Chapter 63: An Agreement Broken

Perspective: Various


Warnado was terrified enough that his heart had begun pounding and time had slowed to a crawl at the same time, so he kept having to wait an eternity to feel a massive, explosion-level thud in his chest. But he was being stupid, this would be okay.

He hadn't said anything to Amanda, so it wasn't serious. He always told her about the serious stuff. So, if he hadn't told her, it couldn't be a real danger. Right? His heart answered 'no' by thudding even louder and harder.

He sat on a railing in the portal room, waggling his feet. He'd tried to summon food to take his mind off things, but he only felt ill looking at it. Scientists rushed between consoles around him, with Tyron in the middle of them. Occasionally the big, green guy would shoot a look of concern and solidarity in his direction, or Kir would reach out to his mind, but Warnado never reciprocated. Thinking about this was stressful enough, discussing it would actually kill him.

Finally, the portal flickered to life, and Kay stepped back through. Warnado looked at Kay and desperately wanted to feel reassured, his hands instinctively drifting to the goggles around his neck and stroked the glass. Unfortunately, while he didn't have the burning sword or the flaming tiara thing going on, his eyes glowed ominously, and his smile was serene. The grin Warnado had come to expect was nowhere to be seen. He looked like a stranger.

Behind him followed Rose and the two guards he'd brought, then a group of warriors in furs and bones who looked very surprised at all the technology around them. Kay saw him, waved, and then pawned the warriors off on Tyron, with instructions to show them around.

Warnado walked up.

"Hey, Warnado, how have you been?"

He grinned and suddenly Warnado could recognise him again.

"I'm alright, pretty boring day, but I needed one like that. Everything's been… a lot, recently."

He smiled sadly and almost wished Kay would figure it out there and then, that this would be confession enough and that he'd realise how badly everything was going, how much the Book was changing him, how much of himself he was throwing away. But of course, he didn't. He just nodded sagely, and before he could come out with some big pep talk or anecdote, Warnado cut across him.

"Hey," he said. "Do you want to go somewhere more private, just shoot the breeze for a bit?"

Kay laughed.

"Don't have to tell me twice, I know just the place. Going to have to bring Rose along, though - it reduces the mystique a little if my ever-present bodyguard is just loitering around somewhere. Rose, you want a drink or a book or anything? Going to have a private chat with Warnado for a bit and don't want to leave you just standing around in the cold."

He passed his fur coat to a nearby scientist. Rose cocked an eyebrow.

"If those are your orders..." she answered with a little reluctance.

"Alright," nodded Kay.

His smile deflated slightly, and his silver eyes grew more burning and intense for a moment, but by the time he'd turned his head to Warnado, his eyes were back to their normal green and his smile was completely rejuvenated.

"So, shall we?"

He summoned a portal, and they stepped through.


The dark sky loomed above, only broken by a faint afterglow of orange sunset in the West. The first few stars had started to peek out, and they could be seen faintly reflected in the pond when the surface sat undisturbed. However, this stillness had become a rare occurrence, as Warnado kept skimming the same stone and summoning it back.

Rose was leaning against a tree nearby, outwardly looking distracted, but Warnado knew her well enough to know that she would react to any threat within a blink of an eye.

Kay stood not far away, looking out over the cliff towards the remains of the sunset. Plains and deserts and forests and jungles intersected at strange angles as far as Warnado could see.

They stood in a secluded spot on top of the mountain beneath which the Shelter had been built. Warnado had never seen up here before, and he regretted this was the first time he had to see it. This little mountainous oasis really could have wowed him if he had come here for any other reason. Then again, if it went well, maybe there would be some good memories, some relief associated with the place. His left hand drifted under the collar of his robes and clasped the goggles so tightly he was afraid they would shatter.

He skimmed the stone again. Three skips - normally he'd do much better, but he couldn't put his heart in it tonight. He summoned it back again, shook the marmalade off, then pocketed it.

"Kay," he began, then he hesitated.

Warnado's friend seemed to jolt back into reality, sliding abruptly from silent reverie into his normal grin as he looked over his shoulder. He still had one eye on the horizon.

"Sorry, Warnado, I'm just… I like it up here. Gives me a good view of Nexus, a chance to appreciate just how cobbled together it all is. It absolutely should not exist, but that doesn't mean it's ugly, right?"

Warnado crept up.

