I apologize for not getting this up over the weekend - there were some complications with getting it finished but, alas, here it is for your entertainment. You can think of this as a finale for both the Babylon story arc and the first part of the story. I have determined how the long the story will be but will not give out that information (it is pretty long, though). Since this is like a finale, I won't be releasing the next chapter, 2.1, for quite a while. If you are actually saddened by that news (I doubt you are) you can rest assured with knowing that the first chapter of Tales of Anascentia will be uploaded in that break.
Remember, if you wish to contribute to Tales of Anascentia, message me with your story ideas and I'll gladly utilize them!
Other than that, I have nothing else to really say other than to review if you enjoy the story!
Oh, and I don't own Minecraft.
The far east of Anascentia was considered inhospitable by many people for many reasons, primarily because of the Obsidian Flats and the headquarters of the Redstone Rebellion. The massive base could be seen as a cross between a castle and bunker set against a hot environment. The desert that covered most of the continent became even worse towards the east. This is the reason why the rebellion set up the foundation of their movement here; so that it would be difficult to take them down head on before getting heat stroke.
On the inside of the massive camp were multiple halls that led to the cafeterias or bedrooms. The offices that were very rarely used were placed in the basement since, like I already pointed out, they were vacant most of the time. The halls in the back of the base were the most used since they were centered around the throne room, where work was usually done other than the camp grounds in the front half of the base.
It was towards noon that activity in the base began to escalate incredibly. People were clogging up the halls, making it very difficult for anyone who was just trying to get around. This was the case for MajesticQ, who was attempting to make her way to the throne room but instead had to wade through the clumps of users trying to get around.
The large, golden doors to the throne room opened slowly with a loud, screeching creak. As she entered in with a straight posture, the doors behind her shut, pushing a big gust of wind through. It blew over MajesticQ like a storm and froze her in place. Ahead of her by about fifteen blocks of red wool was a set of stairs that led up to a platform, which held the throne and, ultimately, Obsidian666.
"Obsidian666 sir, news has broken out that the top of Aquarius Mountain has exploded. This must mean that Echo is doing his job properly for once." She approached her king slowly, her legs rather stiff which each step.
The Redstone Rebellion leader sat on his obsidian throne, wearing a black leather suit with black gloves and boots. His hair was long and black, reaching down to his shoulders. His face didn't appear to be damaged but his eyes were off-putting; the irises for both of them were red while the eyeball itself was black.
The king stood up and folded his hands behind his back, "The name is Eligos, dear. This news is no news whatsoever; it is merely a reminder that our plans are running along smoothly. As long as Isaac is quick to begin his journey to the House of the Holy Sun, we'll have plenty of time to begin our attack on the rest of Anascentia."
MajesticQ began ascending the stairs as Eligos took his seat in the throne, "But didn't you say the Northern Sands were out of the question? We made peace with them, I thought."
"When there is war there is no peace. It is times like these, MajesticQ, that we must do our best to make this war as painless as possible. Yes, we will attack the Northern Sands, but in a more subtle manner after the true threats are dealt with." Eligos cracked his fingers and began to stare straight at the door for some odd reason.
"And those threats are?"
"Isaac and the Imperial City. Isaac is the hero with the heart of diamond while Imperial City is the most powerful city in Anascentia. If we can make sure that they do not cause problems for us in our little siege then this world is as good as ours."
Eligos stood up and put his hand on MajesticQ's shoulder, making her blush.
She stepped back and looked to the door which had opened up. A tall man walked in, wearing a black trench coat with a head. He had short, black hair and a scar stemming from his left eye. He stopped as soon as he reached the stairs and looked up at Eligos angrily, "You called, sir?"
Eligos smiled, "Yes, Octagon. I'd enjoy your presence as we begin to plan for the next invasions. These will become the beginning and end of this little dispute and will conclude with our victory. This will go much better for all of us if you choose to help us lead."
Octagon walked up to the throne and bowed, "It's a pleasure, sir."
"Fantastic," Eligos' smile faded away as he took a seat yet again and began running through his thoughts, "as I see it there are multiple ways to go; multiple ways that we can assure that Imperial City falls and Anascentia becomes ours. There is The Diamond Compass; there is Imperial City; and then there is the Obsidian Magma Blade of which Isaac must not get a hold of by any means."
"The Endersend are already covering the area around the House of the Holy Sun, so there is no need to worry about the compass, I think. The other two are where we come in, I presume?" MajesticQ pointed out, realizing how she and Octagon would become involved.
"Imperial City must fall and the blade must be in our possession. Octagon, I am leaving you in charge of storming the Obsidian Flats and taking that blade by force; MajesticQ, I want you to storm Imperial City with our army and take it down, no matter the cost. Failure is not an option at this point." Eligos said before dismissing them.
The two exited out into the hallways, which had cleared out for the most part. Octagon walked to the front halls and looked out the windows to the camp grounds, where soldiers practiced continuously for war, "This won't end well for us, I think."
MajesticQ walked up behind him, "What makes you think that? The odds are in our favor. Sir Eligos can't be stopped by anyone, including us. We just need to give this plan time to work."
