A/N: Hey, Ender here. No reviews again, so this means that February now has a record for the fewest reviews at a total of one. Anyway, this is indeed the last chapter of Ender's Journey, which is probably a good thing because it started to stray away from Ender's story towards the end. Thank you to all the fabulous people who have either followed, favorite, reviewed or even just read this story. I hope you enjoy this last chapter.
Lani's POV
"Do you really think this will work?" I asked, skeptically looking at where Aleeta had set up a portal circle, the ring of runes that surrounded it nearly complete. Only a small space remained, the space where she stood was still bare of runes.
"Of course it will." she said "Tanya told me all about it, and showed me what to do before she left. She can be a pain sometimes, but she sure knows how to plan ahead. I mean, none of the other lords who left even though of how they were possibly going to get back here.
"But how will you know the right time to activate the circle? And what if it doesn't work?"
"Quit worrying so much." snapped Aleeta "Tanya's the one who told me when. She sent me when I had to activate this circle, and said she would activate her own when it was time. She said she would find a safe place wherever she found Shadow and set up a link to match this one so we can all come back and forth as needed."
Sketching the last couple of runes with a dye tipped stick, she stepped out of the ring. Taking a breath, she raised her arms and stretched her winds, each feather carefully positioned to skirt the invisible perimeter of the circle. She closed her eyes, and as she did, particles of magic drifted down from her outstretched hands, gathering into two long ropes of magic that orbited the perimeter of the circle in a perfect spiral, the two strands exactly parallel to one another. Aleeta began to chant the words to activate the portal, each word slightly louder than the last until her speech was a shout.
"Lree, chuvio, shyartan cantwo, rela chinko wizot tivilop ixan, zilokin meerxon keyaow!" Upon the recitation of the spell's final word, the two streams of magic converged, forming a pillar of purple light in the center of the circle. A heartbeat later, the column expanded, shortening its height as it spread outwards into a portal that covered over the remnants of the leaving behind only a starry black portal ringed by the frame blocks designed to maintain the portal. Reaching into a small bag by her side, Aleeta placed an eye of Ender into each slot in the awaiting blocks, linking them to the portal.
Aleeta swayed, and I rushed to her side, wrapping my arms around a spot just above her waist to prevent her from falling forward into the portal.
"Thanks." she said, her eyes tired as she looked at me. "That took a lot out of me, more than I was expecting. Splitting with Tanya has severely impaired the strength of my magic."
"Well, you should be able to reunite with her soon." I said "Now that the world link has been restored, our people our no longer trapped in this realm."
*It is good.* said Mirage *The kind should be free to travel the realms. That is how it was in times past and how it should return to.*
Shadow's POV
"When I said I wanted to do something fun, the first thing that came to mind was not sneaking around the forest in the middle of the night." It was the evening after Notch had recovered, after Herobrine had nearly burned off Steve's roof. Steve had noticed what had happened after he met with Notch, and although he didn't mention it to Herobrine, he had surreptitiously asked me to help him fix the mess. This had taken up the time from my meeting with Herobrine to shortly before I had left for this misadventure in the woods.
"Well that's too bad now isn't it," hissed Herobrine "You're the one who suggested doing something, this is merely what I wished to do in that regard."
"Are you sure it really was someone else the Crafter's have been seeing in the forest?" I asked, thinking of the actions the Crafters had accused him of "This does seem to match the description of what they said you were doing."
"Why do you think we are out here?" he said, the sarcastic half smile he usually wore replacing the irritated one he had worn prior. "We're going to catch this guy whose been pretending to be me and let him discover why it is a terrible, terrible thing to even consider messing with me.
"I'm not sure that's the best idea." I said hesitantly, not wanting to do anything that might cause Herobrine to overreact.
"Ah, its fine." he said. He began weaving his way through the forest, a seemingly invisible path opening before him. It was all I could do to keep up with him as he moved with a practiced ease through the forest.
A sudden movement to my left caused me to freeze, eyes darting side to side in an attempt to catch a glimpse of the movement's source.
"What was that?" I whispered.
"No idea," said Herobrine. He carefully maneuvered himself until he was concealed from whatever had made the sound by the trunk of a tree. Reaching upwards, he hauled himself up and was soon lost from my sight, not even a twitch of the canopy betraying where he had gone. Returning to staring at where I suspected the moment's source was, I saw the slight movement from a shifting creature and the figure resolved into a dark patch against the slightly darker backdrop of the forest. A flash of teal streaked down from the higher canopy, resting for a fraction of a second on several platforms before grabbing the figure under the arms, restraining him by wrapping his arms upward over the mysterious figure's shoulders.
