"For the last time, I don't care how desperate your town is!," said a man with a gray moustache, thinning hair, and a black suit and tie. "This is the price I am offering and no lower. I suggest that you take it or leave it." He was sitting at a wooden table, and sitting across from him was a woman with chestnut hair and redstone armor. It was Ellegaard, the famous redstone engineer. And right now, she was in deep, deep trouble. "Please, Mr. Smith," Ellegaard begged, an action that was usually unbecoming of her. "Redstonia needs that redstone! Our reserves are running out and without the next shipment of redstone, my town might not survive!"
Mr. Smith, or Sebastian J. Smith, was currently in a meeting with someone to decide how much the next shipment of redstone would cost. He huffed, twirling his moustache with his fingers impatiently as he stared at the woman sitting across from him. He just couldn't understand why the woman was so adamant against the shipment's current price. One thousand emeralds for twenty chests of redstone sounded reasonable to him.
"Listen, miss…," he trailed off, already forgetting the woman's name. "Ellegaard," said the woman. "It's Ellegaard." "Listen, Miss Ellegaard," Mr. Smith continued. "I just don't see why you believe this trade is so unfair." Ellegaard sighed heavily. "Sir, Redstonia doesn't HAVE one thousand emeralds!," she said desperately. "You know how rare they are! Could you at least lower the price just a little bit? Or ask for something other than emeralds?"
Mr. Smith sighed heavily. "Very well, then," he said. "The price will no longer be one thousand emeralds." Ellegaard smiled in relief. "The price is now TWO thousand emeralds," said Mr. Smith, wiping the smile off Ellegaard's face. "T-two thousand emeralds?," asked Ellegaard, her face pale. "But that's double the original price!" "Listen, Miss Ellegaard," said Mr. Smith, leaving forward and smirking at her. "I'm not a big fan of haggling. My redstone has to have high prices, otherwise, how would my company stay afloat? This is my final offer. Two thousand emeralds for twenty chests of redstone, or no deal."
"This...this is barbaric!," yelled Ellegaard, standing up from her seat and shaking in rage. "It's criminal! You're willing to condemn an entire town just to fill your own pockets?!" "Yes," said Mr. Smith without an ounce of hesitation in his voice. He leaned back in his chair and gave a smug smile. "Besides, who else are you going to ask for redstone from? The other multibillion redstone corporation just across the street? My advice is to take it or leave it."
Instead of responding, Ellegaard grabbed her case full of precious ores and ingots off the table and stormed towards the door. She stopped halfway and turned her head to give Mr. Smith a scathing glare. "Sebastian, you mark my words," she growled, pointing directly at him. "One day, someone is going to stand up to your injustice and teach you a lesson!" She walked out of the room and slammed the door behind her. Mr. Smith, who was nonplussed by the vague threat, took a cigar from his desk and did a celebratory smoke.
Meanwhile, Ellegaard stomped down the stairs, trying to hold in every obscenity that was going through her head. Once she got to the bottom of the stairs, she was greeted with the sight of a man with neatly combed hair, square glasses, and a white suit. The man was sitting on a lavish velvet sofa and reading a book. Sitting on the floor were two girls. One of them was a young woman with brown hair and eyes the color of emeralds. She was helping her sister, a much younger girl with yellow hair brushed to the side, assemble a toy train track. Ellegaard carefully walked past the two girls and placed the briefcase of ingots on the man's lap. "He didn't take it," she sighed. "He won't negotiate." The man sighed and put the book down, then stared down at the briefcase with a raised eyebrow. "I guess that makes sense," he said. "Mr. Smith is already rich enough. What do a few ingots mean to him?" "If you knew it wouldn't work, then why did you go through with it anyway?," Ellegaard asked heatedly. The man sighed and got off the sofa while picking up his briefcase. "Because there wasn't much else we could do," he explained. "As you know, Mr. Smith has his own team of lawyers. Very skilled ones. The only solution I could see was to outright bribe him, but in hindsight, that plan was doomed for failure from the start." "Well, I appreciate you trying to help me, Edgar," said Ellegaard.
"Alright, Stella," said the brown haired woman, standing and picking up the little girl in her arms. "It's almost bedtime." "But Molly!," whined Stella. "I wanna finish the train track!" She suddenly yawned, showing that she was indeed tired. Ellegaard couldn't help but silently coo at the little girl. She reminded her of Lucy. Molly turned to face the redstone engineer with a sad smile. "I'm very sorry about my father, ma'am," she said. "He can be a little...difficult, but he has a good heart." As much as Ellegaard wanted to disagree with her, she just couldn't bring herself to say no. "If you say so," she sighed. Molly shook Ellegaard's hand, then made her way up the stairs with Stella in her arms. Ellegaard and Edgar walked out of the mansion, the night breeze cooling their faces. The sound of chirping crickets filled their ears. "Do you have kids of your own?," Edgar suddenly asked. Ellegaard looked at him questioningly. "I just noticed the way you were looking at Mr. Smith's daughters," Edgar explained. "The only person who looks at a child like that is a loving parent." Ellegaard winced, embarrassed from being caught.
"Well...I have a niece...of sorts," said Ellegaard, trying her best to put it into words that actually made sense. "I mean, I'm not technically her aunt, but she does view me as one. You could say she's...adopted." Edgar nodded, seemingly interested. "I have a son," he said. "He really admires you." "He does?," asked Ellegaard, blinking. Edgar chuckled and shrugged. "Well, not you specifically. See, he's a big fan of the Order of the Stone and...he wants to be their intern one day." "Oh...that's nice to hear," said Ellegaard. There was a moment of awkward silence between them. "Look, I'm sorry that I couldn't help you win this case," Edgar apologized. "No, you don't need to apologize," said Ellegaard. "Redstonia still has a month of redstone supply left over. We'll manage somehow." "That's good to hear," said Edgar. "...is something wrong?," asked Ellegaard. She couldn't help but notice how distracted the lawyer was most of the time. "Oh, it's nothing," Edgar assured her. "I'm just...worried about someone…"
"...well...goodbye," said Edgar, walking away. Ellegaard watched him go until he quickly vanished in the darkness of the night. She sighed and looked back at Mr. Smith's mansion with sadness. The wealthy businessman was the main supplier of Redstonia's redstone, but for some reason, he had decided to raise the prices to an absurd degree. With no more redstone to power the city, what was Ellegaard going to tell the people of Redstonia?
Suddenly, she heard what sounded like someone's foot crunching on gravel. She quickly turned around, but it was too dark to see more than a few dozen blocks away. The only source of light was the moon and the light emanating from the mansion's windows. "H-hello?," she asked nervously. "Is anyone there?" She couldn't help but mentally scold herself for being so jumpy. You're a member of the Order of the Stone!, she thought. Act like it!
