Hello once more, faithful readers!

Here is a very long chapter, so don't worry that it took me five or six days to update. If it was a normal chapter, I would've updated on Monday, but it was longer, so here we are. Anyways, the actual contents of the story are about 7,700 words long, plus the junk that I put in the author's note. But yeah.

Anyway, I was just saying last chapter to stop trying to bust in on my success. And yet, one person reviewed, and then PMed me that he or she could take over the responsibility of managing the Ender Chest. Seriously? I mean, what part of that message do you not understand? I won't return PMs like that, and if you are going to send me messages like that, then shame on you. That is really unbelievable.

Whatever. Just please take my advice. After all, doing stuff like that just makes you look like an idiot. So heed my advice.

And now, let the story begin!

Chapter 35

New World Republic

The group walked along the edge of the cobblestone road toward what I presumed would be Glowstone Lane. It astonished me that Adam and Khalida had worked together to construct everything that we needed, even though some of the ideas I had thought of myself and they had known anyways. I had a hunch that Khalida had done more of the creative work, but there was no point in not giving Adam any credit. Besides, he had had to put up with Loopy for a good amount of time, and considering his natural dislike for her, that must not have been fun for him.

The sun had fully risen up into the sky, hanging just above the trees of a forest a long way east. I remembered roughly passing through the forest on our way to find a good site for a new home base, and that was how we had ended up here. Most of the people who had made their way here probably had passed through those exact same trees in order to settle here.

It still astonished me that the amount of people living in Novum Eboracum had risen so fast. The superfast immigration to the port city almost seemed supernatural; although, I told myself, odds were that that was exactly what it was. Notch had probably led them here so that they would survive the Raid of the Endermen in a somewhat controlled environment. It might have seemed like a good deed, but I knew it was just part of his game to see how much control that he as an individual had.

"How do you think they set up those ships?" I heard Clara say aloud. She and Mike were walking in the back of the group, still feeling somehow separated from the five of us who had been the original members of the Imperial Battalion. Still, I thought that Mike was a great addition to the group because of his captaining skills. Also, his bow and arrow weaponry complemented us melee fighters in the same way that Aria did. Clara, on the other hand, seemed to enter beast mode as soon as enemies appeared and she had her diamond tomahawk in her hand. Even without the dual attack of her extra knife, she was deadly.

It interested me on who would form the rest of the Imperial Battalion. I figured that we needed more people like Mike and Aria who used ranged weaponry, considering that our last battle was against a flying dragon. We still didn't know exactly how we would defeat it. I for one was sure that we would, just taking hint from destiny. Because that was my destiny after all, right? Maybe it was hypocritical to say that, but that was how I felt.

"I'm not certain, but it seems to be a thinner cut of wool," Mike answered, drawing me back to reality. My mind was hopping around into so many different things right now that it was impossible for me to actually take part in a conversation of some level. I was certainly as mesmerized by what the townspeople had done with the rest of the navy as the two of them. We probably had people of every occupation now. Farmers, carpenters, ranchers, tailors, and even an Oracle probably lived in Novum Eboracum at this point. I knew the last one for certain, as we were going to see Khalida right now.

After probably about ten streets that branched out from the harbor out toward the farms that went off to the left, we finally reached a full intersection past the water. There was a street sign there that pointed down the road that we had taken, indicating it as Soulsand Street. The road that was perpendicular to this one was none other than Glowstone Lane, and we paused on the street corner. "Well, here we are. Do we go right or left?" Prae mused.

"Right, I think. The town hall is right on the crest of the water, and that building complex that the man at the pier said Khalida and Adam would be at is across the street from there," suggested Aria, and our group turned to the right onto the next cobblestone street. There was nothing else we could do for now except for trial and error.

On our right was a small house and a shop next to it that read 'Jonathan Mycelium's Crop Shop' with a few pictures of pumpkins, carrots, and bread surrounding the letters. Most likely the house belonged to Jonathan Mycelium, whoever that was. To the left of that was a huge building with about three different entrances because of its grand size. It was the expansion of the town hall, and it was much larger than I had imagined it to be. Between the shop and the town hall was a cobblestone sidewalk that led out to the water, where there was a wooden boardwalk that had fence railings to seal off the bay. On the other side of the town hall was another two buildings, probably a home and a shop like we had seen before. There was no time to explore, though, as across the street were three large houses that took up the block. The corners were empty with small fountains and trees.

