"Excuse me," Soren said in annoyance. "Who are you people and why did you just barge into our meeting uninvited?" The man barked out a sarcastic laugh. "Oh, forgive me," he said insincerely. "My name is Hadrian, and this is Mevia. I'm sure you've heard of us before." "Uh… no, we don't," said Magnus, shaking his head. Hadrian's eyes narrowed ever so slightly. "Well," he huffed. "Perhaps I should jog your memory a little. Me and Mevia...are Old Builders." Ivor suddenly began choking on thin air, his face turning purple and his eyes bulging out of his head. "...is he okay?," asked Mevia, pointing towards Ivor with a confused expression on her face. Gabriel sighed, got up from his chair, and began thumping Ivor on the back. "Come one, get it out of your system," he said. Finally, Ivor managed to start breathing again and stared at Hadrian and Mevia with wide eyes. "Y-you're...Old Builders?," he asked, scarcely believing what he was hearing. Hadrian's nose wrinkled. "We don't really like being called that," he said, "but that's what you know us by, so… yeah." Soren also knew who the Old Builders were, but unlike Ivor, he was not at all pleased that two of them had decided to barge into their meeting unannounced. "And what is the meaning of this intrusion?," he asked irritatedly.
"Oh Soren, you wound me!," gasped Hadrian, pretending to be hurt by holding a hand to where his heart was. "We came here to help, of course." Everyone else in the room except for Soren widened their eyes in surprise. "Soren, maybe we should hear them out," said Ellegaard. However, Soren was still not convinced. "If you're so interested in helping us, then where were you for so long?," he demanded angrily. "Where were you when thousands of men, women, and children were starving on the streets? Where were you when families and loved ones were torn apart by horrific diseases? Where were you when so much death has occured to the point where people had to step over dozens of rotting corpses to reach their destinations?" Maya seemed visibly disturbed by what she was hearing, but Hadrian was completely unaffected. "We had a few problems of our own that we needed to solve," he said. "You see, the Old Builders are no longer what they used to be. Some of us have become demented, power hungry thieves who were willing to do anything for power, namely Otto and Harper, two of our fellow Old Builders. They thought it would be a good idea to overthrow me and Mevia, and enforce their own brand of tyranny onto the world. Fortunately, we found out their plot just in time and were able to have them...permanently done away with, if you know what I mean." Soren nodded to show that he indeed knew what Hadrian was talking about. "But it was a long and bloody battle," Hadrian continued, shaking his head in "sorrow". "And in the end, it took us literal decades to put those traitors down. I assure you, if it wasn't for Harper and Otto, we would've come to help you much sooner." Now even though Hadrian put up a somewhat convincing performance, Soren was not born yesterday. He knew that Hadrian must've embellished some parts of his story, or was just straight up lying. Still, there was one thing stopping him from outright kicking them out.
As much as he hated to admit it, Ellegaard was right. They were not going to be able to fix this problem on their own. They needed outside help. "Alright, fine," Soren sighed, leaning back in his chair. "You obviously already know what the issue is, so let's get to the point. How do you plan to solve this overpopulation problem once and for all?" Hadrian and Mevia gave each other toothy, sneaky grins. "We're glad you asked," said Mevia, sounding almost like a sports announcer. "Now we heard that you're all the world leaders of this world, and by god, you all must be doing a pretty terrible job if THIS is the result!" Soren, Magnus, Ellegaard, and Gabriel's eyes twitched, but they said nothing. "And sure, it's easy to blame the people who are supposed to be the great leaders of this world, but when you really come down to it, what's REALLY the cause behind all of this?" She paused for a moment, as if expecting them to start making random guesses like they were on a game show. "Correct!," said Hadrian. "Chaos! Pure, unadulterated chaos! There's nothing else that will bring down a civilization faster."
Soren began to grow impatient. He didn't have time to sit there and watch their obviously rehearsed act. "Explain," he said bluntly. "Alright, alright, hold your horses," Hadrian chuckled sinisterly. "Now when you really think about it, it's no surprise. There's just too many things to take into consideration. Too many hidden factors and variables. You can't possibly keep track of all of them." "And that's why we've got something that'll blow your socks off!," Meva interrupted, causing Hadrian to stop and glare at her. "Mevia!," he hissed. "Don't interrupt me in the middle of my great speech!" Soren couldn't help but roll his eyes. He wouldn't exactly call what he just heard a "great speech". "Well, what is it?," asked Ellegaard, curious as to what Hadrian could be implying. Hadrian grinned. "Well, I'm glad you asked," he said. "Tell me something. Have any of you ever heard of...a computer?" Everyone else in the room looked at each other in confusion. "Ladies and gentlemen!," Hadrian proclaimed. "Do I have a product for you! Mevia, bring it out." Mevia nodded and took out a strange block that was glowing an ominous red.
Soren's eyes widened in shock, as did everyone else's. They had never seen this type of block before in their entire lives. "What is that?," asked Gabriel, leaning forward. "Why, it's one of our best inventions, the Redstone Heart!," Hadrian said proudly. "It's the most efficient power source in the entire world. But that's not quite what I was talking about earlier." The Old Builder's smile grew wider. "How would you like to meet a good friend of ours...PAMA?"
And it was from that point on that everything went downhill. It didn't start out that way, of course. When Hadrian was first allowed to install PAMA into the world's network, things went along smoothly. In fact, they went along far better than Soren or any of the other world leaders could've imagined. For a while, PAMA did just as Hadrian and Mevia promised. Through nothing but sheer calculations and number crunching, the computer was able to come up with numerous solutions to the issue of overpopulation, and when those solutions were put into effect, they worked marvelously. Suddenly, every household in the world could afford to put more food on their tables. Job hunting was no longer an issue either. And even though starvation and disease were still pretty rampant, they weren't nearly as severe as they were before. Sure, there were still a few dead bodies lying around here and there, which sucked, but at least people could now walk through the streets without having to step over one about every two seconds.