"We've given it enough time." Octagon said and walked away down the hall. MajesticQ stood by and watched, the gunshots from the soldiers outside ringing in her ear like a horrible nightmare.
The Home Sky Ale House was completely silent for most of the day. The Pack of Wanderers was out exploring the city individually, or at least that's what Frank thought, and the pub was vacant and clean for once.
Frank, being the only user in the bar other than Roth, had cleaned up the mess that he crafted that morning and was sitting at the counter, staring at his light orange ale. He looked at the bubbles as they fizzed to the top. The beverage was untouched; he hadn't taken a sip from it in the twelve minutes that it had been made.
The creaking footsteps alerted him that Roth was coming down the stairs. He turned his head and rolled his eyes as he noticed the Imperial guard emerging from the upper level, his hair straightened after brushing it, "Feeling better, Roth? Or are you still having problems with Eden?"
"I don't know what you're talking about. There haven't been any problems between Eden and I. SunRose is the problem; I think she might be jealous of us now." Roth sat beside Frank and looked at the still ale on the counter.
"Has SunRose ever shown any interest in you before this?"
Roth thought back to when he first met SunRose; it was when they were captured by the Imperial Army and taken to Bastil. From then they never really spoke to each other and kept to themselves. This made the situation even more puzzling, "I don't think so but that could have changed. SunRose is a mysterious girl."
"Have you even thought about what she said in the slightest?" Frank stood up and poured the ale out in the back room, "You may not know SunRose that well, but the same goes for Eden."
"Shut up, Frank," Roth walked to the front door and opened it up in a fit, "you don't know shit about love. You think you love Serenade but you're just letting your hormones get the best of you."
Frank walked to the counter and stared at Roth as he left.
"He'll learn eventually, I hope."
With the students gone for the day, the College of the Rising was out of most people's thoughts. It was one the far edge of town so the only way someone could actually be reminded of it is if they looked directly at the glass tower, which is an awful idea because of how it reflected the sun.
"Serenade, I see them."
Serenade jumped up from her seat and looked out the window, her whole body aching with fear, "Let me hide, please! Tell them that I jumped off the island!"
"No, Serenade. It's time that we face this together. You can't run from everything; you'll have to look your fear in the face and flesh in order to move on. Come over here so we can get this over with." Lazarus grabbed Serenade by the arm and tried to pull her over to the door but she repelled.
After getting free of Lazarus' hold, Serenade ran for the stairs but tripped and hit her face on the steps. Blood began streaming from her nose while the officers continued their walk to the college. Lazarus opened the door in advance while Serenade burst into a cry.
The first officer filed into the lobby followed by the other five of them. They heard the cries of Serenade immediately and pulled out handcuffs, "I'm guessing this is the girl that's been violating the rules of the Highland Garden?" The first officer asked Lazarus.
"Now, hold on just a second, sir. There is a reasonable explanation for all of this. If you'll just let us explain ourselves then we can let this little misunderstanding slide." Lazarus walked over to Serenade and sat next to her on the steps. She began crying into his shoulder, not daring to look at the officers.
The officers looked at each other, trying to come to terms with Lazarus' offer, before nodding and putting the handcuffs away, "You don't have much time to explain so explain fast. This had better not be some bullshit excuse."
Silent Stewart was out for the day, which was an uncommon thing for the library. Whenever someone was entering they would become nervous at the sight of him and remain nearly silent their entire visit. When he was gone was something of a celebration that the library was a bit more lenient on rules and such.
On the left wall, by the same windows that they had sat at for the entire day, Garfunkel looked at Dimitri from across the table. They had their coffee and the books from earlier were returned to their proper places on the shelves so that the two friends could properly discuss their relevant issues.
"So, Master Dimitri," Garfunkel looked at his black coffee, "you're still upset over the events with Rebecca?"
Dimitri looked out the window at the park, not bothering to look at Garfunkel, "She killed herself. I don't see the purpose of trying to avoid that. You seem like the one who's still hurt by it with your wordplay."
"I'm just trying to be calm. I know she was your sister so this topic would have some sort of sensitivity to you, would it not?" Garfunkel sipped the rest of his coffee and placed it in the small trash bin behind him.
The sunlight from the east reflected off the multitude of windows and eventually made its way to the library, where Dimitri leaned back in his chair to get it out of his eyes, "But she was your wife so that must have been worse for you. You loved her and to see her go would have been even more heartbreaking."
Garfunkel took a deep breath, "So maybe I am still hung up on her. That is not my problem, though; my problem is that you are trying to avoid the subject and how you feel. You want consolation without feeling emotional and I'll go ahead and say that you won't get that this way."
"Then so be it!" Dimitri stood up, pounding his fist on the table, "If you don't want to even console your brother-in-law, then you can be that heartless asshole that I thought you were at first."
The lady that was filling in for Stewart walked around the corner and stopped Dimitri from leaving, "Excuse me but either you have to calm down or leave. Stewart would be very angry with your behavior."