At first, there was no response. Ellegaard was about to start heading back home when she suddenly heard more footsteps rapidly crunching on gravel. She quickly turned around again, just in time to see what looked like a suspicious figure wearing black and purple armor standing just outside the house. She blinked and rubbed her eyes vigorously, but before she knew it, the strange man was gone. Ellegaard sighed. "Great, now I'm so stressed that I'm literally seeing things," she mumbled before starting her journey back to the temple.
It took her a long while to get back to the temple, and by the time she finally got there, she was downright exhausted. Coupled with the immense stress of Redstonia potentially going into ruins, and you had yourself a very grumpy Ellegaard. Right when Soren, Ramus, Ivor, and Gabriel saw the stormy look on her face, they wisely chose to skedaddle and hide in Soren's fortress until the storm was over. After all, an angry Ellegaard was a terrifying Ellegaard.
Ellegaard stomped all the way to her bedroom, slammed the door behind her, then face planted onto her bed and screamed into her pillow while kicking her legs around. She didn't care that she was acting like a moody teenager. If she didn't do something, Redstonia was going to crumble and her people would have nowhere to go. Inventing and tinkering with redstone was practically their lives! For most of them, it was all they knew how to do. Without a safe haven like Redstonia to accommodate their needs, they wouldn't last a single day in the outside world. Ellegaard finally calmed down somewhat and turned onto her back, sighing tiredly as she stared up at the ceiling. She was Ellegaard, the most skilled redstone engineer in the entire world! She was supposed to be one of the most intelligent women in the world, damn it! And she refused to let something like this bring her down. She should be able to come up with a solution for all of this. But no matter how hard she tried to concentrate, nothing came to her mind.
Ellegaard sighed again and closed her eyes, hoping that a good night's rest would help. Suddenly, she heard what sounded like tapping on glass. She opened her eyes and turned towards the source of the noise, which was a small bat perched right outside of her window. A roll of paper was tied to the bat's body with some string. Ellegaard smiled and got up from her bed, then walked over to the window and opened it. The bat flew into her room and began squeaking rapidly while flying around in circles. Ellegaard couldn't help but giggle. "Calm down, Oliver," she said. "You'll need to save energy for your trip back home." Oliver did what he was told and flew back down, landing on Ellegaard's shoulder. Ellegaard took out a cookie, ripped out a single large crumb, and fed it to Oliver, who gobbled it up eagerly. While the bat was busy eating his snack, Ellegaard untied the string around his body and took off the roll of paper. "You can go back now," she said. Oliver squeaked and flew out the window. Ellegaard closed the window, then unrolled the piece of paper and began to read the message written on it.
"Dear Ellegaard," the message said. "How are you? ...Okay, perhaps that was a pretty stupid question to start off with. You've made it very clear in your last letter that you are not doing well at all. I just can't believe the nerve of that man! Who does he think he is, sentencing your beloved city and its inhabitants to ruin? But I'm ranting right now. I hope the lawyer that I recommended was able to help. Hopefully, Redstonia will live to see another year. But in the meantime, don't lose sleep over it. I promise that everything will turn out fine." And at the bottom of the letter were the words, "Sincerely, Isa." Ellegaard smiled at the beautiful signature, but frowned when she began wondering what on earth she was going to tell her.
Unbeknownst to the rest of the Order, Ellegaard had been exchanging letters with Isa for a long time now. The two of them met quite by chance. Ellegaard was shopping for some brand new redstone repeaters to replace her old ones, while Isa was shopping for wheat and eggs. By some crazy coincidence, the two of them did their shopping in the same marketplace on the exact same day, and they ended up bumping into each other and spilling their newly bought items. After some fervent apologies and helping each other pick up their belongings, Ellegaard introduced herself and Isa immediately exclaimed, "I've heard about you!" At first, that was no surprise to the redstone engineer, since plenty of people had heard about her due to her fame in the world of redstone machinery. But then, Isa continued with, "Ramus told me all about you." That definitely caught her off guard. Since Ramus was not an official member of the Order, very few people knew about him, let alone actually spoke to him. Ellegaard grew curious and asked her how she knew Ramus. Imagine her surprise when she learned that Isa was actually Ramus' wife. "Ramus never told us that he had a wife before," she said in surprise.
Isa rolled her eyes. "Of course he didn't," she sighed. "Ramus doesn't want his work life to mix with his personal life, or at least, that's what he told me. It took a whole year before he even told me about you guys." After that, the two of them bonded very well and ended up talking to each other until night fell and the marketplace began to close down. Both of them were surprised by how much time had passed. "It was very nice to meet you, Isa," said Ellegaard. "I only wish we could see each other more often." Isa nodded slowly. "But we won't," she said in a sad voice. "Ramus wouldn't allow it." The two of them grew melancholy for a moment before Isa had a bright idea. "You know, we don't have to physically see each other to get to know each other more," she said. "You can go back home now. You'll know what I mean by tonight."
So Ellegaard went back to the temple and waited, wondering what Isa could possibly have meant. By about midnight, a bat flew into her room, nearly giving her a heart attack in the process. Tied to the bat was a roll of paper. Ellegaard remembered untying the paper, sending the bat on its way, and reading what was written on it: "So did it work?"
And from that point on, the two of them communicated through letters, which were always delivered by Isa's pet bat, who was affectionately named Oliver. Neither of them told Ramus or anyone else what they were doing, of course. Personally, Ellegaard didn't understand why Ramus was so adamant on keeping his own wife a secret. It wasn't because he was ashamed of her, was it? No, that couldn't possibly be it. She knew Ramus, and Ramus would never think that way about his own wife. Still, Ellegaard couldn't help but wonder…
Anyway, exchanging letters was something that they have been doing for a long while, with nobody else suspecting a thing. But as time went on, Ellegaard couldn't shake off the feeling that something strange was going on. Every time it was her turn to write a letter, she was always compelled to check and double check her writing before sending it through Oliver, as if every word in it had to be perfect. And every time she waited for Isa's response, she would always be on edge, wringing her hands nervously while waiting at her bedroom window. And whenever the letter did arrive, Ellegaard always had to take a minute before unrolling it, as if she was afraid of what might be written in it. And of course, every night, she would lay awake in her bed, unable to catch a wink of sleep. No matter what, she just couldn't get the image of Isa's face out of her mind. Her flowing, raven black hair, her glimmering eyes, her pale cheeks, that small smile on her face… And one day, Ellegaard finally realized why she was feeling that way, and it scared her to no end. She was really a lesbian...and she had a crush on Isa.
At first, it made no sense to her. She had met plenty of other women in her lifetime, and none of them affected her the way Isa did. Then again, she never met any guys who had the same effect on her either. She tried to deny it by making herself believe that she was just suffering from an illness that will go away very soon. But after a while, Ellegaard had to accept that the illness was never going to leave, and that the "illness" wasn't really an illness at all. It was who she was, and it didn't take long for her to accept it. But the real question was...would her friends feel the same way? Every night, Ellegaard would lay in her bed and conjure up frightening images in her head. In each of those images, her friends had found out the truth about her sexuality and ended up being disgusted and repulsed by her.
