Author's Notes

I am apologizing yet again for taking so long to publish a chapter. My bad. :I

Review! (Cuz there's just one) :P

ThinMint, heh, don't beat yourself up over that. :P Actually, I did know that. Spider silk is stronger than steel wire. Yay, mother and daughter reunited at last! :D Yeah, it's going to be tough. Simon, Z and Val might arrive sooner than you predicted, though. Thank you for the support!

And now, let's get on with the story!

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Darkness's POV

I smiled at the wide expanse of green and white that is the moor. Off in the distance was my target. Veridon City. I felt giddy, like a child that was just promised he'd be receiving a treat. I elbowed my Demonaut General. "Do you see that? We're almost there."

"Indeed. We will arrive in approximately five days, my liegé."

"Fantastic."

"Also, lord Darkness, when shall we bring the nether monsters back?"

I had already considered every aspect of our attack, and would have an answer to any questions my generals asked. "Just before the attack, General. We'll give the people a nasty surprise."

The monster nodded and continued waving my troops forward. I summoned my enchanted weapon, twirling it around as a dagger in my hand. Then something caught my eye. A large oval shape peeked over the massive stone wall. I pointed it out to my general. The wither skeleton frowned. "That looks like a balloon of some kind, right?"

"Do you think it's your brother?"

I scoffed. "He may be the son of the sun, but he's not that bright. I doubt he built that."

He straightened his armor nervously. "And... what about the creeper?"

"The creeper?"

"The one that defeated your shadow."

"Ah. That creeper." I thought about this for a second. "Perhaps."

The monster looked worried. "Does that mean that your brother beat us to Veridon?"

I nodded. "It might."

We stood in silence for a while. Then I turned around and started walking with my troops. "The plan has not changed, General. My victory is assured. My brother's pretense will, at most, set us back an hour. Make sure your division doesn't step out of line."

Inside I was fuming. You seem to really like getting under my feet, don't you brother? You're supposed to be unaware of the attack. Or, better yet, dead! I swear to the ancient lords of evil that you will perish under my hand. I will plunge my dagger into your neck and gut you like a fish!

The ground will shatter, the mountains will crack, the sky will rumble with the force of a thousand explosives, and I will grind you beneath my heel as ruler of all.

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Thomas's POV

The king led all of us into the city and towards his castle. We traveled through mostly empty pathways, the only people there being soldiers with bows and spears. Jack and I walked right behind the king since the soldiers didn't allow us to come any closer. So far we hadn't spoken much, and the man named Anderson kept saying that we'd get the chance to do so at the castle.

So we walked after king Troyel and his men in silence. Kaitlin followed us from a distance, taking the opportunity to get reacquainted with her family. We walked the streets for a little while. Most of them were blocked by more soldiers, allowing us to travel without interruption. It only took us about a half hour to reach the castle.

The building was... pretty big. At least three stories tall with towers double that height, made out of light-grey stone or concrete. There were many windows dotted in patterns all over the walls. The gate was similar to the wall's gate, but it was in much better conditions and a little smaller. We stopped in front of the gate, and one of the soldiers escorting us walked forward, searching for a specific key on a ring.

We waited for some time while the soldier fumbled with the keys before Anderson finally sighed. The general walked up to the soldier. "For the lords' sake, Church, What is taking you so damn long?"

I recognized the soldier when he turned around. It was that same one who kept asking questions earlier, and had waved back. He had a worried and apologetic expression as he answered. "Well, I can't seem to find the right key, General. And I've tried them all."

Anderson groaned and took the keys from the soldier, quickly opening the lock on the gate. The general ushered us through. I heard him say something before they were out of earshot. "I think we need to discuss your recent lack of competence, private."

The king and his men led us down a long hallway. The king suddenly raised his hand and we stopped. "Give each of them their own quarters. Bring them to the war room in two hours. I will have assembled the other monarchs by then."

One of the soldiers bowed. "Of course, your highness. Shall one of us escort you?"

The king shook his head. "There is no need for that, soldier."

Queen Anastasia took a step forwards. "King Troyel, should I take my companions and daughter back to our apartment?"

"Of course not," he replied politely. "You will also be given a room. It's best if you remain close."

The blaze queen nodded and backed up a little. We were then led down an adjacent hall that branched out of the main one. We walked up some curved stairs and ended up at yet another hallway. The soldier gestured at it. "There are five rooms in this branch. If you need more, we could split you up and have some of you on the opposite branch."

We exchanged looks with each other. Sarah discreetly took my hand in hers. "That's okay. We can just pair up."