"Stewart can bite me. I'm out of here." Dimitri pushed the lady aside and walked out the door as someone else entered.
Garfunkel jumped up and rushed past the lady, following Dimitri outside. The sun bathed all of Babylon in strong radiance and made it feel like evening, "Master Dimitri, wait a minute!" He shouted and ran after Dimitri, who was leaving for his hotel.
Dimitri turned around and stared at Garfunkel angrily, "What do you want? I'm not forgiving you for ignoring my needs. Perhaps some isolation would be best but even you won't consider leaving me alone now. What gives?"
"Master Dimitri, I apologize for the way I was acting in the library!" Garfunkel approached Dimitri calmly, "I understand you are hurt but I'm just disappointed that you refuse to admit it. You need help but you won't get any."
"You assume the biggest lies," Dimitri began walking to the hotel again, "you can think that Rebecca is all that I cared about but you won't understand the fact that I have moved on."
"Then why in Notch's name did you bother to bring up the subject to me, Master Dimitri?" Garfunkel quickly reached Dimitri and pulled him back by the shoulder, "You are accusing me of being the most ignorant bigot but you still expect me to respect you. How is it that you can disrespect me when I am trying to help you through this obvious problem you've wandered into?"
Dimitri stared at Garfunkel, rage building up in his eyes before a single tear came out and dropped off his face, "Then please help me." Dimitri had finally given in and sat on a nearby bench, placing his hands over his tearful face.
Garfunkel sat down beside him, "I just did."
Business and overall activity around the Highland Garden had died down since the little fight had taken place. Even the shops had closed for the day because of the lack of an audience. Roth approached the area, shocked and confused by the disappearance of not just everybody, but Eden and SunRose too.
"Eden? Where'd you go?" He shouted everywhere, scanning the area multiple times before sitting down on the hill to wait for their return.
The wind was dead that day with the heat becoming a brand new enemy to every person in town. The grass felt unbearable to sit down on and the building looked like they could just melt at any moment. Roth brushed his hand through the grass, feeling the heat on his palms and letting his rage over SunRose and Frank go.
Finally, after ten minutes of sitting and doing nothing, he stood up and made his way back up the hill to see a teenage user, approximately fifteen, in a blue striped polo and cargo shorts with a shaven head. He stood there, watching Roth walk up the hill, and began following Roth to the stairs silently.
"Sir?" The kid finally spoke up.
Roth turned around to the kid, "Yeah? What's up?"
"Was that girl your girlfriend?"
"Which girl?"
The kid scratched his head, "I think it was that little one that got beat up."
Roth's eyes shot wide open in surprise, "What did you just say?"
"You pushed that little girlfriend of yours down earlier."
"She's not my girlfriend, okay? But I didn't beat her up!"
"You didn't; that other girl with her did."
Fists clenched, Roth sat down on the stairs and began pounding the steps with his fist, "Damn it! Why didn't anyone go to the goddamn police? If you see somebody getting hurt you tell someone!"
The teenager became teary eyed before walking off.
"Shit," Roth became furious again, looking at his bruised fist. Standing up, he turned back to the teenager before he disappeared around the corner, "hey, could you come here for a second? I won't yell at you anymore."
The teenager walked back over while wiping his eyes, "Yeah?"
"You have to tell me where those girls went. I need to know."
The teen lifted his arm and pointed to Aquarius Mountain, "I remembered seeing the bigger one pick up the smaller one and take her over there. I don't know if they did go over there or not but that's the direction they went in."
"Thank you, man." Roth drew his sword and ran down the steps at full speed. Where and what he was heading into was a mystery but that didn't matter to him; he wanted the truth now.
The Redstone in Aquarius Mountain felt different than the Redstone of elsewhere; it felt softer, like sand. Most Redstone felt like some sort of clay in the form of sand and with a red color. This came to Sabre_Mace's realization as he felt onto his back, his body getting covered by Redstone.
Echo slowly approached him and pointed the tip of his spear at his face, "Isaac, I don't understand why you decide to not protect those who have done nothing. Killing me will protect them, Isaac; you must protect them. For me."
Their blades collided again as Sabre_Mace jumped to his feet and dashed at Echo quickly. His sword swung diagonally at the rebel but was blocked by the spear. Echo, with his opponent's sword nearly in his possession, slowly turned his spear so that it was aimed at Sabre_Mace's head.
"You wouldn't dare! You want me to kill you!" Sabre_Mace kicked Echo backwards, sending him onto the stairs, "Why are you trying to kill me when you want me to kill you?"
"Because I know you understand life and death better than I had expected," Echo stood up and retracted his spear into his gun, "it is natural for you, a user with such strong anger and emotion, to retract in violent nature. If you are not willing to bring me to an end then I'll have to provoke you."
Sabre_Mace slid back a bit and threw his sword to the ground, "Then I'll end this right here and stop fighting. It's pointless!"
"You'll regret it." Echo dashed forward again, the spear dragging in the air behind him. He sliced the air horizontally to hit Sabre_Mace but missed, watching Sabre_Mace duck and roll out of the way.