Soren was the first to appear in her head. The two of them had become such good friends that Magnus had started teasing them about going to their "brainy club" whenever they hung out together. She could imagine him glaring at her in disgust. "I thought I was friends with an intelligent woman, not a idiotic slut!," he growled angrily. Then came Magnus' face, whose expression was a mix of both disgust and amusement. "Damn, Ellie!," he chuckled. "I always knew you were a pathetic bitch, but this is just sad!" Then, there was Ivor's face, which had his trademark sneer on it, but somehow, it was much worse than usual. "You're no better than the zombies that we kill every day!," he snapped. After him was Gabriel, who wore a disapproving frown. "I thought you were better than this, Ellegaard," he said. "But I guess I was wrong." And after him was Ramus, glaring at her. "I don't want a freak like you anywhere near my daughter!," he growled. The most heartbreaking image of all came in the form of Lucy, who looked like she was about to cry at any moment. "Why, Aunt Ellie?," she whimpered. "I looked up to you…"
Finally, there was Isa's face. Unlike the faces that came before her, she didn't say a word, but that just made it worse. Instead, she just gave her a look of disappointment.
By that point, Ellegaard was gripping her pillow tightly while tears were streaming down her face. She couldn't let something like this happen. She was going to take this secret to her grave. Now here she was, staring down at Isa's letter and wondering how Isa was going to respond. Would she comfort her? Ignore her? Tell her how disappointed she was?
Suddenly, the door to Ellegard's room began to creak open. Panicking, Ellegaard crumpled the letter up and tossed it into a nearby trash bin just as Magnus entered the room. "Hey, Ellie, I just wanted to come up and see how you were…" He arrived just in time to see something being thrown into the trash bin. "...what was that?" "Huh?," asked Ellegaard, trying to act as calm as possible. "What was what?" "Whatever you just threw away," said Magnus, pointing at the trash bin. "Mind telling me what that was?" "...oh, that!," Ellegaard chuckled nervously. "Just...you know...taxes." "..." Magnus just stared at her. At that point, she just wanted to melt into a puddle and perish. Inside Ellegard's head, an army of miniature Ellegaard clones were screaming, "What were you thinking?!" while banging on the floor of her brain with their tiny fists. A few of them were strangling each other and getting oddly aroused by it.
"...taxes," Magnus finally said. Ellegaard nodded. "Yep! Darn taxes, am I right? Heh…" Magnus squinted at Ellegaard's face for a while, then started laughing. "Oh, good one!," he said, walking over to her and patting her on the back. "Yeah, taxes are the worst. I wouldn't wish them on my worst enemy...maybe...okay, I totally would." Ellegaard let out a massive sigh of relief. She had forgotten that Magnus wasn't as bright as the others. They didn't even PAY any taxes, for crying out loud! "Do you mind telling me why you barged in here without knocking?," she asked irritatedly. Magnus barked out a laugh, though he did appear rather sheepish.
"Ah, sorry," he said, rubbing the back of his head. "Just saw you in a pretty bad mood lately and wanted to see how you were doing, you know?" Ellegaard raised an eyebrow at what she heard. Magnus rarely ever apologized for anything. What was he up to? "Well...thanks for checking up on me," she said sincerely. "But I'm fine in case you can't tell, so you can leave now." She wanted to be alone for the time being and figure out how to respond to Isa's most recent letter. "Okay, okay," said Magnus, raising his hands up disarmingly. "I get that you're a busy woman and all, but being cooped up in your room all day CAN'T be healthy. And when that's coming from me, you KNOW it's serious." Ellegaard couldn't help but agree. Magnus wouldn't know "healthy" if it walked up to him and slapped him in the face. She couldn't even count the number of times she or somebody else caught him rooting around in their fridge and taking out all kinds of fatty foods. It was a wonder that he was still able to remain in a healthy and athletic state, but she supposed that was a given considering that he was the king of Boom Town and had to stay in top shape in order to contend with the griefers and criminals who were living there. "By the way," Magnus continued, "how'd your meeting with that big shot millionaire go? Sebastian Smith, right? I know Redstonia is going through some pretty heavy shit and all…" Ellegaard sighed. "No offense, Magnus, but when did YOU ever start caring about Redstonia anyway?," she asked. "Well...it's not Redstonia I'm worried about…," said Magnus.
It took a while for Ellegaard to realize what he meant, and when she did, she couldn't fight off the growing blush on her face. "Er...thanks," she said. "...listen, Ellie," Magnus said nervously. "I know you're stressed and all, but I was thinking if maybe...you could take a load off and we could go somewhere together. Just you and me." "Magnus...what are you trying to say?," asked Ellegaard. Magnus cleared his throat, reached behind his back, and took out a rose. Oh no, she thought. "Ellie," Magnus proclaimed. "I love you. I've felt this way for a long time now, but I didn't know how to tell you. Well...now I'm telling you. Would you like to go on a date with me?" At first, Ellegaard was too stunned to answer, and could only stare at the rose in Magnus' hand as the blush on her face grew larger. To an outsider, it seemed like she was just overwhelmed with flattery. But on the inside, she was panicking. She liked Magnus, and even though the rogue was a little rough around the edges, she still considered him to be one of her best friends. She knew that she could always trust him to watch her back when in dangerous situations and tell her the blunt truth when it was necessary. But she did NOT love him.
"I...I'm sorry, Magnus," she said. "I can't." Magnus shrugged, seemingly unbothered. "That's fine," he said. "We could always do this another time if you're too busy-" "No, you don't get it," said Ellegaard, shaking her head. "I don't love you. I can't return your feelings. I'm sorry, Magnus, but...this isn't going to work out." Magnus stared at her in shock. Even the rose in his hand was wilting a little. "You mean...that's it?," he asked. "You're not even gonna give me a chance?" Ellegaard shook her head again. "It wouldn't matter anyway," she said sadly. "I'm sorry. But we can still be friends, right?" At that point, a turmoil of emotions swirled around in Magnus' head. He finally decided to settle on the emotion that he was most used to: anger. "Oh, I think I get it," he said angrily. "You think you're too good for me, is that it? Well, I'm sorry that I can't live up to your standards, your majesty, but not all of us can be redstone experts like you!" Ellegaard stared at him in shock and hurt. "Magnus, that's not what I meant-"
"But hey, what the hell do I know? I'm just a goddamn griefer!," Magnus ranted. He crumpled up the rose and threw it to the ground, scattering rose petals everywhere. Then, he turned and was about to exit the room, but stopped for a moment. "And just so you know, Ellie, that stupid 'taxes' excuse didn't fool anyone," he said coldly. Then, he stepped out of the room and slammed the door behind him. Ellegaard slowly bent down to pick up the rose, which was now just a broken stem, and stared at the door, wondering how it all went wrong.