"Is that really where we're supposed to live? It feels like we're the center of attention," Clara wondered, staring at the block. There were three houses on each side, it looked like at least considering that we couldn't see the backside from our vantage point.

"That's because that is exactly what we are," Skyler replied bitterly, nodding toward the array of buildings. "I'm just glad that they're all pretty well built."

Indeed they were. The roofs were sloped wood made out of stairs and blocks, and the walls were a colorful red brick with two small windows, one on each the left and right side of the house. They looked so large from here, probably about fifteen blocks in a square. The windows were two blocks by two, and the walls rose four blocks above the floor, leaving plenty of room for ceiling. Fences went around the outside, sealing in rows of flowers that circled the house. There was a small cobblestone path that went in from the street and cut through the grass toward the doors, and the fence stopped on either side of the stone path. Finally, above the door was a sign that read 'Alex Glowstone'. This miracle of modern technology was my house!

"Why in the world would I need something this intricate?" I sputtered, amazed at the sight of the architecture. "I mean, I know that I don't want to live in a wooden box, but this is unbelievable!"

"Sire, you surely are not complaining about the event?" Remington asked me, and I laughed. "Of course not," I said between laughs, "This is amazing!"

My house was in the middle of the block on Glowstone Lane, directly across from the main doors to the town hall. To my left was Prae's house, and to my right was Remington's. Everyone filtered out to go find their own houses, which lined the two sides of the block. The backside was empty for now, even though there were houses built. I would later find out that the only difference with these was that they were vacant and that there was no sign above them signifying the owner's name. For now, though, I walked up the small cobblestone road to my house and entered through the wooden door surrounded by brick blocks.

The inside was as amazing as the outside of the house had been. The floor was made of polished stone bricks, making a sleek and clean looking surface. The two windows gave me view of the greenery outside, but that wasn't even close to the most interesting thing in the house. On the right side of the room was the supposed working area, complete with a crafting table, three furnaces, a brewing stand, and a cauldron. I noticed that there was no enchantment table, but then again I had no idea how to use them.

On the left side of the room was my bed. It was right under the window, centered on that side of the room. There were two parts to it, making it larger than the average bed. On either side was a small chest for me to put my valuables and things that I would need most often. I opened the one on the right, and inside it were all of the things that had been in my chest in the Imperial Battalion building. There were many building supplies, a lot of iron ingots, gold ingots, and redstone dust. Most importantly, there was a large abundance of food. There were stacks of bread, steak, apples, and cooked pork. I took out an apple and took a bite. It was red and juicy, giving me a large abundance of its sugary sweet taste.

In the top right corner of the room was a fireplace. It was built into the brick wall, with iron grates guarding the lowest block so that pets wouldn't be able to jump into the fire. The smoke rose up into the air and through a chimney in the roof, although there wasn't that much smoke to float up anyways.

The bottom right corner was brick like the others, but instead of the corner block being stone brick like all the other blocks in the floor, it was a trapdoor. I stared through the small bits of space in the wooden frame of the trapdoor that provided a clearance to the room that lay below. There was no way for me to make out what was below, it was just too dark. However, there was a wooden button in the brick wall a block above the trapdoor, and I pressed it lightly.

The trapdoor swung open immediately, revealing a now lit up room. It was still hard for me to see what was below, but the walls and floor were made of stone brick and a ladder went down four blocks from the trapdoor to the floor. It was some kind of basement of sorts, and it interested me. It would take an expert redstone user to construct a device that made a trapdoor open and lights turn on at the exact same time, and I saw that in Adam. Putting aside my observations, I put my foot on the first rung and quickly climbed down underground.

The room was lit by lanterns that were powered by redstone circuits, and gave the room a very bright glow to it. I'm sure it would seem glum had it had been dark, considering that the walls and floor were indeed all stone brick, making the air seem a little tight. But it didn't matter since the roof had a few of the lanterns sealed into it. What the room was apparently for was storage, as chests lined the walls. There were three on each side of the room, and across from the wall that the ladder was on was a painting. It wasn't like one that I had ever seen before.

