Author's Notes

Ah!

I'm sorry! I completely forgot about this chapter! I had been so busy, and just hadn't had time to finish it, please forgive meeeee!

ahem* uh... Reviews!

ThinMint, thank you so much for your support! Again, I can't really respond to much of the review without spilling the beans one way or another. :I You're just too perceptive.

GiggiEba, I'm glad you liked it! Trust me, Iza will get her revenge. And perhaps take it a bit too far... also, thank you for not saying anything if you already had an idea of what was going to happen. :)

And thank you to everyone who reads the story! I hope you guys have enjoyed it so far! :D

Anywho, on with the story!

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Darkness's POV

I waited impatiently on my throne. Every soldier from the Argonaut division was already on the overworld waiting for my command. One of the captains had approached me earlier. "Sir! We lost royal servant Theridas and ex-queen Anastasia in the woods." I frowned at him.

"Captain, what's the use of having a massive army if they are the most incompetent pieces of shit that can't even catch a blaze, a child, and a sick old lady?!?" The monster didn't flinch, it just saluted again and left.

So here I was waiting for the other divisions to walk through the portal. Half of the Poisonaut division was already there, but the Necronauts and Demonauts were still missing troops. I continued summoning monsters, but it was tiring work.

I knew that the blacksmith must have been the one to make the armor Theridas wore, but he was still necessary. His death would come later. And that little Ghast girl that was with them... It seems that some of those gunslingers are still around. No point in slaying them, though. I could use more 'workers'.

I stared at the portal from one of the throne room's windows. Just three more patrols left. I sighed and stood up. The journey to the portal was very soothing, what with all the monsters and servants running willy nilly.

Once there, I noticed the first patrol of the Necronaut division was just about to step through. I walked up to my general. He saluted me before barking at the soldiers.

"Necronaut Division! Are you ready?" The monsters roared, and I nodded. "Patrol one! Move!" The first 100 soldiers walked through the fragile portal. I smiled.

"How long until all of the divisions are through, general?"

"Approximately 6 days, my lord. Perhaps more." I nodded. It takes time to properly mobilize nine thousand units. Especially since most of those units are slow to begin with.

I looked on, my mind wandering off. Soon, brother. We'll meet once again, but this time, I will be victorious. I have an army. What about you? I smiled in satisfaction.

Your friends will not be enough, brother. Your days are coming to an end.

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Thoma's POV

But We'll fight anyway, until our last breath.

I stopped. The log that I had been dragging fell to the ground. What? Where did that come from? Eba and Adrian were helping me move the wood from one side of the plains back home. Simon had gotten an amazing idea everyone was exited for. Everyone but Iza.

The slime girl didn't seem as attached to Simon anymore, but nobody asked about it. After all, those two keep things to themselves most of the time. They probably wouldn't tell us anything. The creeper boy was playing with a sticky green ball while he explained to us what the plan was.

"You know how we've been mining metal from the lake, right?" We all nodded. "Well, that is coming to an end. The metal deposits are now depleted, and we would have to do some dangerous stunts to get at the deeper ones. So, why don't we look for metal in the mountains?"

Everyone just stared at him. There was a long stick in his hand, and he used it to draw on the dirt. "We obviously won't be able to climb the whole mountain -someone might get hurt- but what if we flew up to it?"

Using the stick, Simon traced an oval shape on the dirt, as well as half an oval beneath it. Then he connected the two with lines in certain pints. "We could use cloth or leather to make a large ballon, and create an airship." We looked on as he added details to the design, as well as little notes.

-Rudder, -Rope, Balloon-, -Steering wheel, -Propeller, Anchor-, Hull-

There were arrows pointing from the words to their specific parts. Simon continued explaining.

"The main problem with this airship would be weight. The heavier we make it, the bigger the balloon has to be. But... we can get around that if we use large furnaces to pump hot air into the balloon." He drew a square under the oval.

"Birch is lighter than oak, so we should use that for the hull. However, oak is probably our best choice of material for the rudder and propeller, seeing as they are the most important parts of the airship. Since it is more durable and stronger, it will do a much better job.

Also, we're going to need some metal for the anchor. And mechanisms. I can build them out of wood, but they could rot and would need changing more often."