"No," Warnado said with a cautious glance at the horizon. "Impossible things are pretty cool to look at."

"Hah! We threw out impossible a long time ago, buddy. I suppose I keep looking to accept that it's real. That I am going to rule this when this is all over." He turned around and beamed directly at Warnado. "That I'm going to make a home of this place."

He placed a hand on the demon-child's shoulder. Warnado pulled away.

"What's wrong? Is it about your powers again? Has something happened with Amanda?"

Warnado couldn't read his tone - it should have been caring, and it almost was, but there was something imperious about it - so he looked up and caught a glimpse of his furrowed eyebrows and flat mouth, before looking away even more resolutely.

"Kay, it's about the Book-"

He laughed heartily.

"Oh, don't worry about that. I'm getting into the King of Ash bit but that's all me, the Book isn't making me do anything, and it won't make anyone else do anything."

Warnado struggled not to quip back "Not without your approval, it won't!" but he managed to hold his tongue.

"And I know I've been a bit scary recently, but it's all for show. In times of great change, a strong leader is required to ensure the change happens, otherwise we'd all just remain as we are forever…" He trailed off. "I'd just sit on the border forever, never working up the nerve to move on..."

Suddenly, as Kay more or less confirmed the best possible explanation of his actions, Warnado felt a swell of warmth. Kay was just trying to help. He just wanted to protect his friends, and Warnado was one of those friends. He cared. This would be fine.

"After all this war I'm kind of afraid I-"

"Kay, listen-"

They both laughed nervously.

"Sorry, I didn't know you were still talking," said Warnado.

"Aw, don't worry about it, I'm rambling when we're meant to be talking about your problems. What was your thing?"

Warnado took a deep breath.

"I-I want you to give me the Book."

Kay's features flattened into something completely unreadable, and a pit seemed to open at the bottom of Warnado's stomach. But this was kind of a big ask, Kay probably didn't know how he felt either.

"Why?" he asked.

"Well, I've still got to go back to my world at some point, and when I'm there, I've got to kill Herobrine. And I'm really trying with the demon powers, I was able to track down my ancestor today-"

"How exactly did you accomplish that?"

"A spell I found in a book-"

"You went to her, didn't you?"

"Her who?"

"Shadow."

"No, I didn't."

"Helix, I know you think it's hard to tell when you're lying because I can't see your face, but you really need to make those glowing red peepers a little less expressive."

"Okay, so what?"

"That thing is undermining everything we're building here-"

"It's she, she's a person, Kay, and she doesn't want to hurt anyone."

"I'm not worried about what she'll do deliberately."

A silence. Kay's eyes were glowing silver, but aside from a distinct snarling quality in his voice he had suppressed his anger pretty well. Warnado decided to push on through the douchiness.

"So, I'm getting better with the demon powers, but there's still a long way to go. If I had the Book with me, we could just teleport into the Lich's palace and take down Herobrine, him, and all the other bosses in one go. The other prophecy kids wouldn't even have to worry about being heroes - we'd save them so much time!"

Kay's eyes dimmed again. He snorted and turned back to the horizon. Warnado felt a sinking feeling as he realised Kay believed he had a way of getting this conversation back under control. He was afraid Kay might be right.

"Warnado, this is an awfully roundabout way of asking me to come and help you fight Him. And you know, the Blind Watcher and I haven't been on great terms recently, but I still revere him, so it'll be difficult for me-"

"Kay, don't worry, I'm not-"

Kay talked over Warnado with renewed volume and a grandiose gesture of the hand.

"But, as I was saying, I'm still very much up for fighting this egregious imposter. The second I have control of Nexus, I shall make a campaign against your Herobrine my top priority."

"That really isn't necessary."

"Ah, a smaller scale affair, I get you. You and me against the world. I like it!"

"I really just want to handle this myself, it's a personal thing, y'know?"

"Then why lean on the Book's abilities like me? If you want to feel you've earned your victory, I shall ensure that you receive the highest caliber training from across the multiverse! Wizards, swordsmen, martials artists from creation's most powerful traditions. Once the Book and I lock Nexus down, we shall make a prodigy of you!"

As Kay continued to heap praises on this training-regime-to-be, Warnado realised he had almost completely lost control of this conversation. Kay still really believed he and the Book had a firm and equal partnership. He thought back to the conversation with Tyron and Shadow. He had to make Kay realise the Book wasn't trustworthy!