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"Is it true?," asked Ellegaard, causing Soren to jump and spin around. Ellegaard was standing in the doorway along with Magnus and Gabriel. "How...how much did you hear?," he asked fearfully. "Everything," Gabriel grunted, giving Soren a nasty glare before leaving the room. "Gabriel, where are you going?," Soren called after him. "Exactly where Ivor is going!," Gabriel retorted. "Anywhere but here!" As Gabriel's footsteps faded away, Magnus shook his head in disgust. "You can have this place all to yourself, ginger beard," he spat angrily. "I'm going back to Boom Town. And I'm never coming back." After Magnus said his piece and left, Soren gave Ellegaard a pleading stare. "Don't leave...please…"
At first, it looked like the redstone engineer was about to break into tears. Then, she quickly wiped her eyes and replaced her sad expression with a stony one. "I'm going back to Redstonia," she said curtly. "Don't follow me." She stomped away, leaving Soren all alone inside the temple. This year marked a terrible time for the Order of the Stone. It was the year when everything went wrong. It was the year when Lucy and Ramus died.
And it was also the year when Isa's letters stopped coming.
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At first, there was nothing but the color white, as well as a faint ringing noise. When the white faded, chunks of witherstorm could be seen falling to the ground. Everyone huddled around Jesse and watched the scene with awe. Finally, Axel asked, "Is that it? Is it over?" "I can't believe it's...actually dead!," said Olivia. "You did it, Jesse!," cried Lukas. "You actually did it!" "Ha, ha!," Magnus laughed heartily. "Handled like a champ!" "I did do it, didn't I?," said Jesse proudly with his hands on his hips. Alex ran over to him and tackled him with a hug. Jesse smiled comfortingly and patted her back to tell her that he was okay. However, that did not prevent tears of happiness and relief from soaking Jesse's armor. Reuben ran up to them and smiled. "Thanks, buddy," said Jesse, patting him on the head. Finally, it was over.
"Hey," said Olivia, "not to put a damper on the party, but...anyone seen Soren or Ellegaard?" We looked around and saw Soren bending over a mortally injured Ellegaard. We ran over to them. "You fought valiantly, my friend," said Soren. "You and I both know...my fight...is over," croaked Ellegaard painfully. "Stuff and nonsense...stuff and nonsense," Soren denied. Alex felt guilty for being mad at Soren earlier, since she now saw that he is still a kind man, even if he is a coward. "Save your strength, Ellegaard," said Soren. "We'll take care of this. We'll take care of you." Ellegaard looked at Jesse. "Jesse," she said.
"Ellegaard," said Jesse sadly. "My armor...really suits you...Jesse," she rasped. "I want you to keep it, okay?" "Thank you, Ellegaard," said Jesse. "For everything." "I'm just glad I...got the chance to go on...one more adventure," said Ellegaard. "Sorry that I...have to take off a little...early. Well, Soren...at least I...finally got to be a real hero...right?"
They heard footsteps behind them and turned around to see people walking out of the witherstorm's corpse, dazed and confused, but thankfully unharmed. "All those people," said Jesse in astonishment. "They're alive! The Wither Storm didn't kill them!" "Jesse...those people...you have to help them," said Ellegaard. "All of them." "I'm not going anywhere," said Jesse, shaking his head firmly. "Not without you." Alex fought back tears as she watched Ellegaard's grip on Jesse's hand go slack and her eyes closed forever.
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Since Olivia, Harper, Gill, and Maya were assigned to Redstonia while Axel, Annie, Ghost, and Nancy were assigned to Boom Town, the two groups decided to travel together for a while. They went through the nether portal in Gabriel's obsidian fortress, which had just been renovated and moved closer to the Order's main temple, and once they got to the Nether, the two groups said farewell to each other and went on separate minecart railroad tracks leading to Redstonia and Boom Town respectively. The ride to Redstonia was rather awkward to say the least, since Gill and Maya never really had the chance to bury the hatchet with Axel and Olivia. At first, the ride was filled with nothing but awkward silence, which was occasionally cut off by the sounds of faraway ghasts crying out. Fortunately, none of the ghasts flew close enough to notice them, so the ride was rather uneventful. A large chunk of the ride was basically Olivia giving Gill and Maya awkward glances while the former bullies just looked at anything else that was not Olivia's face. Gill even tried whistling at one point, then realized how terrible he was at whistling and thankfully stopped. Finally, Harper couldn't take much more of the silence.
"Are all of you just going to stare at each other and not say a word, or do I need to do something?," she asked, her voice being a mix of both amusement and irritation. Maya winced and awkwardly coughed into her elbow. "Um...so, Olivia?," she started. "How is...life?" Olivia shrugged. "Well, other than Alex being gone, the moon being eaten up by a shadow, and a total psycho threatening to wipe all life on earth? Life is fine." She raised an eyebrow. "And you?" "I'm doing fine," Maya answered. "Me and Gill have been taking therapy." "Therapy?," asked Harper. "For what?" "Aiden," Gill said bluntly. Olivia winced and nodded in understanding. "I'm sorry to hear that," she apologized. "Nah, it's fine," Gill assured her. "We're making pretty good progress right now. We've been having less nightmares of...well, Aiden's hanging corpse." He and Maya shivered at the memory while Olivia's face turned slightly green and Harper's mouth formed a grimace. "Yeah...definitely not our best memory...or moment," Maya sighed, remembering how she and Gill turned on Sky City by spawning mobs everywhere. Granted, they only did so in fear of Thomas harming Aiden, but they still couldn't help but feel guilty over the ordeal.
Olivia noticed the somber expressions on their faces, and even though her history with them was less than stellar, she was not having it. "Hey, no feeling bad about ourselves on this trip," she said jokingly. "Trust me, before we became heroes, my self esteem was practically nonexistent. It's a sucky way to live. So neither of you had better make the same mistake as I did." "But...we laid waste to an entire city," Maya argued. "We put everyone in danger…" "Um, if I may?," Harper replied with a small smile. "I once built a machine that enslaved everyone in my own dimension and stripped them of their own free will." Gill and Maya stared at Harper in shock. "And do I regret what I've done?," Harper continued. "Of course I do. But I'm not constantly beating myself up over it. No matter how much I didn't want to believe it, everyone told me that it wasn't my fault. The same thing applies to both of you. Everyone has made mistakes in the past. It's a normal part of life. But instead of dwelling on those mistakes all the time, we should learn from them and improve ourselves in the process."