Without missing his chance, he shot the spear forward into the air and swung it to the right. The rope that attached the spear to the gun collided with Sabre_Mace just as he got to his feet and tied itself around his neck. This pushed him to his knees and put Echo at an advantage.
Sabre_Mace looked over at his diamond sword and then at Echo, who was standing in front of him with a look of disappointment on his face, "You would never do this. What has gotten into you?"
"The future is desired by everyone, including you. You are killing that desire by letting me live," Echo released the rope and stepped back as Sabre_Mace fell onto his side, gasping for air, "kill the Noble Horsemen and end Obsidian666's nonsense. You may not know this but us Noble Horsemen are the only ones who know of Obsidian666's involvement in the Dragon Prophecy. Those other rebels are out fighting for a nonsensical cause and you're letting them give their lives for no reason. Either let me live and kill them or kill me and let them know the truth."
Just as his vision began to become a blur, Sabre_Mace felt a strong jab in his stomach. Echo kicked him repeatedly until he got to his feet and ran for his sword to protect himself.
Echo nodded, "Good. Now finish this once and for all."
"You don't understand Echo! I don't want death at-" Sabre_Mace couldn't even voice his opinion again before Echo attacked. He leaped forward and stabbed his spear downward over Sabre_Mace. The young user rolled forward and spun around with his sword without thought. He looked behind him and noticed that Echo was gone.
Sabre_Mace stood there for a few seconds before noticing a shadow from above. He looked up and saw Echo there, dangling from the spear that he had shot into the side of the mountain. The rebel dropped down and began furiously slashing at Sabre_Mace, hitting him only twice on the shoulders. Blood began to run down his arm and force him to drop his sword again. He fell to his knees and felt as Echo kicked him again in the face.
"We can end this fight, Isaac." Echo walked over to Sabre_Mace, who was shaking in pain on the ground.
"But I won't if it revolves around your unnecessary death," Sabre_Mace pulled himself to his feet and picked up his sword. He got into a fighting stance, his sword out front, and prepared for Echo's next attack, "why don't you just kill me then?"
The sound of the explosion at the top of the mountain had startled the inner town of Babylon. Anyone indoors left to go outside and see what had happened. The billowing smoke and debris that was coming out of the peak caused some panic in the town but
no evacuation was found necessary.
"Blimey, what is going on?" Garfunkel stood up from the bench with Dimitri. They gazed at the mountain of smoke that had erupted from the top and the debris that was flying everywhere in the city. Garfunkel looked over and noticed an officer beginning to run towards the forest, "Officer, what is going on?"
"No one has any idea. Aquarius can't possibly be a volcano so some sort of explosive was used. None of that matters, right now; the civilians in the forest need to be gathered up and taken into the inner city. Gentlemen, can you give me a hand?" The officer asked and ran ahead.
Dimitri sat back down, "I'll watch over the civilians in the inner city. Go help the officer get those people out of there."
Garfunkel nodded, although unsure of whether Dimitri was going to actually help or lazily sit around, and ran ahead with the officer.
The explosion caused a slight tremble in the earth underneath Babylon, sort of like an earthquake. All the glasses inside the Home Sky Ale House had fallen from their places and crashed onto the floor. Frank sat there, staring at them as the glass flew everywhere.
"Damn rebels," He said and stood up, reaching for a hidden holster on his side containing a gun, "won't let them hurt Serenade. They'll pay if they touch her." He exited the pub after turning off the lights, not planning on going back again.
Most of the police force in Babylon kept on with their business despite the growing concern over the explosion on Aquarius Mountain. Only an officer or two had actually begun to investigate the problem but all the others kept right along with what they already had on their hands, such as the "criminal" behind the Highland Garden case.
"Lady Serenade, despite who your father is, I can't exactly allow for you to continue on without paying for what you have done." The first officer said while taking notes on a small notepad.
Lazarus stood up and pushed the officers back away from Serenade, "You have to understand that she has a life outside of Babylon. She doesn't even live here; she's only here on important business that can't be interrupted."
The officer pushed Lazarus back, "And I'm guessing this important business has to do with picking flowers from our sacred garden?"
The professor sat back down and remained silent.
The smoke barely made its way into the forest. Roth was still uncertain of where he was going but pursued this mystery of his with confidence. The smoke wasn't dense enough that he couldn't see so the outlines and locations of the various cabins in the forest area were there. None of them stood out in any way from each other.
"Excuse me, citizen," a voice shouted from behind Roth. He turned around and saw an officer catch up to him with a flashlight, "it's not safe to be here."
Roth looked around at the cabins again, "I'm, uh, actually here to help get everyone out. Do you know anyone in particular who lives in these cabins?"
The officer shook his head and moved onwards down the trail, "No one in particular. Only a few people live here but a lot of others come down just to hang out. The cabins closer to the mountain are usually the ones that are used though."
"Oh, fantastic." Roth groaned.
Suddenly the officer stopped, "What is this? Blood?"
Roth ran to where the officer was and noticed that there did appear to be a drop of blood on the dirt path. He looked around for anymore and saw another drop on the grass nearby, "There appears to be something serious going on. I'll investigate while you evacuate everyone."
