Yesterday...

I think I've finally cracked it! I think I actually have a lead on how to bring him back!

Previously I hadn't thought much of paintings. They were either beautiful pictures or arbitrary decor. Nothing else to it. But then the other day, during a short break I had taken to build better housing for the villagers, I found one painting with what I believe could be a decent lead! Wither Skeleton skulls and Soul Sand! Bring together the mind and soul, at the place where the body was lost, and maybe...

Now...

Well, that didn't work.

And now, half my kingdom is dead as well. Part of me would still trade the rest of them just to get my friend back, but I know now that it wouldn't work. I would just get them all killed. But as villagers, they had never been in the Nether. Only the green clothed guards could use weapons or armor, and they still couldn't build or mine like I could. Nor did they have any of the other skills required to survive in the Nether. And that doesn't even include the rest of the villagers, who would almost definitely die here within hours if left alone. We needed security. A place to stay safe while trying to find a new way to the surface.

We needed a new village.

How was I supposed to convince them of that?!

They felt great pride for their old home, and they wouldn't want to move on so easily. I had built it for them from the ground up, and they were there for all of it, barring the protective castle walls that surrounded it, which I built before offering them a new, safer, and more beautiful home and bringing them to the build site.

So if they wouldn't accept a new village, I wouldn't tell them that it would be a village. And for good measure, plus for safety, I would build it under the netherrack. They would never guess that it was their new and only somewhat temporary village, as long as I didn't call it a village until they've settled in.

The village portal's Nether side was in the middle of a Crimson Forest, with only a tiny cobblestone box around it. Luckily, my Netherite mine, dug by hand with Efficiency V, was directly under and directly connected to that box. Zombified Piglins wouldn't bother the villagers, the guards could handle the small and medium Magma Cubes, and there wasn't enough height for the large ones. The Piglins knew not to go near the portal, and they were terrified of it anyway, and Hoglins wouldn't spawn on netherrack, nor would they enter from above while the box upstairs was surrounded by Warped Fungus. So we would be safe here for a short time while I spoke to them.

And I needed to speak to them. I was their king, and they had just gone through a tragedy. They needed my voice, or else I may as well just step down as king.

I finished clearing out a bit of the ceiling, built a small platform under it to speak from, and decided it was now or never.

"Attention everyone! Please, everyone, may I please have your attention!" As they all turned to face me (aside from the guards, who continued watching our surroundings), I pulled from my Enderchest a book and quill. Even though I knew them all personally, it wasn't impossible to miss someone, so I always kept a list of all the villagers, dead and living, that I could modify when needed. "I'd like to do a headcount. Please respond when your name is called, and stay silent until then. Anyone who does not respond..." I let out a shaky sigh, knowing there would be many who did not. "...will be counted as dead until proven otherwise."

Someone in the crowd sobbed at that, and suddenly I saw just how broken they all were by this. Their home was destroyed, their families were dead, and they were stranded in the most deadly environment known. Some held their children in their arms, trying to keep them calm without falling apart themselves. Others didn't have children to hold anymore.

And I was the cause. Me and my blind ambition. Me and my obsessive denial. Me and my secrets. Me and my total inability to open up to those who care about me, whether they were like me or not.

This was all my fault.

I felt myself falling apart at the seams, so I changed routes. "The... headcount will begin shortly. For the moment, I will be taking a short recess to... consider the situation... and formulate a plan of action. Guards, please ensure everyone's safety while I am absent. I will return momentarily. Anyone with food and potions, please tend to the injured." At that, I held back my emotions as I speed walked through the crowd and off to a cornered off section of the quarry, where I finally let the tears of my regret fall.

I had brought down everything I had ever built.

After a short time to myself, I returned to perform the headcount.

They all turned as soon as they saw me on the platform. "Thank you for your patience. The headcount will now begin." I opened the book to the first page. "Reginald Wartzog." There was silence for a moment, and then for a moment more, and then for another, until finally we all accepted the truth. Reginald, the first villager to be transported to Coppertop, the elder of the village, the one whom everyone knew as the wisest and kindest and most impactful soul they had ever met in their entire life, was gone. The one who had seen my story from almost the very beginning. The one who had seen everyone else's story from the very beginning.

This would be worse than I had anticipated.

Finally, ten minutes later, the headcount was finished. Just over half the workers of the village were dead or missing, along with a third of the guards and two of five Iron Golems.

And I had killed them.

Now, the rest of them were looking to me for a plan. And once again, I would be keeping secrets from them for the sake of that plan. "Coppertop is gone. And it's not coming back. Nor are any of those we have lost." Everyone took a moment of silence at that. "But we're still here. And they wouldn't want that to change. So we're going to survive. We're going to go on. We're going to find another way out of here, or we're going to die trying. We need food, we need shelter, we need a safe path to a far away location, and we need 10 Obsidian to build a portal with."

I looked to the staircase to the portal box, then back to the crowd. "The corners can safely be removed from our portal when the time comes, but we need to track down 6 more. We need light sources to spawnproof our temporary base of operations. We need the clerks brewing potions for our guards and golems, which means we need brewing stands, which I will have to handle personally. We need food, which means farming mushrooms and Hoglins, which will try to kill you if not raised in captivity from childhood. As for a safe path, we'll worry about that when food and shelter is taken care of." I sighed, knowing that because I had brought them into this mess, I had to do anything, even lay down my life, to get them through it.

And then, maybe I would tell them. But they were broken enough right now. They didn't need to lose their king too.

"I'm not going to tell you we'll survive this, because we might not. But if you'd prefer not to try, the portal is upstairs for you."