Although they didn't say anything in response, Gill, Maya, and even Olivia seemed to deeply contemplate Harper's words for the rest of the ride. They finally arrived at another nether portal which led back to the Overworld, namely Redstonia. However, before they went through it, Olivia stopped them. "Wait a minute," she said suspiciously. "This seems too easy." "Uh...isn't that a good thing?," asked Gill. Olivia shook her head. "There's no way the rest of the 'game' is as easy as finding that nether star at the beginning, otherwise it wouldn't be a very engaging game, would it? Herobrine must have set up a trap in Redstonia for us. Going through that nether portal completely blind is the worst possible thing we could do right now." "Olivia has a point," said Harper, nodding gravely. "I can't even count the number of times that PAMA tried to trick me into joining him in the past, and I've got a feeling that Herobrine is much craftier. We have to tread carefully. Do you all have weapons, anything to defend yourselves with?" "I always come prepared," Olivia said with a smirk, taking out a bow. However, it was no ordinary bow. It wasn't even an enchanted bow. Olivia's bow had numerous blinking red gadgets implanted on it. Its string was gray and thicker than normal, and overall, it looked badass.
"Whoa!," cried Maya, staring at the bow with wide eyes. "I've never seen anything like this before!" "That's because this bow is one of a kind," Olivia replied proudly. "These blinking gadgets that you see on the bow are redstone enhancements that were made by my own two hands. They give the bow greater accuracy, greater power, greater range, and greater projectile speed. And the string is made from a thin steel rope, making the bow much more powerful but no harder to use than a regular bow." "Now THAT'S impressive," said Harper, observing the customized bow with great interest. "It's really no wonder that Ellegaard took you on as her apprentice." "You got anything else like that?," Gill asked eagerly. Olivia smirked and took out three more weapons, each of them with the same redstone enhancements as the bow. "Gill, since you're physically the strongest AND you're a good sword fighter, you'll have the sword," she said, handing him the sword. "The blade and handle are made from a special alloy that makes it as strong as diamond and as light as wood. The enhancements make it so that the sword automatically readjusts itself mid-strike and lands the most effective strike."
"Awesome," whispered Gill, swinging the sword around, which made a strange humming noise as the blade traveled through the air. Then, Olivia turned to Maya. "And Maya," she said. "Since you're the fastest out of us, and your vision is very sharp, you'll have this." She gave her what looked like a flat metal disc with a blinking light in the middle. "It may not look like much, but this baby is as deadly as they come," Olivia continued. "It's a shuriken type weapon that, when thrown, will lock onto a specific target and hit them no matter what. The edge is sharp enough to cut through iron bars, and if you want, you could press the button in the middle and make it so that the target gets shocked rather than cut through. And it always, ALWAYS, ends up back in the thrower's hand." "That's amazing," said Maya, staring at the disc in awe. Then, she gave Olivia a confused look. "But how do you know all this stuff about us? Like Gill being a good sword fighter and me having good vision?" "Oh, at one point, I slipped tracking devices into your food and recorded everything that you two did for several months," Olivia said casually. Needless to say, Gill and Maya looked absolutely mortified. Olivia winced. "Okay, so I got a little paranoid when I first saw you two in Sky City, and I decided to take matters into my own hands. Don't worry, I made it so that the tracking devices dissolved in stomach acid after about a year." Gill and Maya did not look any less horrified. Even Harper had a "WTF" look on her face.
"Okay, moving on from Olivia's very, very, very...VERY questionable mindset...," Harper said nervously, "...you got any weapons for me?" Olivia couldn't help but feel embarrassed. If Harper of all people, the same person who created a power hungry machine that enslaved mankind and who spent literal decades in total isolation, was disturbed by you, then there was definitely something very wrong with you. "Well, you can have this remote," she said, handing her a gray metal box with a single button on it. "A remote?," Harper asked curiously, taking it and observing it for a while. "What does it do?" Gill and Maya leaned forward, also curious as to what the remote does. "It's something that I've been working on for a very long time," Olivia explained. "It's also in its experimental stages, so there's no guarantee that it'll work properly. But for this scenario, I think we'll have to take the risk." "Okay, but what does it do?," asked Maya. "Well, basically, you just point the remote at anything that is operated with redstone, press the button, and it'll immediately deactivate itself. You don't need any redstone dust, levers, repeaters, or anything that complicated. Just press the button and poof! The machine in front of you will automatically shut down." "That sounds cool and all," said Gill, scratching his head, "but why would we need something like that?" "Well, there were a few rare cases in which some redstone machines went rogue and ended up hurting nearby people," Olivia explained. "I made this remote as a solution to that problem. And since we're about to head to Redstonia, where the most redstone machines can be found, I figured it was better safe than sorry."
"Well, it looks like we're all prepared now," said Harper, putting the remote in her pocket. "Yeah!," said Gill, grinning widely while swinging his sword around - and nearly chopping Maya's head off in the process. "With weapons like these, whatever's up there won't stand a chance!" "Gill!," Maya hissed, her hair now noticeably shorter than before. "Maybe you SHOULDN'T be swinging a sharp object around when there's people standing right next to you!" Gill smiled sheepishly and put the sword away in his inventory. "Alright, is everyone ready?," asked Olivia. Everyone else nodded in response. "Good," said Olivia. "Now let's do this."
All four of them ran through the nether portal and came out of the other side with their weapons at the ready, prepared for whatever Herobrine was going to throw at them. However, instead of a big fight like they were expecting, they were instead met with complete silence. "...well, that was kind of a letdown," Gill murmured, putting his sword away. "Yeah," said Maya, doing the same thing. "This place is like a ghost town. There's nobody here." "And that's exactly why I don't like it," said Olivia, who was still on edge. "Redstonia was bustling with activity just two days ago. Why would this place suddenly go abandoned?" "...unless it wasn't," said Harper, coming to an awful realization. "What if Herobrine not only hid one of the items here, but also did something to the citizens of Redstonia?" Olivia's eyes widened in fear. "You...you don't think he…?" Ever since Ellegaard died, Olivia did everything she could to keep Redstonia running in her place, and even though she didn't think that she did nearly as good a job, the people who lived here thought otherwise and welcomed her with open arms. For the first time, Olivia knew what it felt like to be a leader. She knew what it felt like to have an entire city look up to you for answers. She knew what it felt like to be afraid to let them down. And over time, she saw all the inhabitants of Redstonia as her own big, happy family. So just the thought of them dying at the hands of a total madman with a superiority complex was enough to terrify her to no end.
"Well, I don't see any dead bodies," said Maya, hoping to comfort Olivia. "And everything looks pretty intact. Maybe everyone already knew that something was wrong and ran away like you said earlier?" "...maybe," said Olivia, only slightly calming down. Still, there was something eerie about a Redstonia with no people whatsoever. She was so used to the sounds of them chatting and having discussions about redstone and engineering, as well as the sounds of shifting pistons and clanking machinery, that standing in Redstonia right now and hearing nothing but wind howling through the air was enough to crank her paranoia up to eleven.