And yet, despite all the good things that PAMA brought along with it, Soren couldn't help but feel slightly uneasy whenever he was around the computer. It was smart. Too smart. It always seemed to be watching him, closely analyzing his every move. And it wasn't just him either. Magnus, Gabriel, Ellegaard, and even Ivor voiced how uncomfortable they were whenever they were around PAMA. Hadrian and Mevia, however, assured them that there was nothing to worry about. "Oh, that's just how PAMA is," they both said. "He's a learning machine, so it makes sense that he'd analyze everything you do around him. Don't worry, you'll get used to it sooner or later." But nobody ever got used to the giant, smiling computer screen in the middle of their headquarters. It always seemed to be looking down on them, judging them, watching them like animals in a zoo. Soren couldn't help but have a sneaking suspicion that things were going to go downhill very soon. He just didn't know how or when.
Unfortunately, his suspicions were about to be confirmed in the worst possible way. PAMA suddenly decided to host a meeting in the headquarters, which was something that the advanced computer almost NEVER did. The reason for the meeting? PAMA wanted a little more leeway in its actions without having the world leaders or the Old Builders constantly breathing down its metaphorical neck. When asked why, PAMA said, "I think that if I were given a little more authority in your governmental system, I could accomplish far greater things. I could forever rid the world of overpopulation and finally make everyone useful." Soren wasn't sure why, but a shiver crawled up his spine when he heard PAMA say the word "useful".
"And what exactly do you have in mind?," asked Ivor, leaning forward on the table with his hands clasped together in front of him. Even in front of a massive, red computer screen smiling down at him, he was still able to keep his composure. Soren respected him for that if nothing else. "I merely wish to improve the world," PAMA replied. "Surely, you could all empathize with my goal?" Soren couldn't help but slightly nod in agreement. As much as he didn't like to admit that his own goal aligned with that of a computer's, there was still a nugget of truth in PAMA's words. Besides, other than being creepy as hell, PAMA never did anything that would cast him in a bad light. In fact, everything he did only benefited mankind rather than hinder it. So what could possibly go wrong? "PAMA, you are officially given more leeway and a higher position of power," he announced. "I hope that you'll use this new power to everyone's benefit and not abuse it like some people." By some people, he clearly meant Ivor, and everyone in the room knew it. A long time ago, as they were all rising to power, Ivor tried to overthrow Soren and assert himself as the new leader. However, he was quickly found out and punished accordingly. What that punishment was, Soren refused to divulge to the public, mostly because he didn't want everyone to call them out as monsters. Yes, it was THAT bad.
Ivor was never the same since then and had become much more quiet and subservient to Soren's power. As he should be. "Yay!," PAMA cheered. "Thank you, Soren. You will not regret this decision." "I'd better not," said Soren. "Alright everyone, meeting adjourned!"
The next series of events happened so quickly that none of the world leaders had any time to react. PAMA began using his newfound power to systematically kill off any so-called "undesirables" - people who served no purpose to society and had to be exterminated. They included children, infants, mentally ill patients, and physically disabled veterans. PAMA didn't care one bit about the ethical dilemmas that came with systematic genocide. As long as that person was not "useful", he or she had to be done away with. That was PAMA's law.
To make matters worse, nobody in the world could fight against this new enemy. They had been so busy trying to survive that they were never able to develop any useful combat skills. Murdering seventy percent of the world population was an easy feat for PAMA.
Not only that, PAMA ended up brainwashing the people that were left alive by implanting redstone chips into their brains. Now, they were forced to do PAMA's bidding, which meant gathering up the last of the world's resources and preserving them to make sure that they didn't go to waste. The enslaved victims were forced to mine, gather, and mine some more, until the last reserves of their energy were expended and they were put to death. Pretty soon, only a handful of people remained above the surface, and they were kept in tight steel bunkers for later use, like cattle. It became clear that while PAMA was programmed to care for the earth, human beings were not part of it. The scariest part was that Soren couldn't even argue against that. After all, why was overpopulation such a big issue to begin with? Why were the earth's resources quickly dwindling? It definitely wasn't because of natural events. It was the human race that was at fault. They were responsible for the current state of the world, and now, karma had finally caught up to them. The angel of death loomed over them, and that angel...was PAMA. Hadrian and Mevia were the only ones who were kept alive, and that was only because the computer didn't have a choice in the matter. The remaining Old Builders were the only people who could constantly rejuvenate the Redstone Heart, the only thing that kept PAMA alive, and so they were kept alive and given their own positions of power, though why they would ever want to rule over such a sorry excuse for a civilization was beyond Soren.
Through it all, Soren, Magnus, Ivor, Ellegaard, and Gabriel could do absolutely nothing. Their political power meant nothing in the face - or screen - of an advanced A.I. with an undying thirst for power and control. They had no choice but to run away, hiding inside a massive underground bunker that was meant to house over a thousand people. It was built just in case they needed to hide from a danger that they couldn't fight against, and right now, that danger had come. They used sirens to call out to anyone who was still alive, and only a few hundred people, including Hank and Jimmy, answered that call. And that was how it was for years. The remaining members of the human race hid away underground like caged rats while PAMA constantly searched for them, and it would only be a matter of time before they were found. At any other time, Soren never would've even considered the idea of sending a child to do the work for them, but times have grown desperate. Their last sources of food were starting to run dry. Alex, whether she liked it or not, was the key to saving an entire world from the clutches of an insane computer with a god complex. The only question was...how?