I stepped up closer to it, looking at the chests along the way. Each one was labeled with signs above them. There was one for farming, animals, armor and tools, sand and stone, wood products, and miscellaneous. I figured that they would all be empty, that they would be for me to fill up progressively over time. Hopefully over years of time if Novum Eboracum was able to stand that long, but other cities hadn't been able to. Then again, the Raid of the Endermen was either about to end, or I wouldn't be around to fill up the chests anyways.

At last, I stepped up to the painting and observed it. There was a boy standing there, atop a block of glowstone and holding a diamond sword. It was pointed straight into the air, and his blue sea foam eyes surveyed the area around him. It wasn't pretty. Around the glowstone block was what seemed to be an endless ocean of Endermen, purple eyes glowing and all trying to get closer to the boy. It finally was the dark red shirt and the fading jeans that made me realize; the picture was of me.

Whoever had painted it was certainly good at their job, I thought. The boy in the painting paid a remarkable resemblance to me, almost like it was a picture. Something began stirring inside of me stomach, like butterflies beating their wings against the edges of my insides, making me a little nervous. What if I wasn't able to defeat the Enderdragon? Everyone's lives rested in my hands, and I wasn't sure that I would be able to get out of a situation like the one that was showcased in the painting, of me completely surrounded by Endermen that stretched on for miles. If that happened, I was as good as dead.

The painting stretched from the ceiling to the floor, a full three blocks wide so that the image of me in the painting was actually a little taller than me in real life. It began to creep me out a little bit, so I hurriedly backed away and made my way back up the ladder. Once I was back up on the stone brick floor of my house, I let myself breathe at ease.

There was something about that painting that had caught me off guard. I felt exactly the same as I had when I had first read my prophecy; surprised at the prospect, angered that I had no freewill to stop myself from having to be the one to stop the Endermen, and a fascination that all of this was up to me, and me alone. Why me, I wondered for the millionth time. Why couldn't the world have stayed normal until I passed?

But no, things could never be that easy. There had to be someone for every job, something for every person, a prophecy for every person. But why couldn't my prophecy be simpler? Why had the Oracles chosen me to be the one to fulfill it, and not someone who actually wanted the adventure, someone like Remington?

The truth was that Notch had chosen me for some reason, and everything he did these days had some twisted and meaningful reason to it. So if I was supposed to the one to stop the Endermen, then Notch knew that the hero would need certain qualities, and I happened to be the one to own them and be set in the time period of the Raid of the Endermen.

That was enough time to rest, I figured. The new home was fascinating and all, but I needed to move out so that we could resubmit Adam and Khalida into the Imperial Battalion. So with that, I made sure that I had everything I needed for our final battle; Monarch, all of my iron armor, half of stack of bread, cooked pork, and apples, my diamond pick, iron shovel, enchanted iron axe, a stack of sand, two stacks of cobblestone, and the Eyes of Ender. That was everything I would need after all, so there was no point in taking more than I could carry.

With that, I opened the door of my new house and stepped outside of it, leaving it for a long time. Walking down the cobblestone path to Glowstone Lane, I took one last look at the only safe haven that I knew for now. There was no time to rest, though. We had to get an interim government set up for Novum Eboracum, elect the new members of the Imperial Battalion, and then figure out what the Eyes of Ender actually did. For now, I had to go see Khalida and ask about the growth of the city.

The sky had lost all of the red tint that had splattered it in the early morning as the sun hung over the eastern land, appearing to rest on the roof of my house. Remington was outside his house already, leaning on the butt of his diamond broadsword as it rested on the cobblestone path to the public road that cut through the grassy dirt. The flow of people was lessened here, probably because there were only two shops and the town hall on this block. I imagined how packed it would be once we announced the town meeting.

Since there was nowhere else to turn, I walked along the cobblestone road to Remington, who turned quickly as I approached. "Why, hello there, sire!" he called out to me, waving me over like I hadn't already been coming to him. "How do you fancy the grand new houses that the town has supplied to us?"

By now I had reached his house's path. "Fine, actually. They're certainly better than the wooden box that we had built ourselves," I explained to him, although I didn't explain to him that the mysterious painting that was in my basement. If none of the others had pictures of themselves like that, then it would just be awkward for me.