The soldier shrugged. "Suit yourselves. I'll be right out here if you were to need anything."

We thanked him and started walking towards the rooms, discussing who would bunk with who. Jack ended up being the only one who had a room to himself. Lila would share with Adrian, Kaitlin with her mom, Theridas with Pepper and Ella. Sarah simply stated that she'd be sharing a room with me, giving the rest of us that 'no point in arguing' stare she sometimes made.

So we exchanged farewells and entered our 'quarters'. The rooms were easily bigger than what our living room back at the house had been. It had a kitchen, a bedroom and a bathroom. Sarah sat on one of the couches and I flopped down beside her. We stayed quiet for some time before the skeleton girl crossed her arms. "What's wrong, Tom? You look kind of down."

I sighed and sat straight. "It's nothing, Sarah."

She frowned at me. "Come one, Tom. I've lived with you and the rest of our friends to know when something's bothering them. Spill it."

I placed my head on my hands. "I'm just... pretty stressed right now. Because of everything that's happening. I fell... lost. Like I don't know what to do."

Sarah placed a comforting hand on my back. "You don't need to know what to do. The kings and queens will take care of that. We're just messengers."

I turned my head to look her in the eye. "But we're not going to just sit around and watch, are we? We've got to help."

The skeleton girl smiled faintly. "Of course we'll help. But it's not our place to know what's gonna happen. The king will probably make us join a patrol, and we'll end up fighting along the warfront. Or maybe defending the people in the city."

I sighed again. "Yeah, maybe. I just... feel like I should be doing more. Simon would probably know what to do."

Sarah huffed and shook her head. "It doesn't matter what Simon would do. That creeper decided to play hero and now we're down three friends. All we have to do, Tom, is listen to the king and his generals. Everything will be alright."

I looked at her once again. "Are you sure?"

Before she could speak, we heard a knock on our door. Adrian poked his head in. The wither skeleton had seemed pretty distant since he got over the poison incident. But now he was... back to normal. "Thomas? A-and Sarah."

We both stood up and walked up to him. "What's wrong?"

Adrian wrung his hands together. "We need to talk. There's something I must tell you. All of you."

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Simon's POV

I turned the wheel two degrees to the left and lowered the ship by a factor of ten feet. Heaving a sigh, I pushed the engine power lever forward. The mechanism groaned from the effort but stayed strong. We had eventually escaped the thunderstorm after what felt like an hour but was likely no more than 15 minutes. The next actual hour was spent making sure the airship didn't fall apart.

I took a step back and walked over to Valory, who was repairing the last busted rope that attached us to the balloon. "Great work, Val."

"Thanks." The spider stuck her tongue out as she tied one last knot. "They should hold until we arrive."

I nodded, looking at the emerald plains at the edge of the forest we were currently flying over. I could just barely see a grey smudge in the distance that was Veridon City's famous wall. "It shouldn't be long now. Perhaps another hour."

Valory stepped back, rubbing her sore hands. "Thank the lords. Can't you make this thing go any faster?"

I crossed my arms, feeling a tad insulted. "Of course I can. If only we hadn't just traveled through a storm cloud which damaged most of the mechanisms inside. Redstone doesn't react well with water, so I had to do some very quick and honestly shameful rewiring downstairs for us to stay afloat. If you want us to go faster, why don't you bring me 17 redstone dust piles, four repeaters and two redstone torches?"

The spider raised her hands and took a step back. "Sorry. A simple no would've been fine."

I sighed and combed my hand through my hair. "I'm sorry too. Shouldn't have snapped."

Izabell came up the stairs right then. I smiled at the slime girl. "Hey. How's our 'friend' doing?"

She shook her head, walking towards us. "What are we going to do with him?" She looked a little nervous as she spoke. "You're not gonna kill him, are you?"

I blinked at her. "Of course not. I... regret what happened to the other pillagers, but there was nothing else we could do. They would have killed us if we hadn't."

Izabell nodded, looking glum. "He didn't want the food, but I left it there for him anyway. And he didn't say anything, just looked at me with murderous eyes."

I hugged the slime girl tightly. "It's okay, Z. He'll eat when he feels up for it."

Valory tilted her head. "What are we gonna do with him?"

I walked over to the front of the ship, looking over the railing. "Once we reach Veridon, they'll probably put him in jail."

The spider nodded. "Ah. So nothing."

"Pretty much," I answered her.

Izabell joined me at the edge of the ship, staring at the horizon. "Look at that," she murmured, pointing at something to our left.