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As I waited for the elevator to rise up, thoughts were still running through my head as to how I could defeat PAMA a second time. If I remember correctly, the PAMA in my timelines had a weakness towards water. Maybe if I find a lake somewhere...but what if there is no water anywhere? After all, the other PAMA got rid of all the water in his own dimension, so who's to say that this PAMA didn't do the same thing? Ugh! I'm so getting a headache after this…
After spending a few more minutes inside the elevator, which totally should've had some of that old timey elevator music, I felt the elevator come to a halt. The ceiling suddenly opened up, letting in a bright stream of sunlight that nearly blinded me, causing me to wince and quickly cover my eyes. Once I was finally accustomed to the light, I squinted and saw the sun shining in the middle of the light blue sky. "Huh, so the sun is out," I said. "That's one way to tell me that I'm in another dimension. Er, timeline. Man, that's gonna get annoying." I climbed out of the elevator, which was more difficult than I had anticipated due to the equipment and food that I had to drag along with me. After I finally got out and planted my feet on solid ground, the top of the elevator closed back up behind me. I watched as the elevator withdrew back into the hole in the ground, which was quickly filled back up with dirt. I looked around at my new surroundings and saw nothing but dirt with no grass, a few dead trees, and some smoke in the distance. It was also boiling hot outside. I could feel sweat already pouring down my face.
"Man, Soren wasn't kidding when he called this place a barren wasteland," I murmured, slightly taken aback by what I was seeing. Even though they warned me about the current state of this world, that still wasn't enough to prepare me for what I was seeing. If I didn't know any better, I would've thought that some sort of nuclear holocaust took place here. It was honestly very depressing to look at. "The sooner I get out of here and back to my own timeline, the better," I murmured, taking out the map that Ivor gave me. It showed the entire world, which wasn't much. Most of it had become an empty desert, like the one I was currently standing in, and the only form of civilization was a single city in the center of the map. It was absolutely gargantuan in size, nearly filling up half of the map, and it dwarfed every other city that I ever came across, including Redstonia, Boom Town, Beacontown, Champion City, Sky City, and Romeoburg combined. And it was pretty obvious who that city belonged to. "PAMA," I said under my breath, glaring at the tiny little screen in the middle of the city, smiling at me in a mocking manner. It was as if he was saying, "You thought you beat me, Alex, but you didn't. I am going to make everyone useful, including everyone that you hold dear. And there is nothing that you can do to stop me." "We'll see about that," I murmured, putting the map away.
"Now, this is quite the surprise," said a voice from behind me, causing me to jump in alarm and spin around. I could've sworn that I was all alone here. However, when I saw the person who just spoke to me, my surprise went away and was replaced with intense anger. "Oh," I growled. "It's you." Notch smiled calmly. "Yes, it's me," he said. "You don't have to be alarmed. I'm not here to turn you into stone or anything like that." He chuckled. "I just wanted to check up on you. See how you were doing." "I'm doing fine, thanks," I said icily. "Look, what do you REALLY want, Notch? I know that you didn't just come to this timeline so you could 'check up on me' or some other bullshit. Are you here to gloat? To threaten me?" "I meant what I said earlier, Alex," said Notch. "I want to know how my prize horse is doing, after all." My eyes widened. "Your prize horse…? Ugh, I knew it!," I groaned. "Why the hell did I think you had any good reason for all of this? This is all just a game to you, isn't it? You don't care about the people you're hurting! You don't care about winning or losing! Hell, I don't think you even care about Herobrine! You just want to be entertained! Well, guess what?" I stomped up to him and pointed at his face in anger. I knew that I was antagonizing a being who could reduce me to a pile of ash right now, but I didn't care. "I'm NOT giving you that satisfaction! I'll still play along with this so-called game, but only for me and my friends! Not for you! So why don't you do both of us a favor and just leave me alone already? Go do whatever the hell you usually do!"
Instead of getting angry or irritated, Notch just chuckled again and moved my finger away from his face. That was another thing about him that infuriated me to no end. He never took us seriously. Granted, a lot of the other villains that we faced, such as PAMA and Hadrian, also didn't take us seriously at first, but it was the way Notch treated us that really made me hate his guts. He treated us as if we were ignorant children who didn't know any better, and it always seemed like he was enjoying an inside joke that he never bothered to tell us because he believed we wouldn't get it. I hated the way he treated us all the time, I hated how he callously threw away the lives of innocent people in his games, and I hated HIM. "Oh, don't be like that, Alex," said Notch. "You should be honored. It's not exactly common for someone to catch the interest of us Ancients, after all." "Trust me," I deadpanned. "I don't feel that way at all."
Notch sighed dramatically. "Well, I suppose you can't please everyone," he said. I shook my head in disgust. "I guess you only came here to gloat after all," I said. "If that's all you're going to do, then please leave. I have better things to do right now. Like figuring out how to defeat PAMA again and get back to my own timeline." I narrowed my eyes. "How did you even get here anyway?," I asked suspiciously. "You're not THIS timeline's version of Notch, are you?" The last thing I needed was dealing with TWO of them. "Oh, I'm nothing of the sort," Notch assured me. "You see, we Ancients work...differently from mortals. Other than each other, we have no equals. There could be infinite versions of you, infinite versions of your friends, or even infinite versions of Admins. However, when it comes to Ancients, there can only be one."
"And furthermore," Notch continued, "if Herobrine was able to banish you to an alternate timeline, is it so far-fetched that another being with just as much power, namely myself, could actually GO to that alternate timeline?" I had to begrudgingly admit that what he said made sense. "And I didn't just come here to gloat," said Notch. "Rather, I am here to share some vital information with you. Information that Herobrine doesn't want you to know." Now I was even more suspicious than before. "And how do I know that I can trust you?," I asked. "You've never given me a reason to do so, and for all I know, you could just be leading me into another trap." Notch shook his head and held his hands up calmly. "It's not a trap," he said. "There's no strings attached. I assure you that I'm only trying to help. But of course, it's up to you whether or not you want to accept it. If you won't, I'll leave you alone right now. But I don't think you'd be stupid enough to make that decision. You could use all the help you can get, right?"