So now we are stuck with gathering birch, and sewing together a large balloon. But hey, everyone seems happy with getting an airship. Except for Iza. The random thought still puzzled me. We'll fight 'til our last breath? A shudder ran down my spine, and I heard a different voice in my head

Good. Then at least We'll have some fun.

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Simon's POV

I was helping the spiders and Sarah sew up the balloon needed for the airship. Iza had been very distant since my stunt, and I'm beginning to think that I did fuck it up. She had tried to knock down every argument I had for getting the airship, but I always won.

And she wasn't helping much either. Honestly, her attitude kind of hurt. But it would hurt a lot more if I wasn't so exited for the airship. There were so many Ideas in my head, but before I could use any of them, we would need redstone and metal. So this first one would be like an experimental recon ship more than anything.

I continued explaining to everyone how it would work as I stitched two pieces of cloth.

"We would need a secondary furnace which would power the propeller, and provide horizontal thrust. The rudder and propeller would be controlled by the wheel and some lever systems. The anchor would have a string chain hung by a winch on the inside of the hull."

Iza stared at us from the house's main doorway, leaning against it with her arms crossed. "I still don't see why we need an airship. It seems like such a stupid idea."

I flinched, and tried to ignore her. The bottle where I kept my feelings spiderwebbed and cracked. Before I could answer, Valory lifted her head.

"So? It doesn't need to be useful, or even smart. Personally, I'd like to be able to fly like Nightshade. So this airship thing is very much exiting for me." I smiled at Valory, thankful for her support. She smiled back and returned to the task at hand.

We had been working for two days, and the balloon was almost finished. We still needed to build the hull, and we would require lots of metal. For nails and furnaces, as well as the workings for the propellers.

Thomas and Sarah volunteered to go mining, and Iza decided to tag along. I tried to convince them not to go, but they didn't listen. In fact, Iza looked very much happy to be leaving. The bottle cracked further, and my anger seeped out.

Fine. Go drown in lava for all I care.

As soon as I finished the thought, I mentally slapped myself. How could you think such an awful thing? You love her, for fucks sakes! ...But does she love me? I sulked around for a few minutes before sucking it up and returning to work.

Lila and Adrian were taking a break, chatting together beneath a large oak tree at the edge of the plains. We had been pushing back the forest with all our logging, and Thomas had suggested we plant some saplings so the forest grew back. For every tree we brought down, we planted three saplings.

After a few hours, the mining crew came back with a burlap sack full of metal. I congratulated them and took the sack towards my 'industrial' furnace. I began to smelt the ore almost immediately. Iza walked up to me and watched. After a while, she spoke with a very bored voice.

"How much more stuff will you need?" I decided against looking up at her.

"I'm not sure. I've never built an airship before, but this should be just about enough." Silence. After a while, Iza spoke up again. I heard footsteps and her voice became quieter with each word, meaning she was walking away.

"Well, I hope you know what you're doing. Otherwise, we just wasted a bunch of time and effort getting you that metal." My head drooped, and I suddenly felt too tired to continue. Why is she doing this? Was my little joke really that mean to her? Is she trying to blackmail me into doing what she wants?

More and more questions swirled in my head, distracting me from my task. Some of the metal spilled onto the grass and formed a pool on the scorched dirt. I stared at it through unfocused eyes.

Why is this happening?

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Theridas's POV

I woke up shivering. Despite our combined warmths, the cavern we were in was just too cold. Neither lady Anastasia nor Ella had woken up, so I stood up carefully to not disturb them. I gingerly took off the metal armor I had on. It was freezing cold, and I almost dropped it all on the floor.

Once I had placed the armor on the ground without a sound, I rummaged through my little pack I had filled with clothes and food. I munched on a piece of quartz while searching for warm things to wear. I decided to keep the cloak from the armor, as it was very warm and comfortable.

I pulled out a long-sleeved maroon shirt, a black button-up shirt, black pants and black shoes that were just a little big for me. Black is a warm color, or so I was told. I had also taken off the chainmail underarmor, and the new clothes I had on made me feel much warmer.

My companions were still sleeping soundly, so I decided to wander out for a bit. The outside was also warmer than the cave, and so green. The grass was green, the trees were green, most plants were green, the few creepers also wandering around were green.