I followed her gaze to a large snow-covered mountain that looked to have been split in half. It was a magnificent sight. "Yeah. That's something you don't see every day."

"It looks like there's a bridge between both sides," she commented.

I nodded, seeing what she was talking about. "You're right. I wonder who built that."

"And why," she added.

We continued watching the landscape as it changed beneath us. The dense forests became sparse, and rolling hills emerged from out of nowhere. It had been very stressful to pilot the airship through the thunderstorm. Ropes had begun to snap, water had filtered into the redstone mechanisms and the pillager that we had 'captured' had tried numerous times to jump overboard.

Valory got to work on repairing the ropes quickly, but for every one she re-tied with string two more would pop. I had run belowdecks to fix the mechanical internals only to be knocked to the ground by a very angry grey-skinned man. Luckily, Z had been nearby and together we had sort of caged the man with crates and chests in one of the corners. I had left her in charge of him and started fixing the mechanisms.

Thunder was booming the whole time, and the deafening sound of rain battering the side of the ship like a thousand blows rang in our ears. Because of the cold, we began loosing altitude rapidly. We started bumping into trees and scraping the bottom of the airship against small mountains. All in all, these were not the ideal conditions for working with very fragile and often fussy redstone circuits.

But we made it. Eventually the booming stopped, and the loudest sound was that of silence. I felt dizzy and cross eyed from having to fix the redstone in the dark while water seeped through the floorboards. I had taken a short breather before heading back upstairs and regaining control of the airship. The ropes that Val had been fixing were stretched thin, but the spider didn't stop. She had been out here in the middle of the storm repairing busted ropes so we didn't fall to our deaths.

I quickly found out the extent of the damage we had suffered. The rear propeller was missing two of six blades, the wheel turned grudgingly, the main engine was soaked thoroughly so we couldn't ascend right away, and we had lost most of our railing and paint. But the ship trudged on despite the missing and broken pieces.

"Guys. Guys!"

Valory's voice pulled me from my thoughts, and I looked over Z's shoudler at the spider. She looked frightened and was pointing at the ground directly underneath the ship. "Look."

We stood beside Val and followed her gaze. Izabell let out a small gasp. I closed my eyes and sighed. Right beneath us was a mass of marching monsters trudging through the plains. There were creepers, skeletons, endermen, even zombie pigmen. And they were headed straight for Veridon. We were passing above the first few thousand, and could see who was at the head of them all.

Darkness walked, surrounded by four armored wither skeletons and a blaze woman, with an air of pride and certainty. "That's him," I told the girls. "That's Darkness."

Izabell looked over my shoulder, not wanting to get any closer to the edge. "Really? He... he doesn't look too demon-ish."

Val crossed her arms, frowning at the man below. "That's because you haven't seen his face."

Suddenly the whole army stopped. The blaze woman whispered a few words into Darkness's ear, who turned around. The demon stared right at us from the ground. Izabell squeaked breathlessly and hid behind me. I shielded the slime girl with my body from Darkness's jet-black stare.

The demon smiled maliciously. Black flames appeared in his hands, and they became a dark bow and arrow. He drew back the string and fired. I pushed Izabell back to keep her safe, even though the arrow had only hit the side of the airship. All of the skeletons in the army's ranks drew their bows, aiming them at us. Darkness waved at them.

"No, no, no. Not yet. Let that serve them as a warning. Troops!" All the monster roared into the sky. "March!" The army roared a second time and began walking towards Veridon once again. Darkness stared at us as he walked. Stared at me.

I ran to the wheel and veered us away, out of range. Izabell looked terrified. "There was so many of them. What are we going to do?"

"What do you mean what are we going to do?" Val answered. "There's nothing else to do but fight."

"We can't take on so many monsters! Not even with the skeleton king's troops!"

"So what do you suggest we d-"

"We're going to Veridon," I interrupted them. "And then we'll figure out what to do. I'm sure Thomas managed to convince king Troyel of the threat somehow. And I know that the king isn't stupid. He'll probably ask for help from the endermen and spiders. That would equal the army sizes somewhat, giving us a fighting chance."

I stared at the moors and the castle in the distance. "We can do this guys. Don't worry, we'll find a way out of this storm."

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Jack's POV

We all gathered around the table in Adrian and Lila's room, waiting for the wither skeleton to share whatever it was that seemed so important. He was pacing beside the far wall, speaking in hushed voices with Lila. Eventually the cave spider grabbed Adrian's arm, rooting him in place. She murmured something in his ear, and the wither skeleton took a deep breath, visibly relaxing. Now more composed, he started walking towards us with Lila beside him.