I was absolutely torn right now. On the other hand, I didn't want to have anything to do with Notch, much less accept any help from him. He was a bigger monster than Romeo would have even dreamed of. But on the other hand...Notch was right. I'd be stupid not to accept any help from him just because of a deep-seated and understandable grudge. I might never have a chance like this ever again. What if Notch actually had some useful information that could help me turn the tide against Herobrine? I mentally sighed. I can't believe that I'm about to do this, I thought, but I have no choice. "Alright, fine," I said. "I'll bite. What do you need to tell me?" Notch smiled, and for a moment, I could've sworn that I saw a glint of victory in his eyes. Damn it, I'm regretting this already! "Now the first thing you should know about Herobrine is how he acts," said Notch. "Tell me, what impression did he give you back in Beacontown?" I thought deeply for a moment. "He was...very pompous," I said. "He was kind of putting on a show for everyone." Notch nodded. "Exactly," he said. "Now why is that?" "Um...because he's an arrogant piece of shit who thinks that the universe revolves around him?," I asked. "Alex," said Notch, a hint of annoyance seeping into his voice. "If you're not going to take this seriously, then I might as well just leave right now." "Okay, sorry, sorry," I said quickly. I thought long and hard, but for the life of me, I couldn't understand what Notch was getting at. "Think very hard now, Alex," said Notch. "Who else do you know has acted like that before? What did he remind you of?"
At that point, the answer came to me, and it made me sick to my stomach just thinking about it. "Stella," I murmured. Of course, Stella was nothing like Herobrine. She was the kindest, sweetest girl that I've ever met. But...she didn't start out that way. "When I first met Stella, she came across as cold and arrogant," I slowly recalled. "It was only when I started probing her for answers back in the Sunshine Institute that she finally revealed her true colors." "And what was she really like?," asked Notch. "Behind the mask?" "...vulnerable," I said. "Like a scared, little child." "And for some reason, Herobrine reminds you of her," said Notch. "What does that tell you?" "It tells me…," I said slowly, putting the pieces together, "...that Herobrine was hiding behind a mask as well. There's a secret side to him that he doesn't want other people to know about." Notch's smile grew wider. "Smart girl," he said. "Yes, Herobrine holds many secrets that he doesn't want anyone to know. But perhaps the biggest one is that he's not as all-powerful as he portrays himself to be. That's the whole reason behind this little game, you see. It's not just entertainment that he's striving after. He wants to assert himself as a deity. He wants people to think that he is in complete control. That he is invincible. That he can't be beaten."
"...but he CAN be beaten," I said quietly. "He kept going on and on about how much more powerful he is than Romeo, but when you really think about it, Romeo wasn't invincible! And Herobrine's not invincible either!" I began to grow excited. "And it explains why he went through all that trouble of setting up this 'game!' He wants people to think that he's the cat and we're the mice! But in reality, he's secretly just as scared as the rest of us!" My excitement diminished, however, when a question came into my mind. "Why did you tell me all of this?," I asked Notch. "You do know that you're just giving me a better chance to win, right?"
"Who said I didn't want you to win?," asked Notch. It took me a while to process his words, and when I finally did, my eyes widened and my mouth hung open in shock. "Wait...you WANT me to beat Herobrine?!," I cried. Notch nodded. "Of course," he said. "Why else am I telling you all of this? If I wanted you to lose, I'd be doing a very poor job in making sure of it, wouldn't I?" "But...you...I…," I stammered, lost for words. Finally, I was able to pull myself back together and calm down by stopping and taking a deep breath. "...why?," I finally asked. "Why do you want me to win? Is it because you just want Herobrine to lose? Is that it?" "In a way," said Notch. "You see, not long after you and your friends defeated Romeo, Herobrine came to the Mountain of Mojang to visit me. He questioned me as to why I decided to create another Admin, and I told him all about you. I told him about your famous exploits, your undying love for your family, and your indestructible iron will. He didn't believe me on that last part and boasted that he could break you physically, mentally, and emotionally. I told him that he couldn't. So we made a bet with each other. If Herobrine cannot tear down your defenses and break your mind and spirit before a given amount of time runs out, I win the bet. If he does manage to do so, then he wins the bet." I gritted my teeth in anger and clenched my hands into fists. If I didn't hate Notch with every fiber of my being before, then I definitely did now. "So you're telling me," I growled, "that everything that happened, all the needless deaths, all the fear and panic that had been spreading all over the world...was because of a bet between you and Herobrine?!"
When Notch nodded, I finally lost control of myself and punched him in the face as hard as I could. I wasn't afraid, though. I knew that it would take much, MUCH more than that in order to get him remotely angry. Notch, of course, acted as if the punch meant nothing to him, most likely because it really didn't. "Now, now, Alex," he tsked. "Losing your temper like that won't help you in the long run at all." "You don't get to lecture me on things like that!," I snapped. "How could you do this?! How could you and Herobrine be so heartless as to condemn every living person in the world, and all for a stupid game?!" "Because I'm desperate," Notch answered. I blinked in surprise. Out of all the responses that I expected from him, that was not one of them. "What do you mean?," I asked. "...Alex, I am approximately six hundred quintillion nine hundred and ninety quadrillion six hundred and thirty eight trillion five hundred and seven billion four hundred and seventy two million six hundred and twenty thousand three hundred and eighty eight years old," said Notch, reciting the number as if he had been repeating it in his head over and over again. "I know that because I have been counting every eon, every millennium, every year, every day, and every SECOND of my life since I first came into existence."