"No, I'll handle this. It's what I usually do, after all." The officer said and began following a trail of blood drops into the smoke. Roth lost sight of the officer and began walking down the path a bit further before turning back after no sighting of him for a while. After finding the blood drop he began following the path again until he finally arrived to a cabin made of straight-up wood; no wood planks.
Without bothering with knocking, he slid the door open and stepped inside the lit room. He stepped forward a bit more until he felt something squish underneath him. He gripped his sword tightly and looked down at the dead body of the officer from earlier with knives dug deeply into his neck.
"Roth! Help!" SunRose cried.
Roth looked up and saw SunRose suddenly present, tied to a wooden pole by rope. He stepped forward and was about to cut the rope before he felt a knife scratch the skin on his right arm. The wound stung and made him lose focus of the rope, "Damn it, SunRose! Who did this? Was it Eden?"
"I'm sorry I couldn't have you all to myself, Roth," Eden began to talk, leaning against the right wall with throwing knives in her hand, "but SunRose got in the way and both of you are useless now."
"Why did you have to do this, Eden?" Roth looked at Eden, trying to ignore the stinging pain from his wound. He tried his best to grip his sword but it began to slip from his hand.
Eden prepared a knife, "Because it was necessary. Obsidian666 ordered for Echo and I to lead the infiltration of Babylon. You were merely a stepping stone in the operation until that little girl got involved. For that you both will die."
Roth became red in the face, "You will stay away from her!" He ran at Eden and swung his sword at her but was blocked by a rather large knife she had. She pushed him off and used her other hand to grab a knife from her belt. As Roth stumbled backwards she sent the knife flying through the air and into his right arm, forcing his sword onto the ground from lack of a grip.
Now that his guard was down Eden went forth and took the knife from his right arm and dug it into his left. Roth let out a shriek of pain before collapsing to the floor with blood streaming from his arms. Eden stood up and looked at SunRose, who was about to faint from the reality that she was next to die, with her knife ready to finish the job.
Business all across the city had shut down following the explosion. Most of the florists worried about their flowers only, not bothering to touch their stands unlike those who sold food and such. Harrison, on the other hand, was determined to keep his business open as a means of taking in more revenue.
"Come all to the top flower stand in all of Babylon!" He tried to draw in the passing citizens who were trying to get further away from the forest surrounding Aquarius Mountain. Not a single person seemed to pay any attention to his business.
Until Frank approached the stand with a menacing look on his face. He drew the gun from his holster, pushed Harrison up against the wall, and pushed the gun to his throat, "You will let Serenade go this instant. I won't let you or anyone hurt her."
Harrison pushed Frank away, "What makes you think she's with me? I fired that insane woman yesterday. Who are you anyway? Friend of hers or something?"
"You might say," Frank holstered his gun and began looking around anxiously, "if she ain't with you then where is she? I need to make sure she's safe."
"I saw some older dude come by last night and take her away. I think I might have seen him around the college but I'm not too sure." Harrison backed away into his house, giving up on his shop for now.
Frank looked to the glass tower on the college, "Lazarus."
"Lady Serenade, I deeply apologize but there isn't any real evidence protecting you from the law right now," the first officer said and removed his handcuffs, "if you come now then there will be no further problems."
The front doors swung open and Frank walked in, removing his gun from the holster and aiming at the officers, "She isn't going anywhere. Leave her alone."
The officers turned around and drew their guns. They stood in place, their fingers hovering over the trigger, expecting for Frank to shoot one of them down, "Who are you, sir?" The first officer stepped to the front of the group and stared down Frank.
"You can call me Frank, sir. I am here to take Serenade here and depart from this city that is obviously losing control of what it stands for in the first place." He walked past the officers and helped Serenade to her feet.
The officers began swarming around the two, making sure that neither of them could leave. Frank aimed his gun at them again until the first officer ordered for the others to put away their guns, "Frank, do you actually understand what is going on in this city? The Redstone Rebellion is beginning to evolve and this lady here might be one of them."
Frank looked at Serenade, who shook her head, "Serenade isn't a Redstone Rebel. What makes you accuse her of such malicious things?"
"She stole from the Highland Garden!" The officers all shouted at the same time.
Serenade was pushed back as Frank marched forward and stuck his gun to the throat of the first officer, "And how will that affect you in the slightest, sir? Are you going to turn her life around because you people are too lazy to go and grow some more? Things aren't going to stay the same as they were years ago; it's time to let it go and let people live like they should."
"The garden is one of the most sacred places in all of Anascentia! Are you actually trying to tell me that letting it go to waste is going to solve all the problems that surround us? You seem to not see the same way we do." The first officer pushed Frank away and pointed his gun at him.
"The lives of your people are at stake because of your bigotry. If you continue to live by these standards then the entire city is going to revolt against you. Then things will become even worse," Frank dropped his gun and kicked it over to the officers, "I dropped my weapon, so can you do the same? Let's be reasonable here."
