Chapter 77: Final Preparations

Perspective: Voidblade


"Believe me, it's getting bad in there," he jabbered in the tongue of the End. "Entity said the Ender tried to kill it, Claw's still recovering. Just told us all to keep guarding the machine. That it changed nothing. Ordered in some reinforcements, but not as many as you'd think. Humans shut up, but we endfolk, we had to be smarter and keep asking questions."

He sipped the Chorus juice on the table in front of him. His obsidian armour rattled as he did so.

"Some officers got hung up on why none of them had been appointed to succeed the Ender. Entity said it was because Claw would be better any day now. Still wouldn't tell us where he was being treated. Entity got sick of questions, set Glibby on them…"

The enderman flinched at the memory, let out a guttural noise of discomfort.

"Only Glibby did more. Killed the officers, then told their men to smear grey goop on their scales, recognise him as the new leader. I said yes, I liked the Grey Ones - Silver and I were once brothers in battle - he was good Endfolk. Many said no. Some died. Entity just said 'Claw will be better any day now'. Then, I ask myself, why is Freak not doing this? Why Glibby? Then I realise, Freak is scared." He cackles. "The Entity's pet ghost has fled. Why should I stay?"

Voidblade finished transcribing the defector's account.

"You say they called for reinforcements? How many?"

"Don't know. Asked Marcus to come back from campaign, and Forgelight to come back from colonies. Did not specify troop numbers."

Voidblade grumbled and tapped his pen against the page.

"You know I did not come here out of altruism," said the defector. "I'm here because Glibby wronged us. You are Endfolk, you know the phrase, 'They strike one, they fight whole End?'"

Voidblade didn't say anything. Of course he knew the phrase. His people had gotten themselves driven most of the way to extinction for that phrase.

"I won't fight my brothers, but I'll sell you information. I was bodyguard to a very important scientist. Her name was…" He strained out his best human impression. "Veronica Mercury."

Voidblade jotted the information down.

"Name?"

"Steelborn."

"Excuse me."

Voidblade stood up and went into the next room, which looked in on the interrogation room from behind black-tinted glass. Fire and a man with a black handlebar moustache were waiting for the report. Astro paced in the corner.

Voidblade handed it to the man with the handlebar moustache because he did not speak the tongue of the End. He wiped it precisely with a handkerchief, then took it. He said very little, but Astro called him 'Brit'. Voidblade liked him, not nearly as dramatic as most humans.

After some consideration, Brit spoke.

"Glibby doesn't form armies. Packs of servants, fanatical drinking clubs, that's him all over. Something's got him spooked about whether he'll be protected or not. Maybe Herobrine joining up has made the Silhouette reconsider his relationship with the Tower."

And then he fell silent.

"If what the defector said is true, Freak does not have as much control over the situation as we thought. Never a bad thing to be overprepared, though." Fire said.

"He does feed on fear," added Astro. "Maybe he thinks he'll be stronger if his forces are on edge."

Fire responded: "That might be part of it, but I saw enough of him to know he doesn't think far ahead. Overall, his fearmongering might benefit us more as a whole."

Brit nodded impatiently, rapping on a folder hanging from his shoulder with his fingers.

"Will you be needing me further? Don't trust the demons with my rifles."

"No, that should be all, thanks Brit," said Astro. "And, it should be all for you Voidblade."

"You do not want me to ask follow-up questions?" Voidblade asked, with a glance in the direction of the door.

Fire got up from his chair. "I think it might be best if I talked to him. Directly confronting him with a walking discrepancy in what 'the Entity' told him should be effective. Doubly because Claw and him built some rapport."

As Fire left the room with Astro in tow, Voidblade considered himself dismissed, and warped back up to the surface.

He stood in the entrance of the Shelter, as the sun drifted slowly past the centre of the sky. Thousands rushed to and fro. He teleported up on top of the frame of the entrance and decided to survey the preparations.