"Who are you?" I heard Herobrine yell at the figure he restrained. He looked almost identical to Herobrine, only a slight variation in the colors of their clothing betrayed the fact that they were in fact different lords and not merely a copy of one another. "Why have you taken my likeness."
"All shall be told." the figure said "But fortune smiles on me for once it seems, for you are the lords I was seeking. What would be under normal circumstances an inconvenience has instead become a necessity."
"Tell it to me straight." said Herobrine, tightening his grip on our prisoner.
"Yeah, fine, whatever." he said. Reaching his hands as far forward as he could get them in his restrained state, he sketched several rune signs in the air. A shifting aura of light covered him, and when it dispersed, the man looked very different than he had previously. Long greyish blond hair shot through with streaks of red framed a pale face, the most noticeable feature of which were his piercing blue eyes shot through with lines of pale purple. He wore an ash gray robe trimmed with red ribbons, more ribbons forming magic runes on the fabric. It was cut lengthwise just below his waist, split to reveal the dark red pants he wore. Flexing his wings, which were covered in red and gray feathers that grew lighter in hue the further along his wing they were, he wriggled out of Herobrine's grasp.
"That's much better." he sighed, linking his hands and raising them over his head in a luxurious stretch. "Anyway, name's Rayko, chaos lord of hostile mobs. As I said, usually meeting you guys would just get me into massive trouble. I mean, I'll freely admit I'm where most of Hero here's trouble has been coming from. But today, I'm doing a favor for Israphel and Teloxen."
Herobrine and I glanced at each other and Herobrine reluctantly said "Start talking, you have one minute."
"Aw, your giving chances, that's so sweet." said Rayko "Anyway though, no crazy hijinks for me today,. I'm just here to bring you guys this message." He produced a small folded piece of paper. "I kind of accidentally, without any knowledge of what the information I gave would do, got Teloxen in quite a bit of trouble. So, uh, this is just to make that up to him and his allied lords you know. It's not like I'm going soft and going to join your forces or anything."
"Yeah, sure whatever." I said "Now if you haven't got anything else to say, get out of here before I forcibly make you do so."
"No need to tell me twice shavi." he said, flashing a wicked smile. Then he was gone, melting into the shadows with a practiced ease that surprised me.
"Shavi?" asked Herobrine, looking looking slightly confused.
"It's a long story." I sighed "To the point though, its from when Illusion knew some relation to the chaos kind, and they called him chixa tu shavi, or lord of cupcakes in this language. I don't know why because he always managed to change the subject before I got the answer from him. So some chaos lords, mostly the younger, sillier ones call me shavi."
Frowning, Herobrine asked "Who's Illusion? And why would they call you that if it's about him?"
"Oh stardust, I forgot you didn't know about Illusion." I cursed.
"That's a strange way to swear." commented Herobrine.
"Yeah, well Illusion's influence again." I said "Anyway, Illusion is an Enderlord from before the war that destroyed their home. For some reason, something to do with our magic I guess, whenever a lord becomes involved enough in our magic, they spirit bond with one of the Enderkind who are trapped in the deepest part of the void. I'm paired with Illusion, Ender's paired with Mist, and Tanya is an Enderkind paired with Aleeta, who I don't think you've met."
"Is that how there were two Enders earlier?" he asked.
"Ya. Anyway though, lets see what this message says." pulling it open, I scanned a few lines before returning to the top.
"It says I know you probably won't forgive what I did, but at least understand why it was necessary. More troublesome things are upon us though. I have come into possession of what Teloxen believes to be a prophecy. A prophecy we fear speaks of the destruction I will bring to the world if the sand should ever rule the entirety of my actions. Teloxen said I should send it here so that you can prepare. So here it is.
The Prophecy of Sand
When fallen lord is given power,
The world prepares for it's darkest hour.
Chaos' sand rules the lord's mind,
Presenting new goals for him to find.
The land does fall to storms of sand,
Yet some do live to make a stand.
Into another world the lord is cast,
All do hope the danger is past.
A second war does bring his rise,
And new quests lead to new allies.
Space and earth together quest,
Together facing every test.
Realmkind watch and Realmkind fear,
Forbidden to help when danger's near.
One lord per realm does break the rule,
In secret they help them keep their cool.
When final fight does come one day,
To bring him down there's but one way.
If to save a friend lord you do desire,
It must be done with the power of fire.