"Well, let's not stand here and waste any more time," said Harper. "We need to find that missing item and bring it with us once we reunite with everyone else." The others nodded and they began slowly walking through Redstonia, keeping their eyes peeled for any hidden threats that could jump out at them. "So where do you think this 'item' is anyway?," Gill asked. "We don't even know what it looks like." "Don't worry," said Olivia. "We know that all of the items that Herobrine hid all over the world are five of the treasures that he took from our treasure room. Trust me, once you see it, you'll know." She suddenly stopped, forcing everyone else to stop as well. Then, she slowly turned to a massive building in the middle of the city, which was made entirely out of sandstone, most of which was orange, and had redstone blocks lining the outer edges, as well as blue lanterns dotting the building's front gates. "This used to be Ellegaard's laboratory," Olivia said with a hint of sadness. "I'd bet my left arm that what we're supposed to find is in there." "It's a better place to start than any, I guess," said Harper.
The group entered the building, which was very spacious on the inside and had numerous levers, buttons, and other redstone items on the walls. "Wow!," Maya gasped, staring around in awe. "I've never seen a redstone laboratory before." "Me neither," said Gill, who was also amazed by what he was seeing. Harper whistled in appreciation. "This reminds me of my own lab back home," she said. "Except...you know...without statues of long gone friends with their voice recordings that are meant to fill in the endless black hole in my heart." Olivia and Gill slowly turned to face Harper with expressions ranging from "Do I even want to know?" to "What the heck is this lady tripping on?" Harper shrugged, unbothered by the weird looks that she was getting. "Hey, it gets very lonely when you spend entire decades underground with nobody to keep you company and the burden of saving the world from the clutches of an evil machine weighing down on your shoulders. I had to do SOMETHING to keep myself from going insane." "Uh...guys?," asked Maya. "That wouldn't be the item we were supposed to find, would it?" She pointed at a glowing, red block embedded in the wall, with four crafting tables surrounding it and four pistons attached to those crafting tables. The red block itself had a strange symbol of a molecule etched onto it. It was… "...the Redstone Heart," Harper and Olivia whispered.
"THAT'S the Redstone Heart?," asked Gill, seemingly gobsmacked. "It looks so… awesome. And a little threatening." Olivia walked towards the Redstone Heart, grabbed onto it and managed to pull it out of the wall. Suddenly, a low rumble, almost like a vibration, could be felt running through their bodies. "Whoa!," cried Gill, jumping in shock. "Did you guys feel that?" "Maybe it was an earthquake?," asked Maya nervously. "It didn't feel like any earthquake that I ever felt," said Harper. "Come on," said Olivia, putting the Redstone Heart in her inventory. "Let's get out of here before something bad happens." As they walked out of the building and made their way back to the nether portal, a question began tickling the back of Maya's mind. "What was that hole that you just pulled the Redstone Heart out of?," she asked. "It had these crafting tables and pistons around them, so it had to have served some kind of purpose, right?" "Yeah, I'm curious too," said Harper. "Even after observing that hole, I wasn't sure what it was meant to do, and that's coming from someone who's been tinkering with redstone for forty years." "Yeah, well do I have a story for you guys," said Olivia, smiling at some faraway memory. "See, it was when we were still fighting the Wither Storm. After Jesse, Axel, and Alex went looking for Magnus, I decided to look for Ellegaard, so I traveled all the way here. I met Ellegaard in that building we were just in, and I...may have embarrassed myself a little bit."
"Ooh, details, details!," said Maya, grinning. "What happened?" Olivia barked out a laugh. "Come on, guys," she said. "Do you really want to hear about it so badly?" "Hell, yeah!," Gill exclaimed. "I mean, it's not every day that you hear about a famous hero embarrassing herself in front of ANOTHER famous hero." Harper didn't say anything, but the cocky smile on her face said everything. Olivia sighed dramatically. "Okay, fine," she said. "So I entered her laboratory when it was still empty, and I was admiring all of her inventions when she suddenly came in without warning and thought I was her new assistant. I sort of freaked out when I saw her and...fainted." "...snrk!," Gill snorted, covering his mouth before a full blown laugh could escape. "You actually fainted?," asked Maya, also trying hard not to laugh. "Hey, I was a huge fan of hers back then!," said Olivia. "Even now, I still can't help but be amazed by some of the things she's done in the past. Sure, she lied about the command block like everyone else in the previous Order, but she's still one of the greatest minds in the world. Even Magnus mentioned that Ellegaard didn't actually need the command block to do some of the things she did."
"So when are you going to get to the good part?," asked Harper. "Oh, right!," said Olivia. "So after Ellegaard…*ahem* woke me up, I told her everything that was happening at the time. And you won't believe it - but you probably will, otherwise I wouldn't even be telling you guys this story - but Ellegaard was actually in the process of creating her OWN command block! Isn't that amazing?!" "Wait, really?!," cried Maya, her eyes bugging out of her head. "I had the impression that nobody but the Admin could make their very own command block!" "It's even more impressive when you consider the command block's inner workings," said Harper, who looked just as surprised as Maya and Gill. "Needless to say, a block that can warp reality itself and twist the laws of physics is far beyond anything that mankind has ever produced. It even makes PAMA's software seem rudimentary in comparison." She turned to Olivia with wide eyes. "And you're saying that Ellegaard actually MADE one of those?" "Well...not quite," said Olivia. "She had a lot of trouble creating the command block because it kept destabilizing before it could fully form. Fortunately, all she needed was another pair of hands. MY hands, to be more specific. And Gill, if you don't wipe that perverted smile off your face in the next five seconds, I am going to slap you so hard that you'll be sent flying all the way to the moon."
Gill's "perverted smile" vanished just as quickly as it came. "Anyway, that was the closest she ever came to recreating the command block," Olivia continued. "Unfortunately, it still wasn't enough, and I eventually convinced her to come back to the temple with me." "...wow," said Harper, seemingly impressed by the whole story. "I had no idea that Ellegaard came so close to creating another command block. I didn't even know that such a thing was possible." "Yeah," said Olivia, smiling sadly. "Like I said, she was one of the greatest minds who ever lived. I just wonder how she'd feel if she were still here, you know? When all of...this is happening." To emphasize her point, she pointed up at the moon, which was already a fifth of the way to being completely consumed by Herobrine's shadow. "You know...maybe it's best that she's not alive to see this right now," said Maya. "Could you imagine how she'd react if she sees that her best friends have been murdered?" "Yeah, you're right," said Olivia. "That would break her."
The rest of their walk was mostly silent, apart from a few things being said here and there. However, once they got back to the nether portal, they were in for a shock. "Holy crap, what happened to it?!," cried Gill. The nether portal that was supposed to lead them back to the minecart system in the Nether was not only inactive, but the obsidian frame had numerous cracks and scratches all over it. Clearly, this was the work of sabotage. "Someone not only knows that we're here, but they also don't want us to leave," said Harper. "Everyone, take out your weapons!," Olivia ordered. "They could be watching us right now!" They all did as they were told, then waited for their unseen opponent to make their first move.