On a series of scaffolds set against the ridge, Mencur-Besh and humans darted back and forth, carrying munitions and materials through the almost-finished forms of airships. On the one directly opposite the shelter door, a human directed two of the scaled behemoths as they guided a large mechanism into place on the back, where the rudder might have been on a boat. Voidblade shuddered at the thought of a naval assault, then distracted himself with thoughts of the new machine. Apparently the Mencur-Besh had been working on airships in their own world, and had brought along an engine schematic that used some combination of redstone and glowstone, as well as "mini-pistons", whatever exactly that entailed.

The plump man in the lilac hat and green cloak came out on the quarterdeck and sat against the railing, calling over the shoulder to the human below.

"And you're certain this won't affect mobility, Brad? There is a reason we normally make the rudders out of wood, after all."

His thick eyebrows were so tightly furrowed that, from that distance, Voidblade could have sworn they were a single grey bar he was about to pull off and scold Brad with.

The Eye-and-Claws officer looked wearily up and said:

"The engine is lighter than you think, the redstone-glowstone mixture creates its own lift once heated and powered, plus the metal holds up much better under the peak forces of the mini-pistons." He paused. "Look, I can't guarantee anything until we get this one up in the air, but once we can confirm our design still plays nice in Nexus, there shouldn't be problems rolling the other ones out."

The plump man nodded but was obviously chewing on a response he reckoned would get the argument going. Voidblade got the impression this conversation had been happening twice a day for the last few days with neither gaining any ground over the other, so he didn't see what he would really get out of it. So, as the plump man pulled off his hat and dabbed his brow with it, and Brad the engineer returned warily to his task, expecting an interruption at any second, Voidblade turned his attention to the people below the scaffolding.

He saw Urist and Steve emerging from a mineshaft, each carrying a fortune's worth of resources. Mostly iron, some diamond. Voidblade had always been dumbfounded by the ability of humans to crawl down into the earth and tear out its riches - it this tendency that made their attacks so constant, their victories so total - but now he couldn't help but feel relief. More swords, more armour.

They started distributing it to a series of demons who had set up makeshift forges in the open air. Then, a stern, pale man with purple tattoos came up and held out his hand, almost in accusation. Steve stopped and his eyes seemed to glaze over as this happened, and he stood there motionless until Urist laughed and pulled out a stack of obsidian.

"Ye won't be fittin' this in yer palm!" laughed the dwarf over the din.

Voidblade rasped jovially, then a strange wave swept over him, a sort of not-unpleasant emptiness. A few years ago, he would never have indulged such a superfluous gesture. The Enderborn had no need for laughter, they savoured wit, they did not spit it out like the humans. But now, after a few weeks of not just living beside them, but living among them, the dam was bursting, and their ways were flooding in, burning him away in the tide. Just as they had burned away his people in back home, with great floods and diamond swords. Was he wrong to mirror them, even if it was just for ease of interaction?

But it wasn't just humanity. The Villagers, the dwarves like Urist, and even the newly arrived pigmen all seemed to act this way. Why did the endermen stand along in their laconic detachment? The only creatures that seemed to slightly mirror his own were the dragons.

He stood up and scanned the clifftops and sure enough he caught a glimpse of Glowstar swooping down, regal, and elegant, followed by the enthusiastic plummet of Brine's pet - the fledgling enderdragon. The young one had apparently never been among his people, and kept mimicking their every move, even when it was clearly beyond his abilities. Glowstar began to pull up a long way above the people preparing below, and still Drake struggled to correct his course, managing to drift into a nearby jungle tree. The elder dragon saw this and literally roared with laughter, drawing some heads but not nearly as many as he used to with such a gesture.

That was what Voidblade meant - even the dragons engaged in these loud, crass displays of emotion. And that's not to say he wanted to join them - he had tried every now and then to mimic human speech when alone and confident no one could hear him, and it simply felt barbaric - but he couldn't help but wonder why they felt the need to do this.