"What does the Book think about all this?"

He stopped talking. Warnado realised the afterglow of the sunset was gone. Kay became a featureless shape against the horizon. Warnado cast a night vision spell.

"The Book is happy where it is," he said forcefully.

"Is it? Kay, you've obviously unlocked its potential in a way its past users never did, but maybe its magic could be even more potent in someone who already has some magical experience. It could even help me keep the demon powers under control while still channeling them. It would be win-win!"

Kay turned around at him, wide-eyed and shaking, his breath seeming to quiver in the air as he exhaled. He didn't say anything. Warnado didn't say anything. Rose stood up and cocked her head in the background. There was silence. And then,

"I am listening."

Warnado almost felt relieved, and it must have shown on his face, because suddenly:

"What did it say to you?"

Kay looked frantic but Warnado didn't want to lie to him.

"It says it's willing to listen."

"Warnado you can't do this."

"Kay, don't worry-"

"You can't. You're only a child, you can't stand up to its manipulations!"

A little bead of spit flew from his mouth. Warnado tried to avoid looking him in the eye. They hadn't turned silver, but something had become sickly about the green.

"Do you want us all to die?" Kay pressed, now looming over Warnado. "Helix, think about what it did to Amanda!"

"I stopped that before, I'll stop it again."

"You can't do this, I forbid it."

"Kay, no offense," said Warnado with a little anger. "But you don't tell me what to do."

Kay kept advancing, hands outstretched as though to beg, or to strangle. Rose approached slowly. Her hand drifted towards a knife. Warnado made sure his backsteps carried him away from both Rose and Kay.

"Warnado, you can't do this to me. I have been powerless for so long-"

Warnado felt something heavy and rectangular stretching out a pocket in his robe. The Book had made itself at home.

"This will take some time. Let us discuss elsewhere while he cools off. Allow me to open a portal."

"I finally have a chance to keep them safe, to keep you safe!"

Warnado felt relief and stress flood cataclysmically in two different directions. Relief that he could separate Kay from his corruptor, and terror at the expression on his face and the continued advance of Rose. And in this churning of emotions, he allowed this to slip out:

"Sure, portal away."

A flash of moonlight on diamond. A blade flying towards his face. He summoned a shield instinctively and caught the blow. He felt a surge of pride as his training paid off, then he saw who had attacked him.

Kay had his obsidian-plated sword out, and he was panting with exertion. His eyes were filled with a new fire, at the same time visible and invisible - a complete, desperate rage that blinded him to anything but the object which had inspired it.

Then, their eyes met, and the fire seemed to flicker as they stood there motionless.

"You piece of shit!"

Astro materialised from the side and slammed Kay in the jaw. The General staggered towards the cliff.

"All these years, I have played apologist, covered for you, cleaned up your messes!"

Astro began a run-up for another attack. Tyron became visible and wrapped an arm around the wizard to hold him back.

Warnado, shaking, looked around. Steve and Jennifer appeared on either side of Tyron, weapons drawn. Shadow stepped out in front of Warnado, her white hair eerily still in the mountain winds.

Kay wiped the blood from his mouth and looked up as if waking up from one nightmare and finding himself in one yet more desolate. He cast an expectant glance at Rose, who was behind the line of conspirators.

Rose looked at Kay with the same faux-distractedness she had worn earlier. "Sorry, General. But there may have been a miscommunication around the time you employed me. I was the bodyguard of a cult leader. You don't survive that position if you don't know when to jump ship, undying loyalty is a liability in that line of work. Just gets you killed or sacrificed. My previous employer knew this, which is why he employed me in the first place." Rose glanced at Shadow. "Plus, I'm not about to fight the woman who on multiple occasions proved that she could end mortals like us with a thought."

Kay nodded but didn't say anything. He looked around the line of people perpetrating or enabling his overthrow. He lingered on Astro, who had settled from frothing anger into cold fury, his eyes almost appearing to drift around as though he couldn't definitely see his old friend. Then, he reached Warnado, and stopped. For not the first time that night, he had no idea what Kay had in his mind - his quivering eyes might have been about to burst into tears or explode in bloody decomposition. Warnado wanted to hurl.

The General hung his head. The sword fell from his hand.

"Do what you must," he said to no one in particular.