"Um... I have something very very important to tell you guys," he began nervously. "I don't... know how you'll take this, so bear with me."

He looked pleadingly at Lila, as if begging for support. The cave spider demosntrated a deep breath. "Just let it out. In one go, quick and easy."

Adrian sighed and nodded, turning back to face us. "Okay, so... I... have been told... by the... enderdragon... that Thomas is an immortal being that has lived and died repeatedly for hundreds of years." The wither skeleton cringed as he spoke the last few words.

We stared at him silently, taking the time to process what he had just said. Sarah was the first to speak. The skeleton stared at Thomas, and despite her poker face I could tell that she was shocked and hurt. "Did you know?" she whispered.

"Of course not," Thomas answered. "I would have told you. This... is as much of a surprise to me as it is you."

Kaitlin raised her hand a little but. "What does it mean? That he's a spirit?"

"Are you?" Sarah asked worriedly.

Thomas looked a bit overwhelmed. "I-I don't know. I guess?"

Adrian grimaced. "It really doesn't mean much. Um... well, it does, but just... it doesn't change anything. I, uh, don't know much about this, I just know that he is supposed to kill Darkness." The wither skeleton drew his obsidian sword from the double-stacked sheath Simon had made for him. "With this."

The wither skeleton held it on both hands, one supporting the blade while the other supported the hilt, and extended it out to Thomas. "Nightsky—the enderdragon—told me to give the golden spirit this sword a long time ago. I just hadn't realized it was you."

Thomas stared at the shiny black sword for a few seconds before looking up at Adrian. "Are you sure?"

The wither skeleton smiled. "Yes. It had been my 'task' for two years, but I've finally finished it."

Our friend stared at the weapon for a moment longer before picking it up slowly. A flash of sunlight passed through the blade from the tip down to the hilt. Thomas blinked and put it down gently. Kaitlin put her head on her palms. "How long have you been talking to the enderdragon?"

Adrian rubbed his arm. "Well, I haven't been talking to her exactly, but I had a couple dreams where we did speak, and I would hear her voice in my head a few rare sometimes. For two years."

The blaze princess nodded. I frowned, processing something. "You said that Thomas was supposed to kill Darkness."

Adrian exchanged a glance with Lila. "Uh... yeah. From what Nightsky told me, the only reason Thomas was, uh... 'born' to begin with was to fight Darkness. He's the only one who can kill him."

I got up. "We need to tell the king. That's vital information!"

The wither skeleton backed up a little. "But we're supposed to talk with him anyway, right? In a couple hours."

I sat back down. "Right. But my uncle won't like that we didn't tell him to begin with."

Thomas combed his fingers through his hair. "So only I can kill Darkness. And only with the sword?"

Adrian shrugged. "I guess. I really don't know much about this."

Sarah inched closer to Thomas, holding his hand in her own tightly. "Is there anything else you had to tell us?"

The wither skeleton furrowed his brow thoughtfully. "I don't... think so. No."

She sighed and got up, pulling Thomas with her. "We need to talk about this privately," she said, already dragging him by the hand to the door.

Everyone else started filing out of the room after they'd left, and then it was just Adrian, Lila, and me. I could feel them gazing uncomfortably at me as I stared out the window. "Was that really everything you wanted to say, Adrian?" I asked quietly.

"Yes. At least, I think so," he replied.

I nodded and got up, heading towards the door. "Be ready for when my uncle comes. He doesn't like having to wait for somebody else."

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Time leap; 1 hour and 12 minutes. King Troyel's private chambers. Third person POV.

The king sat at a small round table, reading letters sent by the three other monarchs he'd asked for help. They had all agreed without hesitation, knowing that Troyel was not one to be fooled easily. If he believed this threat was true, then that was because it is.

A knock was heard on the large wooden door of the king's private chambers. The man sighed and looked up from the letters. "Come in."

A young soldier pushed open the door, standing straight before the king. "Good afternoon, your highness.

The king nodded, getting up from the chair. "Good afternoon, Church. What happened?"

The private scratched his head after taking off the helmet he'd been wearing. "Nnothing's really happened my lord, but... well, General Anderson sent me to tell you that another one of those boat things the newcomers came from has arrived at the wall."

King Troyel frowned. "Another one?"

"Yes," Private Church confirmed. "Four people we onboard. Three teenagers, a slime girl, a creeper boy and a spider, as well as a pillager. The man was accused of assault by the teens, and has been taken to the closest pod for questioning."