At first, there was no sound or response. There was only the wind howling through the air and the heavy breathing of the four people. Then, in the distance, something moved. "Look!," Harper whispered, pointing at it. Whatever it was, it was too far away to make out properly, but it definitely wasn't a human. In fact, it didn't look like any other mob in the world. It had a hulking body and what appeared to be sharp points coming out of its body. It was also moving in an incredibly disturbing manner, shuffling and jerking around sporadically. However, that was all they could make out. "What do you think it is?," Maya whispered nervously. Nobody answered her because nobody knew the answer. They were just as confused as her.
Whatever it was, it shuffled behind a building and vanished. "Maybe it was a zombie?," said Gill. "There's no way that was a zombie," said Olivia, shaking her head. Mentally, she berated herself for dropping her guard so easily. I knew this was getting too easy!, she thought. That must've been a new type of mob that Herobrine created, or maybe one of his minions, or something! "There's another one!," cried Harper, pointing in a different direction. Everyone else looked where she was pointing, and sure enough, there was yet another creature that looked very similar to the first one. It was also too far away to make out any noticeable details, other than its hulking figure and the sharp objects sprouting from its body. It was shuffling from one building to another, and as it moved, Olivia could've sworn that she heard piston sounds that matched the rhythm of the creature's movements. That creature also vanished behind a building. A loud wail suddenly pierced the air, causing everyone to jump in fright and look around frantically. It sounded like somebody was in excruciating pain, but at the same time, there was also a slight...mechanical tone underlying it. "What was that?!," cried Maya.
"Everyone, get ready!," Olivia ordered, notching an arrow in her bow and aiming it in front of her. Everyone else did the same thing with their weapons. The strange creatures kept reappearing for the next few minutes, yet none of them were close enough to be seen clearly. They always hid before anyone could get a good look at them. However, they were definitely getting closer. The wails became louder and more frequent, the creatures got slightly closer with each passing second, and the strange piston sounds that accompanied their movements also got louder. "It's like they're toying with us," said Harper, shivering. Finally, Maya couldn't take the tension anymore. "What are you waiting for?!," she screamed hysterically. "Show yourselves already!" "Maya!," Gill hissed, but it was too late. The creatures heard Maya's pleas, and they decided that they've been hiding for long enough. One of the creatures finally started jerking towards them, its movements mimicking those of a broken wind up toy. The piston noises got louder, and a bone chilling mewl emanated from the creature's direction. Finally, it stepped out from the buildings' shadows and into the moonlight, revealing itself for all to see.
The entire group had varying reactions, but they all had one thing in common: they were horrified. Harper's face grew pale and she looked like she was about to throw up. Maya actually DID throw up, spewing puke all over her shoes. Gill was shaking like a leaf and his eye was twitching, as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Olivia had the worst reaction by far. Unlike the rest of the group, who only reacted with fear and disgust, Olivia was wracked with sadness and depression. Her limbs grew weak and her vision became blurred with tears. Not only was she horrified by the creature, but she also recognized it. "Calvin…," she whispered. "What has he done to you?" The "creature" was actually a human, or rather, it used to be one. Now, it barely even resembled a human being. It still had its former human face and some of its human limbs, but that was where the similarities ended. The hands and feet had been replaced with pistons, which explained the piston noises that they heard earlier. Its chest was split wide open, revealing ribs and internal organs that had been FUSED with redstone machinery. Its entire body was a gruesome combination of flesh, iron, and slime blocks. A redstone lamp replaced its heart, glowing an ominous red. One of its eyes was also red, the color of glowing redstone, while its other eye was the same as before, but glassy and doll-like.
"W-what? W-who's Calvin?," Maya stuttered. "He was one of Ellegaard's assistants," Olivia explained in a hollow voice. "We became very good friends after she died and the Wither Storm was defeated. But now…" The thing that used to be Calvin opened its mouth, and a terrifying mewl escaped its lips, the sound of a dying man mixed with the grinding of cogs and gears. It shambled towards them, leaving a trail of oil and redstone powder behind it. The two substances mixed together and created a black and red trail that just added to the horror of the situation. Suddenly, more of these creatures began crawling from their hiding places, and they all had distinct human features, but just enough for them to appear extremely uncanny. The rest of their bodies had been replaced with all sorts of different redstone machinery, ranging from pistons to dispensers. And the worst part of all was that Olivia recognized ALL of them.
Every single one of these creatures used to be citizens of Redstonia. They never left the city. They were here this whole time, but twisted and deformed beyond all recognition. Through some dark magic that should NEVER exist, the people of Redstonia had been FUSED and MELDED with their own inventions. In this city, humans and machines have become one, as have blood and redstone, limbs and pistons, and skin and slime blocks. Through some very twisted irony, they have become the very things that they created with their own hands. And they were in PAIN. Horrible, mind-splitting, excruciating PAIN, the likes of which had rarely been felt before, if at all. No, this was all wrong. This was a nightmare version of Redstonia.
One of the creatures got close enough and tried swiping at Gill with one of its piston arms. Gill ducked just in time and began slashing at the creature with his sword. "Wait, don't!," cried Olivia, holding out her hand in a futile effort to stop him. Gill ignored her and continued attacking the creature with his sword, until finally, he plunged the blade directly into its lamp heart. The creature let out an unearthly scream that sounded like a disturbing mix between a crying baby, a squealing pig, and the grinding of metal. Then, the creature died and collapsed to the ground, its lamp heart no longer glowing. Another one of the creatures tried to attack Maya, who cried out in fear and instinctively threw her metal disc straight at its heart, tearing right through it and killing it instantly. "STOP IT!," Olivia screamed. "You're killing them!" "We don't really have a choice, Olivia!," said Harper, aiming her remote at one of the nearby creatures and pressing the button. The creature died on the spot and collapsed lifelessly. "These things are going to kill us if we don't do anything!," Harper continued. "No, you guys don't understand!," cried Olivia. "These 'things' used to be Redstonian citizens! We can't just kill them all!"
"We HAVE to," said Harper, taking the time to grab Olivia's shoulders and look directly into her eyes while letting Maya and Gill fend the creatures off for now. "They're attacking us right now, and we need to stay ALIVE so we can bring back the Redstone Heart and stop Herobrine from killing off all life on earth. And besides…" She sighed heavily. "...we're doing these people a favor by killing them. Right now, they're suffering from a fate worse than death. Do you really want them to go on like this?" Olivia stared at Harper, then looked around at the numerous creatures surrounding them. Each of them used to be human. They had real lives, real goals, real people who loved them. But now, they were abominations. And they were suffering. Olivia sighed and nodded reluctantly. "Okay," she said sadly. "Let's do this."