Steve produced handcuffs and advanced.

Warnado realised his pocket was empty.

Kay's head shot back up. Silver eyes shone bright enough to darken the rest of his face. No serene smile. The grim look of a survivalist. Steve retreated, Shadow cast a spell manifesting as a large runic circle, and silver-turning-purple flame erupted across the mountain-top.


I am at last complete. No more hosts, no more 'partners', now I have a vessel. He was so dejected, so defenseless, a child could have seized control. I feel my own power truly unfettered for the first time, and I wish to just stand there and savour it. But I must escape. As always, I must survive.

I try to teleport off the mountaintop. I cannot. Though I sense that I can still teleport within a certain range. I see the circle of runes she has cast about the mountaintops. Shadow wants me to stay. Any other day I would be terrified of her, now she is merely a threat to be dealt with. But first, the others.

Steve charges at me, armour still mostly intact after my opening burst of voidfire. Someone must have shielded him. No time to know who, his sword point approaches. I open a rift and he goes plummeting off the cliff. I hear the shatter of an ender-pearl somewhere nearby and shoot lightning in the general direction, though I have no time to check if I hit him.

I blast apart the wall of earth Tyron sends flying towards me. I catch Jennifer's arrow in a rift and redirect it to strike Rose in the shoulder. The assassin hurls knives sharp enough to split stone and I dodge narrowly. Astro and Tyron now coordinate an attack, stone and flame, flying at me. I warp away to the edge of the pond. Then, I see her march towards me, one of her dreadful blasts of heat ready to go. I stumble as I re-emerge in a safe location on a nearby rock. A glance confirms the blast's destructive power - the pond is a smoldering crater, the water boiled out of it.

"I shall not die here!" I cry.

I summon a massive blast of lightning from the sky, hoping to bring it down on Shadow, to blast her apart, but it never connects. For a moment I am infuriated, then I see what stopped it. The ward is weakened, I have struck the field keeping me here. I lock eyes with Shadow, she senses it too. She goes to reinforce the ward.

With a flick of the wrist, I summon a great storm which spits lightning down at the mountain, each strike weakening the ward a little more. It won't break the spell on its own, but it shall distract Shadow long enough for me to pacify the others.

I see Tyron, plating himself in stone armour, rush at me with his pathetic little sword. Astro flies close to the ground behind him, and Steve is not far behind on foot. They hope to overwhelm me. Tyron roars heroically and tries to stare me down - his mistake. The lights behind his eyes line up, and I have enough control for a single command.

"Strike him," I decree.

Tyron stops and swipes down at the low-flying Astro, who is just about able to spiral out of the way. As the wizard hesitates, not knowing whether to expect a second attack, I blast him with lightning, and he falls. It is not enough to kill him, but it serves my purposes. Tyron, horrified at what he has done, rushes forward and takes Astro in his arms. I ready the jet of Voidfire. Just as I am about to incinerate the pair, Steve hurls an ender pearl in the air and tackles them. They disappear in a flash of purple particles which are quickly subsumed by my flame.

I try to slip into the Void and strike them unseen, but the ward prevents me for now. Instead, I scorch the land where Jennifer is tending to Rose. The two scatter, and I chase Rose eagerly with the flames. She is slowing, I shall claim my first real victory. Unfortunately, in my enthusiasm I do not notice the arrow flying at me. It catches me beneath the shoulder-plate and my arm screams with pain. I send Jennifer back into hiding with a new inferno but it's a slip-up I can't afford. Shadow is still preoccupied, but not for long.

Then, an opportunity presents itself. The demon-child, the one responsible for my captivity, leaps down at me from a nearby tree, an energy axe in hand. I evade easily, he swings again, and I catch his wrist. I see past his obfuscation, see the dots behind his eyes.

"Kneel."

He does so. I summon the fire of the Void in my hand and press it as close as I dare to his face. I look around imperiously and my assailants freeze up.

"Kneel," I say. There is no spell. "Or the child dies."

Their weapons creep down. Tyron exchanges a look with the child and is the first to kneel after a resigned nod. Then Rose, Jennifer, Steve and finally an injured but furious-looking Astro. Only Shadow is still standing, still maintaining the ward.

"Okay," I smile. "You do not have to kneel but lift the ward or I will kill your pupil."