The first officer picked up the gun and emptied it of bullets. He began inspecting the wire-like design carved into its wooden body, "Interesting gun you have here, sir. Where did you get it? I've never seen one quite like it."
"I was kidnapped by a band of Redstone Rebels. You might say I am one but I know better than to tag along with them. They gave me that gun as a means of protection and ever since I left them I kept it with me at all times in case times like these arose." Frank grabbed Serenade's arm and began slowly making his way to the door while the first officer was distracted. The other officers aimed their guns but became worried when their commander, the first officer, never gave the order to shoot.
"Then keep it," the first officer tossed the gun to Frank and he stored it into its holster, "good on you for being mature. Never seen such determination in someone before. Keep that Lady Serenade out of trouble, you hear? Those flowers aren't restored so easily."
Serenade and Frank nodded happily before leaving.
The officers turned back towards Lazarus, who was still sitting on the steps, "Can I leave now that this is over? I have some planning to do for tomorrow."
"Go ahead." The first officer replied before filing out with the others.
"Officer!" Garfunkel shouted through the smoke that filled the forest in front of Aquarius Mountain. He had apparently lost his companion and was alone, wandering aimlessly into what looked like a war-zone. Continuing down the path that he could only see he eventually came across something that froze him in his tracks – the entrance to the mountain.
SunRose remained as still as possible while being watched by Eden. She was still tied up against the wooden pole, the feeling of death looming while Roth remained still and silent on the floor. The constriction of the ropes had already left deep marks on her body and the fact that she was about to be stabbed mercilessly by Eden made the situation all the worse.
"How scared are you, SunRose?" Eden asked while leaning against the wall by the front door. She still had the knives in her hand and ready for an execution at any minute.
"Pretty scared. Why wouldn't I be? I mean, I'm being held as a prisoner by someone my friend thought he could trust. What could possibly be worse?" SunRose moved around under the ropes a bit to get a bit more comfortable but only made it the opposite.
Eden walked over to Roth and kicked his body aside and then continued onto SunRose, "How about you being dead by my hand? I thought I had it rough when I could only get to Roth but now that you're in my hands it looks like things are looking up for me." She readied one knife and positioned it close to SunRose's neck.
It was at this moment that the Redstone Rebel dropped the knife out of shock. She felt something wrap around her left ankle, making her hair stand up on end and her lose her focus on SunRose. She looked down and saw Roth, still down and bloody, grabbing onto her leg and pulling on her desperately, "Let her go before another person gets hurt."
"I thought I finished you off!" Eden grabbed one of her knives and bashed down on Roth with the sharp edge. Before it had dug into his head Roth grabbed onto her wrist with his other hand and twisted it, making her drop the knife and back up in pain.
Roth stood up and grabbed the knife, pointing the tip of it at Eden, "You can't finish me off, Eden. You can outsmart me and you can knock me out but when you dare to hurt a friend in my presence you will never kill me." He threw the knife at her as she backed against the wall but the knife only landed into the wood beside her.
Still determined to kill both of them, she removed the knife and ran at Roth. He picked up his iron sword and swung it at her, clashing with the knife before sending it flying across the room and making Eden disarmed. She fell to her knees, tearing up and preparing to be finished off by Roth.
"Kill her, Roth!" SunRose shouted, squirming under the ropes.
The Imperial guard rolled his eyes and pushed her onto her back with his foot. He walked over to SunRose and successfully cut the ropes this time. She stood up and began stretching her arms and legs for the first time in nearly a few hours.
"Why didn't you?" Eden backed up, crawling away from Roth.
Roth sheathed his sword, "Because you're just as foolish as I was." He turned to the door and walked outside with SunRose. The black smoke soon entering into the cabin and engulfing Eden, who only leaned against the wall, holding the large knife to her chest.
The edge of the steps dug into Sabre_Mace's back. He moaned and tried to get up but could only watch as Echo approached him. He had removed his glasses and dropped them to the ground while getting closer to the stairs, an empty look on his face.
"Why can't you just listen to me for one goddamn minute, Echo?" Sabre_Mace shouted, barely able to look up because of the stiffness of his neck. The sunlight from above gave the scenario a surreal-type feeling to him as he gripped the edges of the steps to both sides of him.
Echo placed his right foot on Sabre_Mace's chest, "Because you won't understand how the Dragon Prophecy and Obsidian666 work. I'm trying to lead you in the direction that will help you but you continue to believe that my existence will contribute to your little cause. It's time that you know that not everyone will live forever and I'm no exception."
"Master Mace, are you in there?"
Echo stepped off of Sabre_Mace and turned to the entrance of the mountain to see Garfunkel, approaching without having much of an understanding of the situation, "I see your friends are coming here now. What a delight."
Sabre_Mace looked up and nearly began having a panic attack at the sight of Garfunkel in Echo's presence, "Old man, get the hell out of here! He's going to kill you!"
"Now that's just silly," Echo smirked and swung the rope attaching the spear to the gun around the confused Garfunkel's neck and pulled him to his knees, "his time hasn't come. Until you decide to bring an end to me then this will only be torture for this sweet old man."