"To Ms. Glass' house you travel to, then?" he queried, and I nodded slightly. "Forgive me for my assumption, but it was hard to not realize your endeavors."

"It's not a problem," I assured him, shrugging it off. It wasn't actually rude or anything, it was just Remington being typical Remington. "Do you know what side of the block that she lives in? It would be kind of frustrating to walk down one side of the road and have her not be there, and then have to turn back around."

"Khalida's manor actually rests around the fountain corner from mine," he exclaimed to me excitedly, and we started walking along the cobblestone street to her house. The fountain was shooting water from the single tower of water made of iron blocks, and the water rested at the bottom basin, splashing around due to the falling liquid. It was quite pretty, making this part of the city seem rich, sort of. I wasn't rich at all, just important. But that sounded just as self-centered as rich. I didn't know what to call it in truth.

We turned onto the next road, Forge Alley, which I pointed out to Remington. The knight wannabe laughed that a street was named after him. "You never know, sire, the surname Forge could be applicable to many a fellow," he protested, but there was no denying the amused grin on his face. We finally reached the front of the next house, past the fountains.

Khalida's house was just the same as all of the others, which I was surprised to learn considering her strange personality. The flowers that circled the walls of the house within the wooden fencing did seem a little overabundant, matching her lack of organization. There was no point in the two of us waiting for anyone else, so I hurried up the cobblestone path toward the front of the Oracle's house. The sign above the door read 'Khalida Glass' House', signifying that Remington had indeed been right about the inhabitant.

Knocking on the door, I turned and stared at the city around us. It still amazed me that all of this had been built in so little time. We had only been gone for one night, right? At least, that was what I thought, because it was early night when we went into the Nether, and only midnight once we had exited the Aether to get back to the mysterious Temple of the Overworld.

After a few seconds of waiting, the wooden door swung open to the inside, revealing a girl wearing a white shirt and a skirt made up of about seven different types of fabrics. Her gray hair was tied into two pigtails on either side of her head by a thousand or so beads. Khalida smiled at the sight of the two of us, waving us inside her house. "I'm glad that you guys are back! I brewed so many potions for the final battle, you are taking me, right?" she exclaimed, shooting words at us like a rapid fire dispenser.

"Yeah, actually, I was coming over to tell you we needed you to join the Imperial Battalion again. We only have seven people now, but adding you makes eight. I'm hoping Adam will join back up too, and we need three more people," I explained to her, and then realized that I had only said we had seven. So Khalida would have to learn about Jessica's demise. But apparently that wouldn't be a problem.

She closed her eyes and mouthed a couple words under her breath, so quiet that I couldn't hear them, that was, if she had even spoken at all. Just as suddenly, she rose back to a normal stance, for she had hunched over in doing what she had just done. "I send Jessica Sandstone my prayers. I hope that she rests in peace," she said audibly, eyes now a dull gray.

I shook off the feeling of apprehension that I always got when I was near her. She was just too weird for my liking. "Anyways, I was going to ask you. How did you guys get the town growth to accelerate at such a speed?" I queried, and she raised her eyebrows.

"Well, we have about two hundred here now. I know because every new citizen has to register at the town hall. It's easy to build a lot over three days when you have so many people to help you with every aspect of the town. Now that we have all the basics, all that is left is for the town to expand out into the plains as more people arrive," she replied.

"Wait, wait one second," I interrupted, holding my hand up as if that was what was actually stopping her. "Did you just say that we were gone for three days?"

"Yeah, how long did you think you were gone for?" she shrugged.

Something was very wrong about all of this that she was telling me. "We were only gone for one night, and we're back here now," I protested.

Her mouth made a large o shape as she somehow understood my problem. "But you guys spent a significant amount of that time in the Nether though, right?" she asked.

"True, but what difference does that make at all? Besides, we weren't in the Nether for very long anyways. Just five hours or so," I explained to her, but Khalida shook her head in sadness or something. Maybe it was pity. But what had I done wrong?

"Time in the Nether moves as much as ten times faster than in the Overworld or Aether," she explained to me, making her hands motion in a circle in front of her like two clock hands rapidly moving. "Five hours in the Nether is the equivalent to more than two days of time passing in the Overworld. Therefore, you were actually gone for three days."