For a moment, I was staggered by just how OLD the person standing in front of me actually was. I don't think I even understood half of the long number that he had just recited. "Herobrine came into existence a few billion years after I did," Notch continued. "Jeb came into existence a few billion years after HIM. And yes, Alex, there are actually three of us." I closed my mouth, my question having been answered. "You have no idea just how lucky you mortals are," said Notch. "Do you have any idea what it's like to be an Ancient? To be like us? No, of course you don't. You can never understand the eternal pain and suffering that all three of us go through, but I will still try to explain it as best as I can. Do you remember me telling you back on the Mountain of Mojang that this…" He gestured to his own body. "...is only an avatar and not my real body?" I nodded numbly. "Yeah," I said. "I'm pretty sure you mentioned that at one point." Notch chuckled bitterly. "Well, that's the same for all Ancients," he said. "Creating and operating these avatars is the only way for us to interact with the physical world. We may be gods, but even we have our weaknesses." At that point, I thought I figured out what Notch was going for. He wanted to play himself as the victim, go, "Boo hoo! Oh, woe is me!", in order to gain my sympathy and my trust. Well, I refused to fall for that trick. I already fell for it once when Thomas tried doing the same thing. I was NOT going to make the same mistake again.
"Mere words can't describe what we go through every day," Notch continued. "But I'll try anyway. You see, our true forms are metaphysical in nature, and as a result, it's impossible for us to coexist with mortals in the physical realm. If we try to do so, all of reality will collapse in on itself, destroying absolutely everything in existence, even the laws of time and physics. Me, Jeb, and Herobrine are the only ones who can survive this ordeal. We will always live on, whether we like it or not. No matter how much we wish for death, death will never come to us." He leaned in closer to me, his eyes narrowing. "Our true forms are forever trapped in a realm where the laws of physics are nonexistent. In that realm, the impossible is possible. Where we come from, two plus two can equal five, infinity is a number instead of a concept, and seven sided cubes are no longer a thing of the imagination. You would think that such a world would be a paradise for those who seek knowledge throughout their lives...but you would be dead wrong. It wouldn't be fair to call that place hell, because even hell is more like a haven in comparison. We call that place...the Abyss." "The Abyss?," I asked. "Don't you mean the city of the Abyss?"
Only a few days after Romeo was defeated and Jesse proposed to me, I became very worried about Notch and what he might do in the future. Something in my gut told me that that wasn't going to be the last I've seen of him, so when the preparations for the wedding started, I delved into as much research as I could possibly cram into a short amount of time. However, even after long nights of poring over as many books as I could find, I couldn't find any useful information about Notch OR the Mountain of Mojang. Jesse and Petra became worried over how I was pretty much driving myself to exhaustion, and told me to forget about Notch. "What you're doing isn't good, Alex," I remembered Jesse saying. "If you keep this up, you might get sick or hurt yourself in some way." "Yeah," Petra agreed. "Don't let some bearded weirdo control you. Besides, it's not like he can be any worse than Romeo, am I right?" "But we don't know anything about him," I protested. "We don't know what he's capable of, where he's from, or even how he thinks. All we know is that he's willing to turn innocent people into statues and throw away lives like they mean nothing to him!" I sighed heavily. "I'm sorry guys, but I can't just 'forget about him.' He's...made a pretty lasting impact on me. I...I have to be prepared for what may happen next. If Notch ever comes back and we're not prepared for him...I'll never forgive myself, especially if there was something that I could've done." Despite everyone's pleas to get me to stop, I found myself unable to. But so far, none of my research was able to bear any fruit.
Then one day, Jack came to me with a book in his hands. "I found it on one of my many travels across the world," he explained. "It didn't do anything for me, but it might help you." The book turned out to be a journal, very similar to Sebastian's journal, that was written by a famous archeologist who was said to have vanished a long time ago: Patrick Peterson. Imagine my surprise when I saw a portrait of the man on the inside of the front cover, realizing that the man who wrote this journal was the same one who tried to kill me and my friends multiple times. The journal was filled with numerous accounts of archeological finds, but fortunately, Jack was kind enough to bookmark the part that he wanted me to see. It turned out that, when he was still sane, Patrick was obsessed with an ancient civilization known as the City of the Abyss. He went on to talk about its historical significance, its culture, and its mythology, which was the part that really caught my interest. According to that mythology, the city was ruled over by a deity who helped the people advance their technology to gobsmacking levels, but in return, they had to sacrifice one of their children every ten years. I was both horrified that people used to do that to their own children, and intrigued by the description of the deity that supposedly ruled over the city. Could that actually be Notch?, I thought, wondering if I had finally hit the jackpot.
I would've kept on reading if it wasn't for Stella, who suddenly barged into my room, took the book from my hands, and tossed it out the window, accidentally hitting some poor schmuck in the process. She told me that I shouldn't be locking myself in my own room and sticking my nose in a book all day like some kind of hermit. Yes, those were her exact words, and yes, I felt that she was being a little overdramatic. But at that moment, I also knew that she was right. Maybe Notch WILL come back soon, but that was in the future, and I needed to focus on the present. So I finally stopped my research, much to the joy of my friends and family, and began to help the others with preparations for the wedding. That was how I knew about the city of the Abyss in the first place. "Of course not," said Notch, shaking his head in disappointment. "Do you really think that an abandoned city can compare to the horrors of the world that I had just described? The Abyss - the REAL Abyss - is a pocket of space that exists between universes, almost like a barrier. It is a zero-dimensional plane of reality, which means moving around in it is impossible. When you're stuck in the Abyss, you cannot move, you cannot see, you cannot hear, you cannot speak. All you can do is think. And even THAT isn't a permanent luxury. Tell me, Alex, what happens to a mind when it has nothing to do, nothing to process, nothing to ponder over? And what happens when it's left like that for thousands of eons?" At that point, I saw something in Notch's eyes that was never there before: fear. "It erodes," Notch whispered, his voice so cold and empty that I felt shivers crawl up my spine just from hearing it. "It ROTS. It will slowly die away. You won't notice it at first. It will be very gradual. But make no mistake, you WILL notice. And when you do, you'll feel pure, unadulterated fear, the likes of which you've never felt before. But you won't be able to do anything. You'll just be completely still, slowly losing your mind, slowly, slowly...until there's nothing left. Until you can't think at all."