"You wouldn't dare!" Sabre_Mace was breathing heavily at Garfunkel's horrified face.
The elderly user reached out his hand for Sabre_Mace but was kicked back slightly by Echo, who only stared at Garfunkel as he endured this pain.
"Echo, let him go now!" Sabre_Mace slowly pushed himself to his feet and tried to approach Echo but knew that he wouldn't be able to change anything. Looking not too far from him was his diamond sword, stuck in the ground from the battle. He quickly ran to it and used whatever strength he had left to pull it out and point it at Echo, "This can end! Just let him go!"
Echo remained still, tightening his grip on Garfunkel.
"Leave him alone! He has nothing to do with this!"
Echo closed his eyes slowly as Garfunkel was about to lose consciousness.
"Stop!" Sabre_Mace, without another choice, charged at Echo, the blade of his sword pointing down, and slammed the tip into his back. Blood seeped down his black outfit and onto Sabre_Mace's diamond sword, staining both. The rope around Garfunkel finally loosened and let him get air while Echo fell sideways onto the ground, the blood devouring the Redstone around him.
Sabre_Mace pulled his sword out and threw it aside before kneeling beside Echo, horrified with tears about what he had just done, "Echo, I'm sorry! Please don't die! I don't know what I was doing!" He cried into Echo's black wool outfit.
"Isaac," Echo pushed Sabre_Mace away slightly, "don't be sad. Be happy that your friends are alive; all five of them. Protect them with all the power you have and take down Obsidian666. Follow the flowers, Isaac."
Blood began to cover Sabre_Mace's hands. He wiped them on his blazer before taking it off and throwing it on top of his sword, "I will! You can count on that!" He continued to cry while standing up, watching as Echo's eyes twitched.
"Be happy, Isaac; for the both of us." Echo whispered before his eyes closed for the last time. All of his limbs went limp as the blood kept flooding from his body. He had a slight smirk on his face, which quickly became pale.
"Master Mace!" Garfunkel shouted as he finally got to his feet, his breathing back to normal. He ran over to Sabre_Mace, who was on the verge of tears, and hugged him tightly, "Master Mace, we need to get out of here. Do you understand me?"
Sabre_Mace shook his head and picked up his sword and blazer, "Enough of this. Kill me, Garfunkel; kill me so that Obsidian666 has no one else to fulfill the prophecy. Put an end to this death of the innocent!" He handed his sword to Garfunkel, who threw it back on the ground.
"Do you know what you are even saying? Death isn't necessary to save Anascentia, Master Mace. We just need to have our hopes. We all believe in you so you needn't cause your death like this." Garfunkel watched as Sabre_Mace sat down on the steps, trying to stop crying.
"Then what the hell do you expect me to do?" Sabre_Mace asked.
Garfunkel sat down beside Sabre_Mace, "Move on."
The two sat there, the light shining over them beautifully.
"Echo would always remind me that it is September of Love."
"What exactly does that mean?" Garfunkel was semi-glad that Sabre_Mace had stopped crying.
"It means that the roses are in bloom now."
Garfunkel nodded, "I used to be in love before."
"Really?" Sabre_Mace wiped away his tears and put back on his blazer despite it being sort of bloody.
"I was married," Garfunkel recalled solemnly, "her name was Rebecca and we had an incredible relationship. I met her in the Northern Sands while doing some excavating. Her brother Dimitri and I became good friends and we were all a close family until…"
"Until?"
"She killed herself."
Sabre_Mace looked at the ground, "…why?"
"Life became too hard for her. We had only been married for a few months before she drowned herself. Dimitri was never the same so I moved back to Imperial City and befriended Miss SunRose and Master Octagon. Eventually you came into our lives and, well, we were never the same as well."
Sabre_Mace nodded with no reply.
"I moved on, Master Mace. Despite the death of someone I truly cared for unlike anyone else I prevailed and continued to succeed where I am needed," Garfunkel stood up and helped Sabre_Mace to his feet, "you shall now do the same."
"But one thing before we leave." Sabre_Mace grabbed his sword and tried to ignore the dead body of Echo on the Redstone in front of him.
"What is it?" Garfunkel had begun walking up the steps to the outside.
"Whatever happened to Octagon?"
Garfunkel gulped loudly and looked up at the sunlight at the top of the stairs, which showed that the smoke had cleared for the most part, "We needn't worry about it, Master Mace. We will find him eventually and understand what is going on. We just need to give it time."
Sabre_Mace nodded and followed Garfunkel up to the forest.
A large crowd had gathered around the Balloon Depot during the explosion as people were terrified and wanted to leave immediately since the balloons were open to the public again. Now that the smoke had cleared and no panic was needed, the area around the depot was clear except for a man and girl, standing patiently on the grass by the balloons.
"Where are the others?" SunRose asked, feeling the burn marks that had been left by the ropes on her stomach. She rubbed it slightly with her index finger when Roth wasn't looking.
Roth kept watch at the streets in the city for anyone, "The Home Sky Ale House was locked so we must be leaving soon. That makes sense, right?"