This was bad news. The more time that we spent, the more time that the Endermen had to prepare for the battle that we were sure to have while we were spending energy fighting their armies on our way to Novum Eboracum. We would have to leave very soon, hopefully by sundown if we really wanted to be making good time. "Alright then, we have to leave as soon as we can. Khalida, I'm assuming that you know how to organize a town meeting?" She nodded solemnly. "OK then, go do that as soon as you can. Remington, gather round the current Imperial Battalion of the city and get them into the town hall as soon as possible. Have the group start brainstorming ideas for the next three people to join."

"What shall you do, sire?" Remington queried as he opened the door for Khalida, who was leaving in a hurry.

"Me, I'll convince Adam to rejoin the Imperial Battalion. We need someone as skilled as him with redstone if we want to try and thwart the Enderdragon. And I'm not taking no for answer, no matter how much Adam rejects the idea," I assured him, following the knight out of the door. As the other two went off toward the street corner, I sprinted past the houses of Clara and Mike and turned onto the back part of the block.

The houses here were vacant. I took no time to observe their qualities, though, instead sprinting at full speed toward the next intersection. On the other side of the street was an array of shops, supplying everything from books to a hotel for people who didn't have a lot to buy a home yet in Novum Eboracum.

I turned the corner past another one of the iron fountains and saw Adam walking out of his house with a backpack stuffed to the limit and slung over his shoulder. He saw me immediately, and turned away to start walking away toward the town hall. There was no way that he could evade me, however, and I hurried up to him. "Adam!" I called out to him.

Once I had reached him, he turned slowly to me. "What could you want that could bother me right now? I'm going to go start hooking up streetlights around the city," he growled through gritted teeth, eyebrows in a cross and obviously not in a good mood.

"Wow, you're really excited that we're all back in Novum Eboracum," I muttered, rolling my eyes that Adam was so hostile as soon as we reached the city again. "Anyways, I need to ask you something. Will you rejoin the Imperial Battalion?"

Adam sighed with annoyance. "Yeah, yeah. Khalida told me about how I needed to rejoin and how we needed three more people already."

I raised an eyebrow. There was no way that Khalida had somehow made it to Adam's house first. "When did she tell you all of that?" I questioned him.

"When she got the vision of Jessica's demise. She knew right then and there, since she was leading the town with your absence. That's why none of the houses have been marked off for Jessica, because she already knew that there was no need to build one for Jessica," Adam explained to me, turning back toward his house.

"There's a town meeting now, by the way. Up at the town hall," I informed him as he walked with his back to me up the cobblestone path to his house.

"Where do you think I'm going, you idiot? I can't walk around in public with all of my redstone supplies. Even if you want me to take some on our trip, I don't need ten stacks of it. I'll be down in a couple minutes," he yelled at his house, with the sound waves bouncing off the brick toward me. His arms tattooed with the green markings from Magnam Civitatem swung the door open, and it slammed shut. I rolled my eyes again now that he was inside and continued walking back toward Glowstone Lane.

While I was passing Aria's house, which was the closest to the intersection with Skyler's in the middle of the block, a loud bell rang from the top of the town hall. On top of the domed roof were about nine note blocks all built into a box, and they were chiming a bell. Apparently this was a signal for a town meeting that the town had organized before the Imperial Battalion had made it back to the city, as everyone was making their way toward the town hall now. The cobblestone streets became a mad rush of people as they made their way to Glowstone Lane to the large domed building. I squeezed my way through the sea of bodies, ignoring the hushed whispers that I was the Chosen One, and made my way up to the double wooden doors that served as the entrance to the towering building.

I opened them, sneaking my way in amid the waves of people hurrying to try and get a good seat. Something about the inside of the building told me that that wouldn't end up being a major problem. The seats were aligned so that they faced the left side of the building, where a large column of seats sat that were raised a block above all the others. Those seats were actually against a table, and I counted them. I had already known the number of seats just from inference, but counting made me sure. There were twelve up there, enough for what would be the entire Imperial Battalion would be after this meeting.

I made my way across the empty aisle as people found their seats across the entire town hall, filling up relatively quickly. The others in the Imperial Battalion were standing around the table at what I assumed would be the front of the meeting room. With so many wooden seats, the architect had changed it up and made this table out of stone, like you found on the walls of mines. You had to smelt cobblestone into it, as I remembered from the schooling back in Imperial Plains. It was rock solid, and looked a lot neater than cobblestone.