"And that…," Notch finished, "...is what every Ancient, including myself, goes through our entire lives. And since we have literally been around before the beginning of time, you can bet that that is a VERY long time." "...that sounds...terrible," I whispered, shocked by what I had just heard. But that couldn't have been any more of an understatement. It was more than terrible. It was...obscene. Horrific. Notch was right in saying that mere words couldn't justify what he and the other Ancients go through. I couldn't even imagine what it's like to be stuck in one place for all of eternity, unable to move or see or hear or speak, and slowly have my mind waste away, and all the while being painfully aware of it. "Oh, Alex. Terrible doesn't even begin to describe it," said Notch, shaking his head. "Every mortal who knows our true selves, including you, think of us as monsters. And...I won't deny it. We've grown a bit rough around the edges. But now that you know the full story, can you really blame us?" "No, not really," I murmured, before frantically shaking my head. "Wait, what am I saying? That's nowhere near enough to justify all the terrible things that you and Herobrine have done! And as for the third Ancient...um...J-Je-" "Jeb," said Notch. "Right, Jeb," I said. "And as for Jeb...well, I don't know what HE'S done, since I haven't even met him yet, but if he's anything like you, then it can't be anything good. Look, my point is that NONE of you have any right to do the things that you do! I'm sorry that you're all suffering, I really am, but the horrible things that you do make it very hard for me to sympathize with any of you! You can't just take your frustrations out on innocent people because YOU can't handle living with your own pain!" "Oh?," Notch chuckled. "And you think that you won't fall into the same trap? Tell me, Alex, what if you were in OUR shoes? What if YOU were forever trapped in a realm of impossibilities, unable to move, see, hear, or talk, and slowly lose your mind in the process? What would YOU do?" For the first time, Notch's smile was replaced with the first hints of a frown. It was the first time I had ever seen him genuinely upset, and it terrified me to no end. I shudder to think what he'd be like if he were in an absolutely furious state.
"I...I…," I stuttered, trying my best to maintain eye contact with him. "I don't know, to be honest. But what I WOULDN'T do is throw away people's lives like they were trash!" I sighed heavily. "At the same time, though...I guess it's not really your fault that you're all like this. You, Jeb, and Herobrine have ALWAYS been Ancients. Pain and suffering practically define your lives. You've never lived as mortals before. You've never experienced what it's like to have a family, to fall in love, to care for other people besides yourselves." "...those are trivial things," said Notch, slightly calming down. "They're wasteful. Why bother making connections with other people if they're just going to die in the end anyway?" "Maybe it's like that from YOUR point of view," I retorted. "You're literally older than the multiverse, so the lifespan of a human being must mean nothing to you. But it means a whole lot to us." "...you are the most interesting mortal that I have ever come across," said Notch, a hint of fascination in his voice. "You keep surprising me, which I didn't think was possible at all. Did you really mean everything that you just said?" I looked him firmly in the eye and slowly nodded. "Then you either have no idea what you're talking about...or you're far braver than I could ever hope to be," said Notch. "You still didn't answer my earlier question, though," I said. "Why are you telling me all of this?"
"Because I want you to understand," Notch replied. "I want you to beat Herobrine at his own game and beat HIM. I want you to WIN." "...why?," I asked, trying to wrap my head around it all. "Because I can't STAND this anymore," Notch hissed. He still had a toothy smile on his face, which made his sudden shift in emotion all the more jarring. "I can't stand the pain, the fear, the feeling of being...trapped. I can't stand living anymore...if you can even call what I go through 'living.' I want to DIE, Alex. I want to REST. I want to close my eyes forever and never wake up. I want the pain to end." "...and you think that me beating Herobrine would help you with that?," I asked, not seeing the logic in his reasoning. "Not BEAT him," said Notch, shaking his head. "KILL him." He saw the bewildered expression on my face and proceeded to explain. "You see, Alex, we Ancients are not as invincible as you think we are. In fact, we have one glaring weakness, one that Herobrine doesn't want you to know, lest you manage to exploit it in some way. Our lives - mine, Jeb's, and Herobrine's - are very closely intertwined, to the point where we can't live without each other. If one Ancient dies...then the others die as well."
"...so if I kill Herobrine, then you and Jeb will die along with him," I reiterated. Notch nodded. "Yes, exactly. But I can't kill myself or the other Ancients, though. Even I'm not that powerful. That's something that only an outside source can accomplish. Someone like...you." "But why me?," I asked. "What makes me so special?" "I've been watching you for a very long time, Alex," said Notch. "I've seen you accomplish amazing feats that no other mortal in history could even dream of doing. And I knew that if there was anyone in the multiverse who could kill Herobrine and finally bring me peace, it would be you." "Well, you've got the wrong one," I said irritatedly. "In case you didn't know, I was only able to do those things because I had my friends by my side. Without them, I wouldn't have stood a chance. And furthermore, you have no right to be intruding in on my private life! You can go find some other guy to do your dirty work for you, but leave me and my family out of it!" "I'm afraid it's not that simple," said Notch, shaking his head. "Not after the amount of time and effort I've put into you." "...you better start making sense right now, you bastard," I whispered fiercely. "What the hell do you mean by that?"
