the most skilled at evasion of the enemy. She's the Huntress, after all! Make no mistake as to why she chose the name she has.

"And the fourth and final point, Dragon," Herobrine said in a less severe tone of voice, "is this. Huntress and I have one thing in common- we have both been exposed to the Enemy's full power. Because of this, we have a sort of immunity. Even if he can still overtake us, we can fend him off for much longer than you or any of the others can, and we would have a much greater chance of escaping back to safety. Do you see now? Do you understand?"

Dragon, thoroughly defeated, nodded and looked away.

"I understand," Dragon acknowledged, his voice dull and gravelly. I almost cried with relief. "But I don't have to like it." He looked me dead in the eye.

"Take care, Huntress." I smiled weakly, unable to respond with words. Dragon was giving me a look of sincere worry that made my heart clench hard. Herobrine silently urged me towards the active portal behind us.

"And Herobrine," Dragon called as he walked down the path. Herobrine and me turned. "I swear to Notch, if she comes back hurt again..." Dragon left the rest unsaid.

Herobrine chuckled darkly to himself as we came to the portal. I turned and glared at him.

"You're not just going to shrug him off like that, are you?" I warned, but Herobrine was already shaking his head.

"Oh, no," he said, in a slightly more somber tone, "I'm taking that threat quite seriously." We stepped up into the portal.

"Notch knows he'll do anything to protect you," he muttered as we faded into the whorls.


The rain was stopping. That was the first thing I noticed when we emerged into the Overworld. The clouds, which had been almost completely black when I had seen them last, were now pale grey. The rain still misted down, but it was nothing like the deluge it had been before. Herobrine took notice too, and swore under his breath.

"It isn't lasting half as long as I was expecting," he muttered. "We're running out of time." I wrapped my cloak over my armor and nodded glumly, pulling up the hood. We picked our way across the knee-deep mud in silence.

The Book of Notch was clutched tightly in my hands the entire way, and as soon as my feet hit the solid ground of the Temple steps, I stepped faster, urging my tired legs into a run. Shaking my damp hair, I undid the ties and let my dripping cloak slide off onto the floor. Free of its weight, I fell into a dead sprint, bursting through the double doors at full tilt. Herobrine was close behind.

Boots squealing, I slid to a stop just before the beacon and pulled the lever with shaking hands. The beacon activated, shooting a beam of pure white light into the sky and bathing the sanctuary in an ethereal glow. I vaulted back over the altar and dropped the Book of Notch onto the polished surface, opening to a random page. The blue text, just as it had in The Book of Herobrine, shimmered and spun until it organized itself into lines of text I could read.

In the early days of the World, Herobrine, called our Helper, still walked among the peoples of the glorious Overworld made by Notch...

Shaking my head, I flipped further into the volume. Too early in time. I kept flipping past scenes of creation and Steve history until I passed the Fall of Herobrine.

Then Notch cast him down into the abysses called the Nether, for he could not remain in the Overworld for his black deeds. Herobrine cursed the Creator...

I skimmed the page, looking desperately for any account of the Dragon. Only a page or two later, I wasn't disappointed.

Saith the Creator Notch, 'Alas, that this should come to have passed. My brother is lost to me and may never return, and my people are scattered in fear.'

To which the Shadow mocked, 'You are weak! You see now that these ideas of goodness and life are lies. All things will fall into Shadow, and the Shadow shall consume all. Yet you mourn them as a loss. You are a fool! It was inevitable'

Notch ordered the Shadow, 'Be silent! Upon this Creation of mine is power and glories thou can never understand. Out of the Void it was wrested, and separate from the Void it shall for ever be.'

To the broken Creation saith Notch, 'Let a new creation rise from the dust of the old. No more does the Steve race reign over this world, only the chaos of the Shadow. From the good earth of the Overworld shall come a new people, My people, and they shall be seen as the people of old but revered with a new fervor. They are my children, and to the Overworld, my Guardians.

'Let the new race arise in humility and be exalted, able to suffer the pain of death and yet immortal. They will live and learn, and be creators themselves after the image of my brother's people. They will have power over this Shadow of the Void. Stewardship of the Overworld is theirs, and their sword will be my holy light. They shall be the weapon that smites back the Shadow and scatters it into oblivion forever.'

To which the Shadow replied, 'I laugh at your blindness! All things will fall to Shadow. This new race will be no different. They, too, will suffer and die, and die again and again until they fall just as your Brother, called Herobrine, fell to me. You and your own shall not last. Only the Void is forever.

Herobrine touched my shoulder, snapping me out of the lull of the reading. I was about to say something when he held one slender finger to his lips. I looked at him confused, and he gestured for me to listen. I closed my eyes. It was quiet in the Temple, there weren't any threats nearby...

It was too quiet in the Temple.

The rain had stopped.

My eyes widened as I realized this. But looking around, I sensed no danger. I looked pleadingly at Herobrine.

"We still have time," I began, and Herobrine nodded.