Adam was the only one who wasn't gathered by the table now. "Does it really matter where we sit?" Mike asked Khalida, who was twirling a swirl of gray hair and beads in one hand frustratingly. "Of course it does! Don't you know anything about organization?" she shrieked.

"And this coming from debatably the most disorganized person in the world," Prae whispered, nudging me with her elbow in my side. I had stifle a small laugh as she said that to me, because it was one of the most true statements you could make about Khalida.

"Oh, look who's making a big problem over absolutely nothing?" Adam shouted over the bustle of the crowd finding their seats in front of us. "Loopy, why don't you get a life?" he taunted as he walked closer to the rest of us.

Skyler huffed audibly in frustration. "I forgot about this tool. Now we've got to endure all this nonsense along with the usual junk," he sighed, smirking.

And here begins the implosion of the Imperial Battalion. The idea I thought of could help stifle the fighting, but only if a second to talk without being shouted over by the others. "Guys, you do realize that fighting in front of the entire city is going to set an image for yourselves? And this isn't exactly a good one," I said to everyone, causing the group to be quiet for the first time in multiple minutes. "Alright. I have an idea to minimize the fighting and get us a little bit more organized on the inside."

"Like how I put up little name tags at each seat so that we know where we're all supposed to sit in front of everyone?" Khalida interrupted eagerly.

I convinced myself not to reprimand her. How was she already in a hyper mood from the bad one that she had just minutes ago? There was no point in asking, I figured. "Yeah. But anyways, it'll work better once we have the entire twelve of the Imperial Battalion, so I'll suspend the organization of the idea until after the town meeting. Do you guys think that you can hold on that long without imploding from the inside out?" I explained to them.

The group nodded at the same time, and I breathed a sigh of relief. "OK, so let's find our seats then," Aria suggested. There were no objections from the others, so I circled the table around the back so I could find my seat. I was in the middle of the seats, sixth from the right. Prae was on my right, as usually, and Remington found his sat on my left. The three vacant seats were split, with two on my side and one on the other. Once the group was situated and there appeared to be no one else shuffling around finding their seats in the crowd, I stood.

The chatter from the two hundred or so people ceased almost immediately, and I surveyed the hall. The rows in the crowd were twenty seats long, and there were thirty that stretched all the way to the back. The first ten rows were packed, and the next two rows had some people spread throughout them, but not even close to being full. Doing a quick calculation in my head, I determined the hall could hold as many as six hundred people, and that excluded standing room only.

"Welcome to the second ever town meeting of Novum Eboracum. Since our last one four six days ago, the town has grown a lot larger in strength, population, and assets. I encourage you to keep opening up shops and the like in order to sustain our community with every resource possible," I realized that I didn't know the date all of a sudden, and putting aside my formal public speaking skills, I continued. "Um, does anyone in the crowd know the date today?"

About fifteen people raised their hands, and I pointed at a girl about fourteen or fifteen in the second row. "Today is June 25th," she called out to me, and then added on a little quieter, "Three and a half weeks since Reckoning Day."

A silence fell upon the hall, but I was determined to keep up the tempo. "Thank you, Ms…" I continued, waiting for her to announce her name.

"Vanessa Ice," she finished, smiling up at me. She had blond hair that would have stretched down past her shoulders, but it was instead tied up in a long ponytail. Her green eyes shimmered very much like emeralds, which complemented the dark green shirt that she was wearing over black skinny jeans.

"Ms. Ice," I repeated, shaking off my trance. I had a girlfriend, I reminded myself, feeling almost like a character in one of those romance drama novels that had been written just for entertainment back in Imperial Plains. I had hated those, I remembered, but the adventure ones fascinated me. And now, I was on my own adventure worthy of its own story.

"Yes, yes. Anyways, our first order of business before anything else is filling up the rest of the Imperial Battalion. As you all might have heard, we are the base of the government here in Novum Eboracum, but our skills are more applicable towards fighting. Right now, obviously, that means that we are fighting to stop the Raid of the Endermen. But you see, we have three seats up here that are vacant at the moment, and three houses on the block across the street are in the same condition. So we're accepting three people into the Imperial Battalion for now," I announced, and the whispers renounced themselves. "Anyone who wishes to make a suggestion may raise their hands now."