He looked out at the fields. Entire battalions trained out there, and tents stretched as far as the sunrise. And, somewhere amidst them, Herobrine, the butcher of Voidblade's people, or someone rather like him, roamed free as a wild beast. He thought about what would have happened if he had convinced his own people to come. Chances are, if they had even come this far, they would have seen the tents, the swords, and the airships and teleported as far away as they could. Voidblade would have done the same a few months ago. But now he wouldn't, he would actually feel comforted. Could he bring this feeling back home? Obviously, things were different - there was the war to think about - but did they have to stay that way?

A small shower of dirt and rocks signaled the return of a party of hunters from the mountains, carrying two dead endermen with them. Kay stood at their head, flanked by two of his red-scarved loyalists. He cast an eye around the camp in an attempt at regal satisfaction, but he must not have liked what he saw, because he turned his face away and began to wipe his bloody sword off in the grass.

Beneath him, he heard some interesting chatter.

"No, I'm glad I could help you out," said Jennifer, head bobbing like a leaf in fierce winds. "If there's anything else I can tell you about her… um, stay in Nexus, just let me know."

"Thank you, Jennifer," said the one they called Clarke, one of the Remaining. "We'll let you and Tyron know about the ceremony. Unless there is anyone else you can think of?"

"I'll put the word about, naturally. We all owe Destiny a lot, David too. But no one specific comes to mind."

"I'll come," called Kay. He straightened up and sheathed his sword. "If I'd be welcome, of course."

"Yes, of course!" the one they called Kami cheered back. Then, in a lower voice: "Is he the prisoner she let out?"

Both Jennifer and Lupe nodded, sharing an askance look.

"Just wanted to make sure. Obviously she trusted him at least a little."

Kay pretended not to hear and excused himself. Sensing they were about to leave, Voidblade poked his head out over the lip of the Shelter's entrance. He locked eyes with Lupe, and before he had really thought about it, croaked:

"May I come, too?"

He hoped they didn't ask him why. "She's the only one who didn't try to talk to me all the time," would be a little difficult for the humans to understand.

"She was respectful," tried Voidblade.

"Sure, we'll let you know on the day."

Their plan was to go to David's grave, and bury a broken, golden necklace she used to wear back in her world. Voidblade had never seen it. Maybe she brought it with her and kept it secret, maybe she left it behind for a reason. That was not for them to know.

The Remaining left. Jennifer looked up at him.

"You okay up there V?"

"I am getting some fresh air."

"Haha! You sure are, be careful up there! Need you healthy for our rematch," she laughed.

She slipped back inside, trailing a shock of bright red hair, and Voidblade mulled over her reaction. He hadn't been making a 'joke', but he had known it would make her laugh because humans laughed at incongruity and understatements. A human wouldn't normally go up to a very high place just to get some air, ergo it must be a joke. He didn't know that a few weeks ago. But he still didn't feel much satisfaction from 'cracking' it. Not to Jennifer, at least.

Voidblade cast one eye out to those preparing. He saw Tyron, flanked by Rose on one side and Lucy on the other. Lucy - there was someone he might be happy cracking a joke at. He felt a smile creep over his face. He looked intensely at her, trying to catch her eye. Eventually she got snagged on his stare and beamed. She waved wildly and jumped up so he could see. He responded with a stiff, little jerk of the hand, as though he were wiping a dusty window so as to see through. His lips parted and he allowed himself something like a smile. He didn't entirely feel it, but it seemed to make Lucy beam brighter still, so he reckoned it was worth it.

Beneath the flapping of dragon's wings, the hammering of demons and airship builders, and the distant yells of warriors out on drills, Voidblade heard another noise that seemed all the more urgent - his stomach rumbled. And a very specific meal came to mind. Something he hadn't had in far too long, and which Jennifer calling him 'V' had just reminded him of.