"But not much," he replied. "Hurry. We may be getting visitors soon." I nodded and he turned away, unslinging his pickaxe from his back and spinning it in his grip. I turned back to my reading, skimming down the page.

The Shadow took the form of a stormcloud, meaning to rend the world to pieces by wind and flashing lightning. But Notch calmed the tempest and blew the Shadow out to the seas, and the storm blew harmlessly over many waters.

'I will boil the seas!' the Shadow shouted. 'I will break the earth and the waters will flow away into the Void!' But Notch again smote his powers down and kept harm from touching a single stone of the Overworld. At last, the Shadow took its most powerful form, a great Dragon, and began to battle Notch with its full power. Notch fell back against the Shadow's fury, but not to retreat.

A wheel of stars was summoned to the hands of the Creator, and with it, he caught and held the Shadow. But even as the Shadow fought and strained, it laughed at the creator's face.

'Fool!' The Shadow saith to Notch. 'Even as I am drawn to the End and unto the Void beyond, I yet have an army! I have taken this End, this place beyond all places, this plane below all planes! I shall grow strong again and return, in greater power, to destroy all and prove to you it is hopeless!'

Notch replied, 'Never shall you do again what you have done! The waters of the earth shall repel you and all that you touch!'

Again the Shadow saith, 'I will boil away the seas! Even the waters shall fall into the Void, where they will become one with me!"

Notch said to the Shadow, 'Look! You have lost. See, now, a new race is rising from the ashes of the old. By the power of my holy light, they shall smite you, by my gifts you shall be struck down. Now begone!'

And the shadow fell through the wheel of stars, and was no more. The wheel of stars fell into three parts, and the nine spokes into nine hundred shining orbs like eyes, which were scattered and lost across the world...

"Huntress!"

Herobrine's shout startled me into standing. I whirled around to see the first ranks of Endermen advancing into the sanctuary. There was the sound of teleportation just behind me...

I yelped sharply and ducked just as an Enderman made a swipe at me. The long claws whooshed only a fingerbreadth over my face- but I wasn't the target. The Enderman swept up the Book of Notch and tried to make itself scarce. I screamed in total denial and the black sword simply appeared in my hand with how fast I'd drawn it. I lunged at the creature with all my strength, slamming into it's mottled body and stabbing visciously.

"Not today, you jerk! " I snarled, kicking the body away and letting it vanish into white mist. I reclaimed the Book of Notch and stowed it safely away into my inventory.

Multiple Enderman came screaming my way. Without an escape rout, I leaped over the altar and ducked down, letting the first of the group whack itself soundly on the solid diamond blocks. As it doubled over, I swung my sword up and over, taking its head off cleanly and then lashed out, letting the tottering body entangle its companions before it disappeared. Leaping after the headless Enderman, I stabbed and swung without mercy, clearing away a path big enough for me to get through.

We had to get out. Now.

Resolving to myself to figure out the answers later, I hacked my way to Herobrine, nearly tripping several times in my haste. An Enderman's claws raked across my face, halting my progress long enough for me to be surrounded. Blinded, I desperately fought to break through the dark wall of bodies. Several more claws found their way past my armor, and dozens more skittered dangerously close on the obsidian surfaces.

Something smashed though the wall and made an opening large enough for a hand to reach through and pull me out. Herobrine swung his pick again, crushing an Enderman to its knees under the heavy blow, and kicked hard to send it reeling backwards and dying into the boiling fray. Hefting the pick up onto one shoulder, he used the other to support me and pull me further away, fleeing full-out from the Ender army.

"Thanks," I gasped, blinking and trying to shake blood out of my eyes. The cuts across my forehead and cheek were pretty deep, and they stung fiercely.

"Save it," Herobrine replied just as briefly, kicking open the sanctuary doors to allow our passage. The doors boomed shut, halting our pursuit. For a moment.

I had enough time to pull off of Herobrine and right myself before more Endermen teleported into the hallway. One came in too fast for me, knocking me back with a hard punch to my face. I felt a sickening crack and yelled before getting slammed into the wall. All the air in my lungs whooshed out at the impact.

Gasping, I only just managed to raise my sword in time to strike off the creature's hand. It screamed in that unnatural way that rattled my ears and made my vision go fuzzy. Shaking my head hard, I slashed wildly and the Enderman fell away to the ground, vanishing in a puff of white.

I ducked under another creature's arm and didn't bother to retaliate. I was too focused on the door at the end of the corridor. Dashing past surprised Enderman, I scooped up my cloak from the floor and threw it, still wet, over my shoulders. I used one corner to wipe the sweat and blood off my face, and risked a glance behind me. Herobrine was moving fast through the mob, and he waved for me to go. I fled.

I made it unencumbered to the Temple stairs and outside. There was a stream of water still flowing off the roof- I ducked past it and took shelter there to catch my breath. I wasn't in that bad of shape, but I would need a potion when we got back to safety. And rest.

Herobrine emerged from the Temple, and I ducked out from under the water and rejoined him, and together we fled across the fields.