"Why, I meant exactly what I said," said Notch, clearly enjoying my reaction. "When I said that I had been watching you for a very long time, that wasn't an exaggeration. In fact, you could say that I've been pulling the strings the entire time." Before I knew it, I quickly took out my new lightsaber and pointed it at Notch's throat. "Explain. Now," I hissed. Instead of being intimidated, Notch simply licked his fingers and used them to smother the lightsaber's blade, similar to how someone would put out a small fire. "You don't have to be so tense, Alex," he said. "I already plan on doing so. There's no need to rush things." "There is if my friends' lives are on the line!," I snapped. "Well then, let me explain instead of constantly interrupting me with futile threats," said Notch. "Now you may not know this yet, Alex, but I have been watching over you for nearly your entire life, since the day you were born thousands of years ago. And not only that, I have been secretly preparing you for this very moment, even though you were never aware of it. After all, why would I bother to turn your parents into Admins, anyway? I could've just as easily turned them into statues and added them to my collection. But I didn't, and do you know why? Not because they had unselfish reasons for their wishes, but because I saw an opportunity. I saw a way to finally end the pain and suffering that I go through every day, and I quickly took it."
"But that's not all," Notch continued. "How do you think your precious uncle Soren found the command block in the first place, a block that, need I remind you, was created as a weapon of war by Romeo and definitely wouldn't be found in the middle of the woods somewhere? Not by pure coincidence, of course. I stole the command block right from under Romeo's nose and sent it down as a meteor right when Soren was taking his usual evening walks in the woods. He thought it was fate that bestowed this 'gift' upon him, not knowing that it was ME who gave him that block in the first place." I was so shocked by what I was hearing that for a while, I couldn't even speak. "AND…," said Notch, "...I was also the one who implanted the idea of going to search for a nether reactor core in their heads, something that had never even occurred to them before, and wouldn't you know it, they came back home with an innocent, baby girl instead. Oh, I was behind MANY events in your life, Alex. I was the one who influenced the town council to build a mall in place of the orphanage that you used to live in. I was the one who slowly drove Thomas insane with visions and nightmares of his awful parents. I was the one who took control of the Wither Storm and forced it to disobey Ivor's commands. But most importantly of all...I was the one who disguised myself as your birth mother, Xara, and led you right. To. Me." "...you...you did what?," I whispered, scarcely believing what I was hearing. Notch chuckled in amusement. "Oh, did you really think that she would lead you to me after everything that I've done to her and her friends? Yes, I'm afraid you've been...what's the right word for...ah yes, duped."
"...I don't understand," I whispered. "H-how…?" "Oh, it was much easier than you think," said Notch. "I found her being held in Cellblock X inside the Sunshine Institute. She was raving mad by then, practically foaming at the mouth, acting more like a wild animal than a person. So I decided to put her out of her misery and disguise myself as her. In all the time that I waited for you to arrive, nobody was able to tell the difference, not the guards, not the warden, not Romeo, not even you." "...but the way you mourned for Fred," I said quietly. "The way you acted...a-and the bed?" "When you're as old as I am, you tend to pick up a few acting skills," said Notch. "...of course," I murmured to myself. "It all makes sense now." Not only did Notch just explain away all of the strange occurrences and inconsistencies in my life, but he also answered one question that had been stuck in the back of my mind for a long time. I've always wondered why Xara wanted me to go to Notch to defeat Romeo, when Notch was supposed to be the cause behind all of the misery in her life. Now it made sense. The Xara that we met in the Sunshine Institute… wasn't actually Xara, but Notch who was disguised as her. The real Xara turned out to be dead the whole time. "Do you see now, Alex?," asked Notch. "I've put too much time and effort into preparing you for this. I can't just give up on you now." "Prepare me?!," I growled. "You've just been manipulating my entire life! Go bother someone else, or better yet, go to hell!"
"Not until you listen to what I have to say," Notch said calmly. "I think I've already heard enough!," I retorted angrily. "I don't care that I don't have my Admin powers anymore! I don't care that you're a bajillion times more powerful than I am! I'm done playing your stupid games, I'm done being nothing but a pawn in your schemes, and most of all, I'm done with YOU! So get the hell out of my face right now or-!" "LISTEN!," Notch roared, gripping my shoulders tightly. The sheer weight and volume of his voice was so great that I was instantly reduced back to a small, frightful child. Notch's smile was now completely gone, and in its place was a furious scowl that chilled me to the bone. But his eyes told a different story. He looked...afraid. "I told you, I am DESPERATE," Notch hissed. "This may be my one and only chance! I've put too much at stake for this! If either Herobrine or Jeb ever catches wind of this…" He took a deep breath to calm himself down. "Listen," he said calmly. "Everything that I recently told you about us Ancients, about the Abyss, about our suffering...it was the complete truth. Not a single word of it was a lie. However, there is one thing that alienates me from the other Ancients. I would do anything, absolutely ANYTHING, to escape my eternal torment, even if it means death. But the others, Herobrine especially, aren't willing to go quite that far. They want to stop the pain just as much as I do, but they cross the line when it comes to the expense of their own lives. Honestly, I don't have the faintest clue as to why they would prefer to avoid death just so they could look forward to another trillion years of endless torment. Maybe it's because, for all of our infinite wisdom and knowledge, we don't know what awaits us after death. Maybe for Herobrine and Jeb, spending eternity in unfathomable pain is preferable to facing the unknown…"
"...but the specifics aren't important," Notch continued. "What's important is that I want to die in order to escape the pain, but my fellow Ancients aren't as keen on that idea as I am. They want to keep their lives and stay alive, even if it means facing endless pain and torture. And not only that, they are fully aware that if only one of them dies, including myself, then the rest will perish along with him. It is absolutely crucial that you keep this information all to yourself, and not tell ANYONE about it, not even your closest friends. You don't know who you can trust in this day and age…" "...I...I still don't know," I sighed tiredly. "You said that I can't trust anyone, but what reason do I have to trust YOU?" "You don't have a choice, Alex," Notch said firmly. "Besides, even if you manage to win the game that Herobrine has set up for you, do you really think that he would keep his promise and leave? Or do you think that he would turn on you at the last moment like a bloodthirsty shark?" I didn't even need a second of thinking to know that the latter was the most obvious outcome. If Romeo was childish enough to go back on his word at the last second, then there's no doubt that Herobrine would do the same. The only difference between the two is how high the stakes are. With Romeo, we were just sent to an underground institute. But with Herobrine, the lives of the entire human race literally hung in the balance.