"Uh, guys?!," cried Maya, who had sliced through two more creatures with the metal disc. "If you two are done talking, me and Gill could really use a hand right now!" Olivia and Harper nodded and joined in the fight. Olivia took out her bow and began shooting the creatures left and right. Thanks to the redstone enhancements that she made on the bow, she didn't need to be a skilled archer to have every single arrow land successfully. Still, killing the creatures that used to be her own family tore at her heartstrings. Harper aimed her remote at each of the creatures and shut them off one by one, instantly killing them. But the population of Redstonia far outnumbered them, and it wasn't long before a whole crowd of the creatures surrounded them, entrapping them in a small circle. The heroes were exhausted and couldn't keep on fighting anymore. The only person who could still fight by that time was Harper, and that was only because all she did for the past hour was aim a remote and press a button. Olivia, Gill, and Maya had completely expended their energy and could barely even stand anymore.
"What are you guys doing?!," cried Harper, pressing the button on her remote like mad. Since there were so many of the creatures surrounding them, she no longer had to aim before one of the creatures died on the spot. "We...we can't," Maya panted, throwing her disc feebly. The disc was so poorly thrown that it didn't even hit any of the creatures despite its redstone enhancements, and it ended up back in Maya's hand. "I can't...go on...much longer," Gill rasped, weakly swinging his sword and making just a few small cuts in the process. Olivia could only let out a painful groan, her arms completely sore from pulling back the bow's string so many times. Blisters had already formed on her hands, some of which had burst and were now leaking blood and pus. "We can't give up!," yelled Harper. "The world's depending on us!"
Suddenly, a very strange thing happened. All of the creatures stopped attacking them all of a sudden. Not only that, they were now completely still. Harper stopped for a moment and stared at the creatures, wondering what the hell was going on. The creatures stared back at her, their eyes pale and lifeless. Harper couldn't stop a shiver from crawling up her spine. This moment eerily reminded her of the mobs and villagers that PAMA used to control. They would do the same thing, sometimes stopping simultaneously due to being controlled like some sort of hive mind. Harper narrowed her eyes suspiciously. She wasn't born yesterday, after all. If all of the creatures had suddenly stopped what they were doing for no apparent reason, then it was clear that something, or someone, was controlling them. And whoever's behind all of this was probably watching them right now. "Alright, Herobrine, I know you're here!," she yelled. "What game are you playing right now?! Come out here and answer right to my face!"
It wasn't long before the creatures began to separate, forming a path for someone to walk through. And sure enough, a man was casually walking towards them while whistling a tune, unbothered by the horrible monstrosities surrounding him. But it was not Herobrine.
"Ramus?," Harper gasped, scarcely believing what she was seeing. Olivia, Gill, and Maya were also staring at him in shock. A million questions ran through their heads. What happened to him? Where was he this whole time? Why was he here now?
Ramus didn't say a word. His face was completely blank. At that point, Harper knew that something was seriously wrong. Why was Ramus not answering her? Why was he acting so strangely? And perhaps the most baffling question of all...why did the creatures stop when he showed up? The answer to all three of those questions was clear to Harper. The man standing in front of her was not the real Ramus. He had to be Herobrine in disguise. Olivia must've had the same idea, because she immediately cried, "Harper, get away from him!" But it was too late. In the blink of an eye, Ramus rushed towards Harper and backhanded her. Somehow, the blow was strong enough to rip Harper's head clean off her shoulders, sending it flying several dozen blocks away. Harper's body, now headless, slowly slumped to the ground as a huge geyser of blood poured out from the hole in her neck, spraying all over Ramus' face. Ramus either didn't notice the blood that now covered his face, or he just didn't care. Instead, he gave Olivia a stony glare and slowly walked towards her. "Gill! Maya! Get out of here, now!," yelled Olivia.
"What? No!," cried Maya, horrified by what she was hearing. "We're not just gonna leave you here!" "Yeah, nobody gets left behind on my watch!," Gill agreed. "You're both gonna have to leave if you want to save the world!," Olivia argued, reaching into her pocket and taking out the Redstone Heart. She handed it to Maya. "Take the Redstone Heart and get as far away from this place as possible!," Olivia ordered. "Don't stop running until you're absolutely sure that you can't be followed. Find some other way back to Jesse and the others." "But what about you?!," cried Maya. "What are you gonna do?!" Olivia took out one of her arrows and gripped it like she was holding a knife. "I'm going to buy you both some time," she said. "Maya, come on!," said Gill, standing back up and dragging Maya along with him. The creatures paid no attention to them and let them pass. Ramus narrowed his eyes as he watched Gill and Maya make a run for it with the Redstone Heart. Suddenly, Olivia jumped up and tried to stab Ramus in the eye with her arrow. However, Ramus ended up being much quicker and grabbed Olivia's wrist just when the tip of the arrow was a mere inch from his eye. He didn't so much as flinch.
Ramus broke Olivia's wrist with his grip strength alone, causing Olivia to scream in pain and drop the arrow while falling to her knees. She was an incredibly skilled redstone engineer, possibly on par with Ellegaard and Harper, but a fighter she was not. Ramus grabbed Olivia's head with both of his hands, then twisted it in one sudden movement. CRACK! SQUELCH! Olivia's head was turned a full one hundred and eighty degrees, which was more than enough to break her neck in half and nearly sever her head from the rest of her body. Olivia slumped to her knees just as Harper did, blood pouring from her mouth, nose, ears, and eyes. Ramus stared down at both of their corpses, then looked in the direction where Gill and Maya ran. "Kill them," he ordered. The creatures suddenly started moving again, but instead of attacking Ramus, they started running after Gill and Maya. Once all the creatures were gone, Ramus mentally counted to a hundred, then casually walked over to the exact place where he knew that Gill and Maya would be caught. And sure enough, he came across the creatures once more, and they were surrounding two new bloody corpses. One of them was still holding the Redstone Heart, which Ramus casually plucked away and put in his inventory. He was about to walk away when he suddenly heard a quiet, gurgling noise. He turned back around to see that Maya, despite having a gaping hole in her chest, was somehow still moving. "You're still alive?," asked Ramus, raising an eyebrow. "You...won't get away with this...Herobrine," Maya whispered, slowly choking on her own blood. "Who said I was Herobrine?," asked Ramus.
Maya's eyes widened when she saw another man appear from seemingly out of nowhere and walk up right next to Ramus. "H-Herobrine?," she stuttered. Herobrine grinned evilly. "Are you surprised?," he asked mockingly, then turned to face Ramus. "Well done, Ramus," Herobrine congratulated. "You've really outdone yourself." "I always try my best," replied Ramus in a nearly emotionless voice. The two men and the creatures watched in eerie silence as Maya slowly began to drown from the blood filling in her lungs. After about a minute, she finally died. "Here," said Ramus, handing the Redstone Heart over to Herobrine, who casually observed it. Then, the white eyed man crushed the Redstone Heart into a fine powder with his bare hands. Ramus watched emotionlessly as the red powder was quickly blown away by the wind. "Treasures are for mortals who think they need worthless items to define who they are," said Herobrine. "How pitiful." Ramus absentmindedly nodded along.
And high above them, in the middle of the starless night sky, the twisted shadow on the moon slowly grew larger, covering it in pure darkness with each passing minute.