Everything was just very green. I liked it.

There had been times in the nether-realm where I was bored of the red. Of the black and dull maroon, the few bits of white and yellow. It was just so... monotone. I had tried to brew a white potion using quartz, thinking that maybe I could use it to paint a room, maybe turn some of the reds pink for a change.

This was back when my father was still alive. He had been... as good a father as I could have hoped for. Supportive, strong, open, and there. I never met my mother. He had been a royal servant from the age of sixteen, which was about the same age when I took over the mantle. The year before his death.

Thirty-six years of being a servant. He caught the wither, the only sickness that could inhabit the nether, and died a year later. Despite our best medic's efforts, he died. I was beside him for his last moments. He smiled at me. That was another trait I loved about my dad. The world could be on fire, but he would just smile and wave.

He placed a hand on mine, and squeezed lightly. I had been crying, unable to hold back the tears. He wiped them off my cheek and cupped my chin. That smile was still on his face. "Be strong," he told me, "don't give up. You are still young, still so full of potential. Don't cry, son. May our stars cross paths once again."

I sniffled and wiped tears out of my eyes. "And May their lights brighten our darkest times." He nodded, sadness tugging at the edges of his lips.

"I love you, son."

"I love you too, dad. I'll make you so proud of me."

"Oh, son." He pulled me towards him and touched my forehead to his. Tears were running down his cheeks now too. "You already have."

I blinked tears out of my eyes. Sixteen was a very young age to loose both your parents, or so I thought. Now I have a seven-year-old orphan and a tired queen to care for. The wind buffeted my face, making my eyes itch. I summoned a fireball and played with it, giving the small flame different shapes.

I heard something behind me, so I turned around. Ella was trying to stand up without waking lady Anastasia. I smiled and waited for her to come close. She was shivering lightly too. I extinguished the flame in the palm of my hand and picked up the young Ghast girl. She snuggled close to me and stopped shivering.

Darkness had destroyed the Glowstone Fortress, home of the Ghast queen and her servants. Ella's parents had been there, but Ella herself wasn't. She had to watch the fortress go down, dragging her parents into the ocean of lava with it. All nether mobs were immune to lava, but the fortress would have crushed Ella's parents.

The girl looked at me with tired eyes and smiled. I smiled back. "Theridas?"

"Yes?"

"Did you have parents?" I looked back out towards the plains.

"I had a dad."

"Was He like you?"

I turned back to her, confused. "What do you mean?"

"Was He smart? And fast, and brave? And warm?"

I smiled and kissed the top of her head. Her white hair was neatly combed, and it dropped past her shoulders live a milky waterfall.

"Yeah. He was." I stared back out to the moors, and the grey wall beyond. The clans. Will we be able to reach them? It looks so far away... "And he would have done a much better job of protecting you guys."

She shook her head. "I don't think so. He isn't here." A sharp jab of pain stabbed at my heart. He isn't here.

"No, kid, he isn't. But I won't let that stop me. We'll make it to safety, just you watch."

She snuggled closer to me. "I know we will. Like you said, some dreams are just dreams." I nodded.

"And some are just nightmares."

We stared at the emerald-green moors, watching the grass wave in the wind, the trees shake with it, and the large stone wall on the horizon. We'll make it. Just you watch.

I breathed deeply and walked back to the cave. If we wanted to get there, I would need to wake up lady Anastasia. I shook the tired ex-queen lightly. She stirred and opened her eyes slowly. I smiled and extended my hand out to her.

"Come on, my Lady. We need to keep moving." She nodded and took my hand. I helped her up, and her lips pressed into a tight line. Once she was on her feet, I lead her outside. I had put Ella down, and she held my free hand. Our bag was on my shoulder. The armor I had taken off lay abandoned in the cave.

"Are you ready?" Both of them nodded, and I smiled. "Then come on. We have a long ways to go." With that, I began walking towards the looming wall in the distance. The grass was almost as high as my waist.

We'll make it. Just you watch.

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Author's Notes

There! I finished it! Yay! :D

Sorry it was late. Had been a bit busy...

Anywho, thank you all for your time and support, have an awesome day!

~ LeMafiaKreb