SunRose nodded.
"It makes sense, right?"
"Right."
The two waited for another ten minutes before seeing two familiar figures – a tall man in a sailor outfit carrying a gun and a woman slightly shorter than him in a blue dress. They were quickly walking towards the Balloon Depot, looking behind them in an agitated sort of way, "Is that Frank?"
SunRose looked over and nodded, "And Serenade?"
Frank sighed as they approached the depot and sat down on the grass, "Goddamn police. They are so nosy and shit."
"At least we got out of there, all thanks to you," Serenade smiled and sat down beside him, "you wouldn't believe what happened to us, guys."
"Frank just said something about the police so I do not want to know," Roth replied and looked into the city, "where are Sabre_Mace and Garfunkel? The pub was locked so I thought we were all leaving then."
Frank stretched and lay down on the grass, "We tried to go into the pub but it was locked. I guess great minds think alike, right? Anyway, I don't know where they are. Haven't seen either since this morning."
"Do you want me to go into the city and look for them?" Serenade asked.
"Don't bother. You should stay out of the city for a while after all that's happened," Frank advised and looked at his empty gun, "bastards took my bullets."
Roth laughed nervously trying to imagine what Frank had just gone through, "Anyway, we have time to spare. It's only the afternoon, right? Imperial City shouldn't take too long to get back to now that we actually know where we're going."
"Hopefully you aren't leaving without us!" Garfunkel shouted as him and Sabre_Mace approached unexpectedly from a group of users wandering the streets. Everyone was distracted by the blood on Sabre_Mace's diamond sword and blazer but tried to look past that, "the pub was locked so we thought you all had decided to ditch us for no reason."
Frank rolled his eyes, "Please, we'd never do that."
"So I'm guessing we're all heading back to Imperial City now?" Roth asked, stepping closer to the Balloon Depot, where a man in blue was waiting to serve them.
Garfunkel sat down on a rather large rock and began thinking back to the library, "Well, I'm not too sure, to be honest, because what I've learned has become something… strange."
"What do you mean?" Frank stood up next to Serenade.
"I was studying in the library when I learned of a weapon called the Obsidian Magma Blade. From what has been reported about it, it can only be used by the warrior with a heart of diamond," he pointed to Sabre_Mace, who was standing beside SunRose, "and by the way that Redstone Rebels have been involved in the events of the past few days, I fear that they are beginning to advance in their plans."
Roth thought about that matter as well, "So then your point is?"
"If we are actually considering stopping Obsidian666 then we want to keep both the Diamond Compass and the Obsidian Magma Blade from him. What might be necessary is that two people go for the blade in the Obsidian Flats region, two go for the compass, and then two return to Imperial City," Garfunkel stood up and looked over the edge of the floating island, "I, of course, would be returning to Imperial City."
Everyone looked at each other, wondering who would go together.
Roth sighed and put his hand on Garfunkel's shoulder, "I'll return with you. I need to report back to Bastil and see how he is doing. Don't want my leader to be concerned with anything."
Sabre_Mace looked to SunRose, "We'll go for the compass."
"What?" Everyone else was shocked.
"What?" Sabre_Mace was confused by their reactions.
Garfunkel walked over to Sabre_Mace, "The blade, Master Mace!"
"What about it?"
"Shouldn't you go for it?"
"I'm the only one who can use it, apparently. Wouldn't it make more sense to have it but keep it away from me?" Sabre_Mace pointed out. Garfunkel thought about it for a second before nodding in agreement and turning to Frank and Serenade.
"So you two are going for the sword, then?" Garfunkel asked.
Frank looked at Serenade, who hugged his arm, "I guess we are."
Everyone nodded at them and turned towards the Balloon Depot. They walked up to the man in blue, bought themselves some tickets, and entered onto the balloon for their departure.
As the balloon descended to the land below, Sabre_Mace leaned against the edge, looking at the massive mountains in the distance that he would have to cross. He felt a slight brush of air on his right arm. He turned to see SunRose looking at the mountains as well, "Scared?" she asked jokingly.
"Seriously? I've taken down squids and such. A few mountains aren't going to hurt me," He laughed and looked below the balloon at the sand that was so far down, "the question really is whether or not you're prepared for the unknown."
SunRose nodded, "I was tied to a wooden pole for most of the day with rope burn marks still on my stomach. I think I'll be able to handle these mountains."
Sabre_Mace looked over, wide-eyed and disturbed by what she had just said, "You have what?"
"Don't ask."
"Right."
SunRose smiled, "It's good that we've gotten along now, ya know?"
"Yep. September is a good month, too."
"I guess so."
Sabre_Mace nodded slowly, "September of Love, SunRose. September of Love."
Hopefully everyone has enjoyed the story so far. Expect the future chapters to be really character driven as this is sort of what the story goes for - the chemistry of both people who are from Minecraft and people who aren't.
As a side note, I don't know why but in previous chapters I mentioned that Sabre_Mace wore a "beater" when I meant to say "blazer". Hopefully that didn't confuse y'all too much.