The king scratched his short beard. "Perhaps they're friends of Jack's. Have them sent to the castle, and give them their own rooms too, and inform My nephew of their arrival. Tell them to freshen up before the meeting. The king and queens will be here sooner than expected."

The soldier bowed. "Of course, your highness. Anything else?"

The king waved him away. "No. I do believe that is all. Thank you, Private Church."

The young private nodded, walking off with a slight spring in his step. The king shook his head and went back to reading the letters. "Anderson really needs to straighten that one..."

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Thomas's POV

I lay down sprawled over the couch in mine and Sarah's room. The skeleton girl had kept a slight distance after a short chat we had about the whole... 'turns out I'm some sort of spirit' thing. It was quite a lot to take in, but some things had actually started making sense.

For one, that nightmare I had some time ago, where I died after a fire, had not been a dream. And it explained why wielding Adrian's sword had felt so right during the battle with the enderman. Actually, maybe I died then. Maybe that's why I was in the white room. But then again, I hadn't felt like I died the first time I was there...

I sighed, feeling tired and overwhelmed. This revelation brought up more questions than answers. Sarah looked up from where she was sitting. It seemed like she was about to say something, but decided against it and hung her head again. The fact that she wasn't speaking to me hurt more than knowing that I was immortal and had died many times over. Knowing that I had a massive responsibility on my shoulders; to kill Darkness.

A knock on our door made me jump. Sarah got up and opened the door. That same soldier from earlier, the one who had fumbled with the keys, poked his head in. "Good afternoon. I have a message from the king himself."

I got up too and stood beside Sarah. "Hey. What is it?"

The soldier stood a little straighter. "King Troyel asks for you to make yourselves presentable. The monarchs will be arriving sooner than anticipated, within 20 minutes. I'll be coming back to collect you. Also, we believe that three of your friends arrived a quarter of an hour ago. They have been given the same message."

Sarah and I exchanged a look. "Do you think it's Simon?" I asked her.

"It must be," the skeleton answered excitedly. "And Izabell and Val. Who else?"

I nodded and turned back to the soldier. "Thanks for the heads-up. I'm Thomas," I said, extending an open palm out to him.

"Private Church," he answered, taking my hand and shaking it. "Now, I really need to get going. Commander Anderson wanted me to do something else." Then he dashed away.

We closed the door and stared at it for a little while. "I didn't think..." Sarah began. "I mean, I hoped, but... Simon's alive."

"Yeah," I answered incredulously. "Looks like Izabell was right."

The skeleton girl tucked her long inky black hair behind her ears. "I guess need to take a bath. What are we going to wear?"

"Um..." I wandered into the bedroom and opened the closet. It had many different clothing items, of varying sizes. "I'm sure we can find something in here that fits," I told her.

The skeleton poked her head in and started looking over the few dresses and girl clothes. "I like this one," she murmured, bringing out a light-grey jersey. "And I'll take... this," she continued, taking a pair of denim shorts off their hanger.

I picked out my own clothes—a simple cyan t-shirt and some jeans—and we both headed towards the bathroom. We stopped in front of the closed door. "I guess we need to decide who goes first," I told Sarah.

"I am," she answered quickly, pushing me playfully out of the way and reaching for the doorknob.

"Hey!" I grabbed her wrist and pulled her back before she could open the door.

The skeleton girl smiled at me, making me feel warm and fuzzy before she spun out of my grasp and pushed me backwards, making me lose my balance and land flat on my bottom.

"I called dibs," she said between giggles, entering the bathroom and locking the door.

I got up and knocked on the door, feeling my own smile crawl on my face. "That's not fair!"

"I got here first, that makes it fair!" She exclaimed from the other side.

I chuckled and turned around to lean against the door. "Just don't take too long. We need to be ready in twenty!"

"Ooh, look at all these soaps and things in here!" the skeleton girl shouted from the other side. "I think I'm going to test all of them! Would be a shame not to!"

"Nooo," I moaned dramatically. "We need to hurry!"

Sarah giggled from inside. "Okay, Okay, you win. I'll be ready in ten minutes."

"Better be ready sooner!" I told her. The sound of running water drowned out my words. I sighed and shook my head, smiling. "Can't not love her," I muttered, walking over to sit on the couch.

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Time leap; 23 minutes. Skeleton Castle War room. Third person POV

King Troyel sat in his chair at the large map-table in the war room, waiting expectantly for the other monarchs to arrive. Two pairs of soldiers were stationed at both doors that led into the room. Eventually, a series of knocks was heard at the first door. One of the soldiers, General Anderson, nodded at the other, General Griffin.