Lords shall change and realms shall bend,
Those called enemies now called friend.
And with the fall of sand a new order shall rise,
One which shall hasten chaos' demise.
But listen well to all who hear,
Many wish to kill all things they fear.
Yet balance is required in every place,
And those who lack shall find defeat in whatever they face."
"That's...not good." said Herobrine, half at a loss for words.
"No" I agreed "It most certainly is not. We must get back to tell Steve and Notch. I don't think they would appreciate being left out of this."
"Is that stuff all true?" Herobrine and I turned to see Notchie, Ender and Flare perched in the lower branches of a tree behind us. How they had gotten there without us noticing was beyond me, especially since Notchie's wings were glowing brightly in the darkness of the forest.
"Yes, we believe so." I said.
"But Izra doesn't deserve any of this." said Flare "He was just trying to do the right thing."
"Unfortunately that usually just leads to trouble." I said "But you three have my word that we shall do whatever is in our power to save him. Not only for your sake, but for the sake of the realms it may protect."
"Let's go back." said Herobrine, glancing around warily "That prophecy thing creeped my out, and I don't want to be in the dark forest right now."
*Do not fret child* I heard Illusion send to Ender *We shall deal with this threat as the kind always does.*
You mean sheer luck? I sent, disguising my laughter.
*Shut it Shadow.* said Illusion.
The others had already been to travel along the path out of the forest, yet Ender hung back. Stopping for a moment, I heard her whisper "how is this going to turn out? I wanted an adventure of my own, and yet this is nothing like I imagined. Is this where my adventure ends? Who knows where I'll end up next."
*Well the nice thing about endings,* said Mist, noticing my presence and deliberately allowing me to hear her response *Is that they are never really the end. There's always another story to be told, another adventure to have. Most beings only have one grand adventure, one story that defines their life. But the lordkind live lives so long that many stories are linked with their own. Our lives contain many chapters, and this is not the end for us, merely a transition to a new age. As for where we'll end up, only fate can answer that. Fate and Chaos. The twin forces of balance. Both necessary for a realm to function, and yet completely at odds with one another. Maybe when this prophecy is fulfilled we will finally be able to grasp the importance of this union of forces, but until then, we must accept things as they come.*
"I hope you're right." sighed Ender.
*Trust me.* she said.
"Always." said Ender.
A/N: So I hope you guys enjoyed this story. Thanks again to everyone who read, reviewed, favorite and followed, it really means a lot to me. So anyway, what I'm going to do now is list all the lords and their realms so there is an easy list to reference when the new story comes out. A few of the lords will have information that will be given in the next story rather than this one, but nothing that would be considered a major spoiler.
Aether
Realmlord: Notch, lord of light
Apprentice Realmlord: Notchie, lord of stars
Jeb, lord of light
Millie, lord of zanite
Taylan, lord of gravitite
Kaylo, lord of ambrosium
Tyra, lord of Valkyrie
Nether
Realmlord: Herobrine, lord of fire
Apprentice Realmlord: Flare, lord of blazemen
Demented, lord of wither skeletons
Jump, lord of magma cubes
Chenzir, lord of ghasts
Bekka, lord of zombie pigmen
Ghastly, lord of ghasts
Overworld
Realmlord: Steve, lord of Crafters
Apprentice Realmlord: Izra, lord of creepers, temporarily absent
Victor, lord of skeletons
Shade, lord of skeletons
End
Realmlord: Shadow, lord of Ender magic
Apprentice Realmlord: Ender, lord of Endermen
Illusion, lord of Ender magic
Mist, lord of Endermen
Tanya, lord of Magitech
Lani, lord of Ender dragons
Aleeta, lord of Ender alchemy
Mirage, lord of Ender dragons
Void
Realmlord: Zeren, high lord of chaos
Apprentice Realmlord: Formerly Teloxen, no affirmed new choice.
Milota, Chaos lady of withers
Sallen, Chaos lord of Magitech
Israphel, Chaos lord of sand
Teloxen, Chaos lord of balance
Rayko, Chaos lord of hostile mobs
Dexos, Chaos lord of decay
Vakara, Chaos lady of the night
So I think that's all the lords, tell me if you notice anyone major I missed. Also, CreepyParadox, I forgot to put your characters in the end like I said I would, so they will probably show up in the next story's first or second chapter. My bad. The first chapter of Izra's Fall will be out in two weeks, I have a term project so there is no way I can have it done by next week. I hope you have a great day and I shall see you all in the next story. Bye! :D