Slowly, a few people began raising hands, but only those who were brave enough to be the first ones to speak. A man about thirty years old in the fourth row was the first man that I pointed at to make a nomination. "What about the Judge? He was a chair member of the town council back in New Copenhagen, so he has some political experience."

I was surprised that the first nomination wasn't actually one for the person who was speaking, but that made it all the better. If someone else was giving credit to a person, then that would mean that the nominee must have some kind of track record that earned them respect. "May the man referred to as the Judge please stand?" I called out, and an older man who was sitting only a couple of seats from the person who suggested him stood.

When I said that he was a little bit older, that was certainly true. The man was in no shape to fight at all, but he wasn't exactly frail either. A thin layer of gray hair covered his skull, and his face had some lines through it. I didn't think that he had been recommended for fighting, but more for the political side of the job description. The man propped himself up on a wooden cane, and bowed to me a little bit. I guessed that he was about seventy. "Samuel Cactus at your service, Herald of Survivors," he spoke in a gritty voice. "But you can call me Judge."

A little bit of laughter was emitted from the people sitting around him, apparently the people that he had befriended and made their journey from New Copenhagen to Novum Eboracum with. "Forgive me for my poor shape at the moment," the Judge spoke in a raspy voice to me, "But I am recovering from the long trip down to this city from my old town. I never saw it fit for an old man like me to walk that far, but I did survive, right?" he joked, grinning.

"Is it true that you were a government official before the Raid of the Endermen?" I asked him from my perch above the crowd.

"Yes, it is true. But I seriously don't want a job in the Imperial Battalion. Whatever fighting you guys do, I'll drag you behind. Well, let's just say that I've been a veteran for a very long time and haven't had experience," he told me from below.

"We do need a mayor though," Clara called from the right of me, a couple seats down. "A government official in that position would just need to pass laws from the city."

The Judge seemed to consider this position from his spot on the floor. "I guess I could possibly do that. As long as it doesn't involve any physicality," he shrugged.

"Alright then, case closed. Judge… um, is that what I should call you formally?" I began, hitting an awkward roadblock in my speech.

The group around the Judge laughed again, with even the Judge himself cracking a smile. "Yes, that will do just fine. Judge," he confirmed.

"OK, Judge, do you promise to serve your fellow citizens of Novum Eboracum as best as you can in this New World Republic?" I said loudly, and he nodded yes.

"So it is settled. Welcome to the Mayor of Novum Eboracum!" I continued, waving off that subject like a check on a chart. "Now, we need three positions in the Imperial Battalion. Try to keep your suggestions young and healthy, as physical fitness is recommended for a man or woman trying to save the world."

The words came out a little oddly, but the effect was realized by the people of the town hall. And so the meeting continued on for about an hour, and once we had elected the new people in the Imperial Battalion and addressed a couple other issues it adjourned. We had set up a force of fifteen Royal Guardsmen that would act as a police force around the city. There was no doubt that they were named after the faction of the old world, where the Royal Guardsmen would be the most respected people in the town.

We had also authorized the building of walls along the coastline with fortifiers to hold off attacks from the sea. Because of the city's current rapid expansion, there would be none where the city stopped in the mainland, because the next day there would most likely be a house there.

Most importantly, obviously, were the new additions to the Imperial Battalion. The three people quickly went off to their houses on the block with all of the Imperial Battalion's houses to set up shop before we left to find out what the Eyes of Ender did. As the people of the city filtered out of the town hall, the nine original members of the Imperial Battalion stood outside on the grass across the street from our houses. Everyone was talking about the events of the meeting, which had carried us on until about one o' clock in the afternoon, except for me and Prae. The two of us instead just stared at the houses that had become our homes.

"So what do you think? Will we be able to beat the Enderdragon?" she asked me in a hushed voice so that none of the others could hear. It was like we had some alliance apart from the rest of the group, with me sharing only the most important information with her. No, it wasn't like that, it was just she was my girlfriend. There couldn't be anything wrong with that?

"As long as we stay focused," I responded, staring out at the blue sky. Apprehension was beginning to take over me, but I had to stay strong. If I was to lead the group to hopefully victory, then I would have to stay focused too. "Hopefully the new additions to the group will do well. We can't afford a weak link."