Griffin cleared his throat. "Introducing her magesty Queen Cassidy of the Enderman clan."

Both soldiers pulled open the doors and bowed, letting a tall pale woman through. The enderwoman wore a long black robe with purple accents, as well as a silver crown with violet gemstones atop her long deep purple hair. She smiled at the king, who got up and took off his crown as a sign of respect, holding it with one hand at his side. "Good afternoon, Troyel."

The king nodded. "If only it were good, Cassidy. I'm not surprised that you arrived first."

The Queen shook her head, still smiling. "While teleporting is reserved for emergencies usually, I deemed it necessary due to you message."

"And I am glad you did," the king answered.

General Griffin cleared his throat again. "Introducing his magesty King Adam of the creeper clan."

A man dressed in a dark-green cloak with brown trim and pants walked into the room. He had dark-brown hair, green eyes and a golden crown with emeralds imbedded in it. The creeper nodded at both of his fellow monarchs. "Afternoon lady Cassidy, king Troyel."

The enderwoman nodded back, smiling faintly. "Hello, Adam."

"I'm glad you could meet us in such short notice," Troyel said.

The creeper smiled. "Your message stressed the importance of our arrival, and you know I never turn down a call for help."

Griffin cleared his throat a third time, and coughed due to it. He spoke after regaining his composure. "Introducing her magesty Queen June of the spider clan."

Another woman walked in. She was also wearing a robe like the enderman Queen, though hers was much longer. It trailed behind the spider as she walked. A pendant with a red gemstone hung from her neck. She had black hair, red eyes, and wore a silver tiara with a single red cristal in the middle.

The spider queen bowed before the other monarchs. "I came as fast as I could, Troyel."

The king smiled at her. "Thank you, June. I am glad that all of you are here."

King Adam walked up to the table and placed his hands on top of it. "Shall we begin? What is this threat you fear so much?"

The skeleton king raised an open hand. "Not yet, Adam. We need to wait for the rest."

Queen Cassidy frowned. "Who else did you send for?"

"Only you three," King Troyel assured, "but there are a few more people who will help with the planning."

As if on cue, more people started streaming in from the first door, with Lady Anastasia at the head, Kaitlin and Theridas beside her. They stopped before the king. Thomas, Jack, Sarah, Lila, Adrian, and Eba stood before the monarchs.

Lady June frowned. "Who are these people, Troyel?"

"This." the skeleton king gestured at the ex-Queen. "Is Lady Anastasia, Princess Kaitlin, and their royal servant Theridas from the nether-bound blaze clan. The young men and women behind them are my nephew Jack and a few of his friends. They have witnessed the threat firsthand."

One of the soldiers stationed at the second door, General Solomon, coughed to get the king's attention. "My lord, it appears that the rest of Prince Jack's friends have arrived."

King Troyel nodded. "Send them in, please."

General Solomon nodded and pulled open the door. Simon, Izabell and Valory walked in. The rest of the gang called their names joyously and crowded around them, exchanging hugs and relieved words.

Queen Cassidy walked over and leaned closer to the skeleton king, whispering in his ear. "Why are these children here, king Troyel?"

"I told you," he replied politely. "They witnessed the threat firsthand. The information they can share is invaluable."

The enderwoman nodded and stood straighter. After a few moments had passed, King Adam cleared his throat. "Forgive me for interrupting your apparent re-acquaintance, but we really must get on with the meeting."

Lady Anastasia nodded. "Of course." She whispered into Kaitlin's ear. "Please tell your friends to remain quiet unless they are told to speak, okay?"

"Alright, Mom," the blaze princess answered. She whispered the message to Thomas, who shared it with everyone else.

King Troyel nodded and got up from his chair. "Close the doors please, generals. We must not be disturbed."

The four soldiers at the doors nodded and closed them after leaving the room. The skeleton king stared at the other monarchs. "I suppose I must share with you what I know."

Queen June nodded. "First of all, what's the threat?"

"The threat," Troyel began with a sigh. "Is a massive monster army heading straight towards Veridon from the east."

Lady Cassidy bent down to lean on the table with her shoulders. "We can handle monsters, Troyel."

The skeleton king shook his head. "I saw the threat with my own eyes. There was at least three thousand monsters of different kinds."

"Actually," Simon objected from the back, walking up to the map-table. "There was many more than that. At least five thousand."

Lady June crossed her arms and stared at king Troyel. "Are we going to be listening to children now, Troyel?"

"As I mentioned, these young people have information about the threat nobody else does. They were caught in the crossfire by the looks of things."

