Book and Quill

Producer: Maxwell's Writing Supplies at 18112011, Solis Occasum, Minecraftia

Owner: Theo

Page 1:

I don't think we're allowed to do things like this on watch duty, but it's not like anything's been happening here anyway. The general probably won't notice. Plus, if enemy ships get close, It's not like this is do distracting that I wouldn't see them.

You're probably wondering about my situation, you lifeless book, or maybe a historian? Perhaps you found this on my corpse?

Ah, but enough rambling, let me fill you in. I'm stationed at watch duty on the eastern Minecraftian coast. General keeps saying that Incursoian warships are gonna arrive any day now, packed to the brim with Ravagers and archers and those spell casting lunatics.

Seems he hasn't got the memo that the only ships engaging in this war are scouting and messenger ships, practically all of the bloodshed's happening on dry land.

Speaking of said violence…

I'm not sure what to write about it. So many talks of an Incursoian ship raiding some defenseless port, or our king slighting some Incursoian Evoker enough that a war was declared, or some other unrelated rumor are floating around that I have no clue what to believe.

There is one thing I can agree on everyone with, however. This bloodshed has got to end soon. Make the mistake of asking your fellow guard about their family and he'll rattle off how many he's lost to this war.

They keep saying that we'll win soon, that we just have to give one final push. But they've said that… what… at least four times now. However, there is one bit of hope that I do have that this will soon truly be over.

People have been talking—lots of 'em, even some high ranking fellows—about a project our king's workin' on. A construct, made not from iron or snow or anything like that, but from much darker things, much more atrocious things. The only ingredient we can agree on is souls.

As awful of a being these rumors talk about, it gives me hope. They say that it will be strong enough to force the Incursoians to surrender, to finally bring an end to this whole thing.

Ironic, that such an horrific idea would bring me so much quiet hope.

By the name of Crepusc, I just heard oh Sun and Moon and Stars above

I just heard some awful screech, sounded like it was coming from Incurso. I would prepare to fight considering how close it sounded but… everyone I've asked—no matter where they were—seemed to have heard it just as loud. A horrible, slowly rising howl that sounded like it had undertones of thousands of screaming souls.

…

…

Maybe those rumors have quite some truth to them.

Page 2:

I haven't written in this for a while. Been far so busy fighting for me and others lives.

So yeah, rumors were true. Some horrible soul amalgamation called the Wither got unleashed onto Incurso. I originally celebrated, morbidly joyful that this war would certainly end now that we had such a being wreaking havoc on them. But there are two things that stop from doing that anymore, that crawl through my mind and plague it with guilt for daring to feel such things.

The first is that the Wither does not just attack directly. It's spreading something awful through the Overworld. No matter who its victim turns out to be—civilian, warrior, noble, whatever—it not only kills them no matter if they're innocent or not, it won't even let them die. They fall dead and then rise back with a savage bloodlust. The only saving grace is most of them get smitten by the Sun's holy light. Just another way it blesses us.

The second is that the Incursoians aren't the only ones being affected. Of course, that's not to say it would be wonderful even if they were the only ones, suffering is still suffering and civilians are still civilians. However, it found Minecraftia and we found it had no more problem rampaging through our cities than it did Incursos.

It isn't all doom and gloom though. I've been searching what feels like half the damn continent for survivors and we've assembled a little community in the village I grew up in. Place has been rundown and abandoned for a long while, but it's far more remote than what seem to be the Withers preferred targets and it's hidden on three sides by various types of forest. I don't think the 'undead' as we've started calling them nor any Incursoian soldiers will find us here, nestled away in greenery and what remains of this little village.

The place isn't too far from here. I just came over to see if how many useful supplies there were that I could carry back.

Even with the kingdom practically collapsed, I'm slowly finding… peace? Whatever it is that this little community I've gathered gives me.

It's strange, feeling such a thing when most of the population is dead through one way or another, and when the cities you used to visit as a kid are crumbling to ruins.

But still, I feel like I can start anew back in my old village. Leave my horrible memories and thoughts behind.

Would probably help to make that more literal by leaving this old book behind.

Well, if someone stumbles across this one day, I hope you got something out of it. Information? Maybe enjoyment? Whatever the case, I've got to be heading home now, the Sun's sinking and soon the Moon will have to try to protect us from that… thing.

Monomon laid the journal down. She hadn't been able to entirely understand it. Quite a few words, sayings and proper nouns proved foreign, but the underlying structure of the language remained the same.

At the very least she now understood the source of this kingdoms plague, and some knowledge of it's inhabitants. Also, assuming that the journal—made of an, rough material that somehow felt like silk—wasn't too old, it seemed that there would be little language barrier between them and those natives.

"Teacher? The royals are asking if anyone has seen a small, dark child. Only this tall, with a cloak and horns with two notches." a guard stated as he burst into the study.

Ah, the Hollow Kni-er… Wander probably let their curiosity get the better of them again. She hadn't interacted with them for quite a while and let the guard know as such.

She admitted mentally that although she was a bit concerned, the matter certainly didn't affect her personally now that her fate and theirs weren't so closely linked.

Her trust in the King and Queen had… diminished, all this journey, every hardship along the way and every home abandoned because they took so long to notice their vessel's impurity. She held no ill will for Wander themselves, it wasn't their fault that they couldn't live up to their parents and dreamers expectations. Her opinion of the royals was still somewhat soured, though.

Quirrel weighed his options. He could head back now and return the child but come back relatively empty handed, or he could follow said child's suggestion of following the map they'd gotten and getting further information. Besides, considering that Wander requested it, the king probably wouldn't be too angry about the situation.

He could find himself in trouble but… he simply couldn't say no to the tiny face and wide, curious eyes of a child overdue their childhood.

"Shouldn't we return them to his light?" The Watcher asked.

"They requested it, and besides, it wouldn't be a good scouting mission if we didn't gather some information about this civilization." Quirrel replied.

"A child's request barely means anything when it goes against what the king would likely want. No offense, prince." Lurien countered.

"You have a point, but it means more when they've been deprived of these opportunities for so long." Quirrel chatted.

"Very well. We should get going and stalk some other civilization now." Lurien said, a faint chuckle falling from him.

And so the group walked onwards, Iselda and the tiny armed child at the front, dark oak and birch and oak mixing as they moved further into the forests.

Mikey hadn't been so scared in a long time. So many things had happened, some monster kept screaming during the night and now everyone was so scared that they had to leave.

The worst part was that leaving meant he had to walk. Augh, why couldn't they just stay in their houses and not do anything until it was nice and safe again.

Instead, they had to walk through the plains just after waking up, all bundled up in one big crowd slowly making their way forward.

At least he had some fun earlier. When all the adults were talking about the scary things, he and all his friends managed to sneak off and play hide and seek.

He found Minnie and Abby and… he didn't find Juliet.

Well, she's probably walking beside her parents now.

Probably…