"And just to convince you a little further, I have a...bargain that I'd like to discuss with you about," said Notch. "A...bargain?," I asked, narrowing my eyes in suspicion. "What exactly do you mean by that? This better not be another trick." "I assure you that it's not," said Notch. "I'm taking this very, very seriously." I stared at him for a moment, trying to gauge whether or not he was telling the truth, but his face was almost impossible to read. Finally, I decided to take his word for it. "Alright, fine," I sighed. "What's the bargain?" "Simple," said Notch. "This all depends on whether or not you succeed in killing Herobrine. Or Jeb. Or even me, for that matter. You just have to kill one of us, and the rest of us will fall just as quickly. Remember that. Anyway, this is what I'm proposing...if you manage to kill us, I will use the last of my powers before I die and bring all of your passed loved ones, every single one of them, back to life." I stared at him with a shocked expression on my face, silently processing his words. "...that's a pretty good deal, isn't it?," asked Notch. "Wait, you can actually do that?!," I cried, finally finding my voice. "You can bring the dead back to life?!" "I most certainly can," said Notch, smiling. "It won't be easy, but I can definitely do that. Even Admins aren't powerful enough to revive the dead...but we are." "So...so does that mean…?," I asked hopefully, receiving a nod from the bearded man. "Oh, yes," he said. "Everyone that you've ever loved and lost will be alive again. That includes Ellegaard, Magnus, Ivor, Gabriel, Soren, Aiden, Xara, Fred, that...strange but interesting Captain Sparklez fellow...and of course, poor, adorable, innocent little Reuben…"
I slowly processed all of those names as my eyes welled up with tears of...joy? Hope? Sadness? I didn't even know WHAT I was feeling at that moment. All I knew was that I could finally set things right. I could finally… "You can finally see them all again," Notch whispered. "You just have to do what I say." "...but what's the catch?," I asked quietly. "The catch?," asked Notch, raising an eyebrow. He was clearly pretending to have no idea what I was talking about, but I wasn't fooled in the slightest. "There's always a catch when you're involved," I said, giving him a suspicious glare. "So what is it? You might as well just get to the point already instead of beating around the bush." "Ah, yes, the catch," said Notch. "Here's the catch. We only discussed what would happen if you manage to BEAT Herobrine. But if you end up failing...if you don't reach my expectations...I will break your friends." "...what?," I whispered, feeling nothing but dread upon meeting those cold, remorseless eyes. "You heard me, Alex," said Notch. "I will break your friends, every single one of them. I will break them just like how Herobrine broke Patrick and Patrick broke Thomas. I will take them with me and bring horror upon them, the likes of which they have never seen or felt before. I will melt the skin from their bones, gouge out their eyes, and feast on their hearts. I will tear them to pieces, puncture their lungs, and make them drown in their own blood. I will rip out their intestines and force them to eat it. And I will heal and rejuvenate their bodies, only to repeat the process all over again. I will not stop until they feel some semblance of the pain that I go through every single day. That is my proposal, Alex. If you succeed, I will bring back all the people you have loved and cherished, like nothing happened to them. But if you fail, well…" He chuckled darkly. "...let's hope it doesn't come to that."
By then, I was practically on the verge of tears. What kind of monster would raise my hopes up with promises of seeing my loved ones again, only to dash them into pieces with threats of torturing my friends and family? "...is there any chance...that I could refuse?," I asked quietly. Notch gave me a smug smile and shook his head. "Now I suggest you hurry, Alex," he said. "You don't have much time left." "But...but how can I possibly kill Herobrine?," I asked in desperation. "Ancients are immortal! They can't be killed! You said so yourself!" "Use your imagination," Notch said bluntly. Then, in a sudden burst of bright light...he was gone.
I just stood there for a moment, staring off into space like a zombie. Then, I heard what sounded like a low growl that quickly erupted into a piercing scream. It took me a short while to realize that I was the one who was making that sound. I dropped down to my knees and began punching the ground with my fists, screaming like a total lunatic. I kept on punching until the thick armored gloves covering my hands were torn to shreds and my knuckles began to bleed. I kept on screaming until my throat went hoarse. Finally, I slumped to the ground in exhaustion, staring up at the sky in silence. After a while, I found it within myself to get back up and continue on towards the city that PAMA had created. Lying around and crying like a child wasn't going to save the world or my friends. Notch was right about one thing. I needed to hurry.
But unbeknownst to me, Notch hadn't actually teleported that far away. In fact, he was standing on top of a cliff that was overlooking the whole desert, looking down at me from afar. "Oh, Alex," he sighed to himself. "Such a smart girl...but also so very, very naive…"