Theridas timidly raised his hand. "My lords, if I may."

The four monarchs in the room turned to stare at him curiously. The blaze hesitated, and Pepper placed an encouraging hand on his shoulder. Theridas smiled at her and turned back to speak to the monarchs. "It's not just monsters."

King Troyel nodded. "Lady Anastasia and Theridas warned me of this as well. Go on," he told Theridas, gesturing for him to continue.

The blaze nodded and straightened his cloak. "A few months ago, a demon took over the entirety of the nether realm," he began.

"That's impossible," Lady Cassidy exclaimed. "There has never been a demon capable of such things since the beginning of time! How did a single one overtake four kingdoms in so little time without us knowing about it?"

Lady Anastasia took a step forwards. "This is no ordinary demon. He calls himself Darkness. Darkness systematically eliminated all of the nether-bound clans' monarchs. King Ronald of the zombie pigmen, king Taran of the magma cubes, Queen Lidia of the ghasts, and..." The blaze woman's voice cracked a little. "King Fergus of the blazes. My husband."

Lady June walked over and held Lady Anastasia's hand, staring sympathetically at her. "I'm very sorry to hear that."

King Troyel nodded. "We all are."

The blaze woman took a deep breath. "Thank you. But you must believe me when I say that Darkness is very dangerous. Theridas knows more about this than I do, however."

"Yes," the man agreed. "I was Darkness's royal servant before Lady Anastasia, Ella and I escaped. I know almost everything about Darkness's army."

"Very well, Theridas," King Adam said, beckoning him to the map-table. "What are we dealing with?"

The blaze took a few steps closer, next to Simon who apparently refused to go back in line with his friends. "Both of you were wrong, no offense King Troyel."

"None taken," the skeleton king said. Simon grunted.

Theridas ignored him. "There are about eleven thousand monsters in his army, split in four divisions. The Argonauts, basic infantry, which consist of zombie pigmen and skeletons. The Necroauts, strategic brawlers, which consist of endermen, wither skeletons and spiders. The Poisonauts, skirmirmishers, which consist of cave spiders, strays, and husks. Lastly, the Demonauts. This division consists of creepers, ghasts and blazes. There are one thousand of each kind of monster."

King Troyel put on a poker face. King Adam let out a long huff and hung his head. "This will not be easy, Troyel."

"There has never been such a large quantity of hostile monsters in the history of all the clans," Lady June added. "What are we going to do?"

"We're going to fight," Lady Cassidy said proudly. "We will not abandon a fellow monarch. These monsters are just like the countless others we've defended ourselves from. We just need a solid strategy to take them down."

King Adam leaned on the table with his shoulders. "Anything else we need to know, Theridas?"

The blaze nodded. "Yes. All of the monsters are heavily armored, and that slows them down. There are four generals, one for each division. Darkness chose ten captains for every kind of monster. They control ninety-nine monsters each, and are controlled by the four generals. If we take them and the captains out, the rest of the monsters will most likely cease to follow commands and then flee."

"Most likely?" King Adam said incredulously.

"It's the best chance we have," Lady June pointed out.

The creeper king sighed. "Right. What about Darkness? The big man himself? Why don't we kill him?"

"We could," Theridas said. "But he's no fool. He'll probably be at the back of his armies. So we need to think of a way to get closer."

Adrian cleared his throat and took a step forwards. "It's not that simple. Darkness isn't an ordinary demon. Only one person can kill him." The wither skeleton turned around and pointed at Thomas. "Him."

King Troyel frowned. "I was not told about this."

Adrian nodded. "Only I knew. The enderdragon herself told me."

Lady Cassidy stared incredulously at the wither skeleton. "Nightsky spoke with you?"

"Yes," he confirmed. "She tasked me two years ago to find the golden spirit and deliver an enchanted sword. Only Thomas can kill darkness, and only with that weapon."

"And why would we believe such a thing?" Lady June asked. "Are you cahoots with that demon?"

Adrian looked taken aback. "No. Of course not." His gaze locked on to the skeleton king. "You have to believe me. Have I ever lied, your highness?"

King Troyel stared at him for a while before sighing. "No. He's always been a trustworthy soldier."

King Adam combed his hair back with his hand. "This will certainly be difficult. So we need to get the boy close to Darkness so he can finally end that demon."

Simon, who had been carefully inspecting the map-table, spoke up again. "I have an idea."

Everyone stared at the creeper boy. The monarchs exchanged glances with each other. "I suppose there's no harm in asking," Lady June muttered. "What is your idea?"