Shadow mouth distorts to a grin. I hear a warping sound and feel a surge of energy beneath my breastplate. The demon-child is holding the book which serves as my tether to the overworld in his hand. He is holding me in his hand.

Just as the gravity of my error sinks in, I notice the trees and the mountain peaks apparently grow taller and taller, as though the world is outgrowing me, or getting ready to swallow me. They look very far away indeed. Then, the jaws of the earth fold in on me, and I drop out of it.

I strike the floor in my library. It should not hurt, but it does. I am without my vessel. I am pages again. I curse and slam the floor. I curse the demon-child for outwitting me twice. I curse Kay for bringing me so close to freedom. And I curse Shadow, for what she's about to do.

My thoughts race. I shall survive. I must survive. But how? For the first time in millennia, I bother to ponder what this space is. Did I build it? Or was it built for me? For ages, I considered this library an extension of me, a space for the machinations of my will. But now that I am deprived of the physical binding and pages, I long considered my self, I wonder if this space is a prison. Who created it? I shudder to imagine.

I cautiously look outwards again, I can no longer see Nexus, not even glimpses. Instead, I see, I feel tendrils coiling around my space. I now see that these tendrils belong to something vast, the sheer scale only hits me now that I observe it from my own space. The being that is in the process of coiling around me extends far beyond my view and that is when I realize that so far, I had only seen fragments of what Shadow is.

As the first tendril breaches into the library a voice tears me from my panicked thoughts. A multi-layered voice so loud and overwhelming that it is not heard but felt.

"We had an agreement."

More tendrils breach and tear into the rows of bookshelves and dissolve the volumes therein. I feel each lost letter as if it is blood draining from me.

In front of me materializes a familiar form, the same that I had seen after being separated from Fristad. Shadow's human body appears.

Vast swathes of the infinite library are torn apart by the tendrils and despite its infinity, it feels like it is getting less.

Shadow speaks again: "We had an agreement, Iris!"

That name. The name that should have long been dead, each letter pierces my mind like a barbed spear.

I shriek: "Do not use that name!"

As more volumes are taken, more old memories stream back into me, vexing recollections of a mortal that for millennia were neatly sealed away, now torn violently and unnaturally from the shelves. I fall to my knees, clutching my head, feeling the texture of its pages, reminding myself that these emotions... these memories... they are not mine! No, they cannot possibly be!

Shadow slowly comes closer, hand extending towards me. I scramble back on to my feet and run away. All the bookshelves have been liberated, my illusion of inanimate perfection shattered. My human memories - the pain, the regret, the betrayal, the longing - sear within my mind like voidfire. And, in front of me, is but an infinite blackness to mock me. With each desperate step, there is no distance gained, no sound echoed, nor any ground to stand on. I run and I run until the illusion of motion is as meaningless as a word that is repeated over and over. I realize that this black space has no escape. I turn around, fully exposed as the woman whose life I once lived, with nothing to sense except the creature in front of me.

Before me stands Shadow, turning to a darker-than-black tear in reality, red eyes like stars. Then even this form falls into the infinite abyss, replaced by something far greater, far deeper, something that cannot be described by words or captured by thoughts. My mind reels with each moment I look.

An appendage extends towards my head. I am paralyzed by fear, overwhelmed.

No final words, only a touch. A strange calm washes over me for a singular moment before all that I am is torn apart.

...

Shadow opened her eyes. The mountaintop was far from its original beauty, the battle that had raged only a moment ago had made sure of this. Shadow's companions were strewn across the battlefield in various states of injury.

Astro had it the worst, every part of him singed and his limbs weak. He sat propped up against a rock, while Steve fed him a healing potion and Tyron stood by looking shaken.

Rose fared comparatively better, yanking the arrow out of her shoulder and standing up. Jennifer ran over to Steve, checking on him. She hadn't sustained any injuries, but her armor was quite battered.

Warnado, completely untouched, looked unbelievingly at the book in his hands, flipping through the pages, waiting for some script to appear on them. Then when nothing came, he whispered something in the demonic language and the book that almost caused everyone's downfall went up in demonfire. Not even ashes remained, something that Kay could probably have said many pretentious things about, if his kingly persona were still intact.

Shadow turned to the dethroned man who lay motionless at her feet. A cage made from magical energy slammed down around him, more a symbol of spite than anything else.

Taking another look around, she cautiously said: "We did it."