The first person to make it back from setting up their home was Vanessa Ice, the girl who had given me the date at the beginning of the town meeting. She had a diamond sword of her own like mine, thin and deadly, but she preferred to use a bow and arrow. What was interesting was that with every arrow, she lit them on fire before she shot them. That way, not only did the actual bow cause damage to the enemies, but it also made them catch fire. She already had iron armor, like the two others that were joining the Imperial Battalion already.

Next up was Matthew Pane, a sixteen year old from Magnam Civitatem who had been a Royal Guardsmen. Because of this, he by default had a diamond broadsword and iron armor, along with the same red markings that Remington had. The two had apparently known each other, but looked nothing alike. Matthew had a stocky built, more for fighting with brute force than with agility and short attacks like me. He had a sense of humor as well, which Remington had already commented on. The two of them had worked together for a couple of months when Remington had first passed his Reckoning Day and was new to the job. I probably would have experienced a very similar orientation, had it not been for the destruction of Imperial Plains. With black hair and hazel eyes, he looked like he could threaten to attack at any second.

Lastly, there was Nicole Wheat, a seventeen year old from Imperial Plains who had remarkably been one of the people on top of the skyscraper that had fallen on its side amidst the mob attacks through the city. I had presumed that there was no way that there could be any survivors from that incident except for Frank, Natalie, and I. Apparently, though, she and three others out of the dozen or so people had survived the fall with minor injuries. One of her friends had broken an arm, but they had been relatively fine, give or take scratches and bruises. Nicole herself was also a Royal Guardsmen, and since she had sacrificed her life willingly for me to get away, I was ecstatic that she had survived. Her shoulder length brown hair stayed straight, never even crossing single strands somehow. She had blue eyes like mine, but they were darker in a way that made her seem almost menacing.

Since the group was assembled and the newcomers had pledged their allegiance, we were set to go to the stronghold. We were about to begin our journey when a man ran up to our group, middle aged with a scruffy beard and rough workman's hands. I turned to him, and he stopped in front of me once he reached our group in a hurry. "Alex Glowstone! I have built something most essential to your efforts in defeating the Enderdragon," he panted, doubling over with his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath.

This was a little annoying since we had been ready to go supposedly. "What is it, sir? And please make it quick, we have to leave for the Enderdragon as soon as possible."

"Mr. Glowstone, I'd like you to have this. Freshly made for a boy your age, and made of only the best diamonds," he exclaimed, holding out to me an entire suit of armor. Except, it wasn't like the iron one that I had since the time before we left for the Nether the first time weeks ago. This one was a bright, shiny turquoise, and it hit me what this was. It was a full suit of diamond armor, and it was for me.

I took it from his hands, surprised by the weightlessness of the normally heavy material. "Wow!" I exclaimed, putting the clothing into my toolbelt except for the helmet. I slid the material onto my head, where it fit snugly around my skull and felt comfortable against my skull. This was a luxury that I previously had not been able to afford. "How did you make this?"

"I got it from the miners that put so much effort into their work, sir. I do hope that it aids you. After all, if you want to be one of the greatest heroes of all time like Syndicate or the like, then you have to dress like one," he explained, shying off.

"Wait!" I called out, and he looked back shyly. "Take my iron armor, at least. Let someone else use it. And tell them it was once used by Alexander Glowstone, the last hope of the Overworld. Thank you, um, blacksmith."

The man took the iron armor from my arms and tucked it away inside his backpack. I smiled at the sight of him running away to tell his family or whatnot of his encounter. The group stared at me, diamond helmet and all, as I lifted an Eye of Ender high above my head. "What secrets do you hide from us, little one?"

Wow, powerful. Now that the characters actually know the date and time thanks to a smoking hot new addition to the Imperial Battalion, there will be some sense of order in the chronological sequence of it all. Of course, spending two days in the Nether didn't help that much.

What is to come of the expedition to defeat the Enderdragon once and for all? How will the rookies of the Imperial Battalion deal with all of the commitment, effort, and extreme physical capabilities required of them? And what is happening to Sergeant Richter as we speak? Find out next time, only in the Prophecy of Minecraftia!