Endermen chased us, but the puddles of water on the ground kept them from getting too close. Shoulder to shoulder, Herobrine and I splashed across the plain and up the hill to the portal, slashing sword and pick at any Enderman that managed to evade the water.

I slipped and fell suddenly, just short of the portal. Instantly, something heavy landed on my back, and I heard claws squealing on the surface of my armor in vain. I struggled under the weight, trying to get a good angle for my sword.

Herobrine reacted in a heartbeat. His pick spun through the air, smashing into the Enderman and sending it careening off of my back and into muddy water. Then he was by my side, pulling me up by the back of my breastplate with one hand and retrieving his pick with the other. Still grasping me by the gorget, Herobrine leaped into the air and dragged me into the Nether portal behind him.


I hit the Netherrack face first. Still having too much momentum, I rolled several times before coming to a stop against a boulder. Herobrine tumbled over me, landing on his back somewhere further down the path. His pick came out of his grasp and clattered after him. I realized my sword had done the same.

Painfully pushing myself upright, I limped over and reclaimed the black sword, sliding it cautiously back into its sheath. The fast transit from the Overworld and the Nether left me dizzy, and I staggered several steps before properly gaining my balance. Back to a tall Netherrack rock, I panted and held a hand to my forehead, where the bleeding had slowed. Steam rose from my still-wet cloak, wreathing me in mist.

I realized, as I caught my breath, that Herobrine wasn't moving. Gathering myself, I stumbled down the path to where Herobrine lay. As I knelt at his side, he struggled to sit up, then fell back coughing. I stared at him, eyes wide.

"Are you all right?" I asked tentatively. Herobrine shook his head and dragged himself upright again.

"I knew it," he muttered, clutching his chest as if it did him pain. Leaning heavily on the low cliff next to the path, he crossed his arms over his chest and stayed huddled that way for a long while.

"Knew what?" I prompted.

"My limit." Herobrine explained. "I'm nearly at my limit. What power I have now has almost run out." He looked up and gave me a grim smile. "Fighting you those days ago drained me badly." My eyes widened.

"What does that mean for us now?" I asked breathlessly. Herobrine shook his head.

"I don't know." He admitted, standing fully upright with a great effort. "This won't be easy."

In subdued and fearful silence, we made our way to the fortress.

"What did you find in the Book, Huntress?" Herobrine asked as we crossed the causeway. I looked up and studied the roof of Netherrack stone above, unsure of how to answer.

"I... I can't say how we can use it, but I read the details of the battle between Notch and the dragon. They called it the Shadow back then." I took a deep breath and continued. "There was a dialogue between Notch and the Shadow, about a new race Notch would make after the Steves. The Guardians, he called them, with all sorts of abilities and gifts- immortality, great strength..."

"Creative power, humble yet exalted," Herobrine mused, "Yes, we heard whispers of such a race here in the Nether. It seemed to have come to fine fruition." I realized that Herobrine was looking meaningfully at me.

"Wait, you can't mean-"

"That you're a Guardian of Notch? It fits, Huntress. You came after the Steves. You're immortal, in a way." Herobrine smiled to himself and looked back away from me and down the causeway once more. I almost laughed. Of course! What else could we be, than the great Guardians of the Overworld, the seven of us!

"But that would mean we..." I trailed off, "We were created to defeat the Shadow." I almost whispered it. Herobrine looked at me sharply.

"Come again?" he demanded.

"They shall be the weapon that smites back the Shadow," I quoted. "And the Book said the holy light of Notch would be our weapon. But how?"

Herobrine looked out over the seas of lava.

"I do not know," he murmured, lost in thought.

We stepped off the causeway and into the fortress, a heavy feeling of foreboding settled over us.


My friends took one look at me and decided to let me be and rest. Notch knows I needed it. This was a dark time for the seven of us and Herobrine, just waiting in the Nether, helplessly hoping and desperately planning against an enemy we couldn't escape. But one thing was for certain- we had a purpose again. Instead of scattered, we were united as brothers and sisters, ready to do anything to save our world. We knew what we were up against, and although we didn't know what to do, we would sure as the Nether try. It wasn't exactly a bright dawn of hope and courage, but let's just say we were out of darkness at least.

When the Enemy came, we would be ready.

We hoped.


Hey, everyone, this is the author speaking in my italicized boldface god-voice. I'm back from an infuriatingly long...uh...let's just call it a "vacation". Yeah. A vacation. (Save me all the pathetic excuses that you won't buy anyway.) The end is in sight! This has been an awesome story to work on, and now that I finally have this part done, well, you'll get to see a lot more of me.

I promise action. Lots and lots and LOTS of action to come in the next few chapters, and the climax to the heart-wrenching emotions and confusion. I swear I won't take as long as I did for this chapter. No, the [REDACTED:SPOILERS] scene is just too much fun to write. And when [REDACTED:SPOILERS] finally [REDACTED:SPOILERS] [REDACTED:SPOILERS].

So how do y'all like it so far? Make sure to review, and if you want more of this good stuff, make sure to follow me and all that I do. I've got great stories planned and there's more where this came from, so stay in touch.

See ya' next chapter!