The creeper boy pointed at the green expanse on the map to the east of the castle. "This is where we last saw Darkness's troops. We should focus most of the armies here, and leave part of them inside the city. We should have at least ten patrols on the eastern front, two of which will help escort Thomas through the masses of monsters and to Darkness."

"The endermen will most likely attempt to wreak havoc on the streets," Lady Cassidy commented. "I volunteer to stay in the city, along with three of my patrols, to defend it."

"I can lend one patrol to stay in the city," Adam said. Lady June nodded. "So can I."

The skeleton king smiled appreciatively. "Thank you all."

"However," King Adam began. "Even with ten patrols up front and five in the city, our chances of success seem pretty bleak."

"Yes, I thought so too," Simon told them. "But we do have few tricks up our sleeve."

The creeper boy dug through the inside pockets of his hoodie and brought out multiple folded-up pieces of paper. He opened a couple and presented them to the monarchs. "These are blueprints to many of my creations. They could give us an edge in battle."

King Adam picked up one of the blueprints and looked it over. He turned it around and showed the rest of the monarchs. "This is one of the floating boats that were stationed next to the wall, isn't it?"

The creeper boy nodded. "Yes, the Auikyani. The other one is the MKII."

Lady Cassidy took the blueprint from King Adam. "You built this? By yourself?"

Simon smiled and shook his head. "My friends and I built it in the valley where we lived. It took us four days of hard work to assemble one. I believe that, with the greater workforce of the skeleton kingdom, we could make a fleet of combat-ready airships in the time it took ten of us to build one."

The creeper boy picked out another blueprint and presented it to king Troyel. "This is the blueprint for the Dragoon, a third airship that we didn't bring here with us. It is much slower than the Auikyani, but capable of dealing and receiving much more damage."

The skeleton king nodded, inspecting the blueprint. "This will certainly give us an advantage," he commented.

Simon smiled proudly. "Now we just need to figure out the details. I will be flying the MKII with Izabell and Valory." He turned around to make sure his friends were okay with this. Both girls nodded.

Eba took a step forwards. "I'll be piloting the Auikyani."

King Troyel scratched his short beard. "I will have some of my men accompany you onboard. General Anderson and private Church will go with... Simon, was it? General Hendershot, Private Grant, Private Carlos, and Private Gabriel will go with... what's your name, miss?"

The endergirl stood a little straighter. "Eba."

The skeleton king nodded. "My general and a few of his men will accompany you aboard the 'airship'."

King Adam wrote a few notes on a small book. "I will bring my best engineers and their teams to begin the assembly of the ships and artillery."

Simon nodded and looked at Lady June. "Your highness, the airships' balloons require the expert handiwork of spiders. Could you lend king Adam a hand?"

The spider queen nodded. "Of course. My troops will help in any way they can."

"My troops can transport materials to speed up the construction of the airships," Lady Cassidy added.

"Thank you all very much," King Troyel said appreciatively.

The monarchs, with the help of Simon and Theridas, continued to discuss the strategy. Until at last king Troyel clapped his hands. "Very well. Everybody knows their role and position, right?"

Lady Cassidy nodded. "I will inform my generals and task my best builders to transport the necessary materials."

"I'll bring my brightest engineers," King Adam said. "And some of my soldiers."

"And I will bring my troops as well as the most skilled tailors from the kingdom," Lady June added.

The skeleton king nodded. "Great. I shall inform my generals as well."

He walked over to stand in front of Thomas and his friends. "Return to your rooms and get some rest. You'll be soldiers tomorrow. One of my soldiers will escort you to my private quarters in a few days to be given orders to follow once the battle starts. Until then, feel free to explore the city."

The young men and women nodded and thanked the king before leaving. Once they were gone, Troyel made a quick reverence to the other monarchs and Lady Anastasia. "Thank you again for your assistance."

"This will be the biggest war in history," Lady June said calmly. "I would never leave you to bear the weight on your own."

Lady Cassidy nodded. "I will fight for the other clans, because I know they would do the same for mine."

"I never leave a friend to fend for himself," King Adam said with a smile.

"I am fighting for my realm," Lady Anastasia added. "And for my husband. For everything that demon put me through."

King Troyel nodded and stood a little straighter. "And I am fighting for my kingdom, and the lives at stake. May the lords grant us mercy and good will. They know we will need it."

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Author's Notes

Whew... that took some time.

I hope everyone enjoyed reading the chapter as much as I did writing it!

Thank you all so much for your time, patience, and support. Have an awesome day!

~ LeMafiaKreb