He teleported to the training room, and immediately saw who he was looking for. Warnado, the small, hooded demon child was surrounded by bullseyes and skewered meat. As Rose had instructed him, he summoned a chicken drumstick and let it fall in front of the target, then he would summon one of his luminous weapons and pin it to the bullseye.

At the far end of the training room, he could see a slight shimmer in the air, indicating Shadow had slipped into a pocket dimension to safely instruct her more advanced Coven members."

Amanda stood off to the side, practising more conventionally with her crossbow under the supervision of a red-haired man in diamond armour.

"So, a thing I like to do is, if I'm in close quarters, shunt the weapon forward as though you're going to hit them…" he guided her arms forward. "Then, stop! Nine times out of ten, your attacker will flinch. That's when you shoot them."

She repeated the motion.

"Like that?"

"Aye."

"Thanks, I've been making axes work in close range, but crossbows are my hometown."

"Well, if you ever want to visit axe country," he twirled a chipped hand axe demonstratively. "Don't hesitate to send me a letter. I'd best be off."

"Thanks again, you didn't tell me your name?"

"I'm Secret, you might know K-" He saw the look on Amanda's face. Warnado froze up. "-Astro. I'm Astro's friend."

"Of course you are," she sighed. "I'm Amanda, I'll see you around."

The red-haired archer walked past Voidblade with a respectful nod, chewing his lip and looking haunted.

She turned to Warnado.

"Sorry, Helix, I didn't know who he was, he just came up and offered help. Like I knew he was one of Astro's guys, but I didn't know he used to be one of Kay's."

Warnado finished another round.

"Amanda, you don't need to keep apologising every time you come across someone who knows him. Kay has talked a lot of crap to a lot of people, and sometimes it's crap that makes them like him."

He started doing stretches. Voidblade wondered if he should come back.

"Yeah, but, you know, if that's Secret from the files-"

Voidblade remembered the rundown Astro gave the other officers 'just in case'. Secret wasn't actually that bad. Aside from some of the 'contract work' he and Kay used to do. After that he seems to have become quite respectable.

"-Kay has a type. I don't know if he picks friendly people and makes them killers, or whether he picks killers and slaps a smiley face on them, but they're probably not all bad. Don't worry, I'm not going to be traumatised by their presence."

Amanda smiled.

"And if Kay tries anything again - I already beat the Book - I'll just give him a wedgie and that should settle things."

He shadowboxed demonstratively. Then, his luminous, red eyes somehow lit up even further.

"Or, I'll summon lava."

"No."

"Sorry-can't-hear-you! V, my man, I know what you're doing here! I see you sniffing around every time I'm doing accuracy exercises."

Voidblade warped down to him and gestured to the chicken legs strewn across the room.

"May I?"

Warnado clicked his fingers and a pile of fresh chicken drumsticks appeared in the air before Voidblade. He held out his arms and hugged a considerable number to his chest, but still more spilled every which way. Seconds after the chicken, the smell cascaded down on him. There was something about the way they seasoned chicken wherever the child was summoning them from. Voidblade just couldn't get enough of them.

"Thank you."

"Glad to be of service, V."

Voidblade turned and put on foot on the step, but seeing as he was reckoning with how humans were influencing his interpersonal relationships, he contemplated a risky manoeuvre. He wanted to try and be heartfelt - just to see how it worked, and because Warnado was clearly still in a pretty fragile place.

"And for the nickname."

"Huh?"

"My nickname, 'V', you started it. Thank you, I like it."

"Oh, it's a little elementary but-"

"-Basic is good, I had not had a nickname before. It was nice to start simple."

"You're welcome. I mean, I could give you another?"

The child developed another improbable glow in his eyes. Voidblade realised he was about to lose control of this conversation, but the child seemed to need this. Probably. At least, Voidblade hoped the child had some emotional need for this.

"Please."

Warnado stroked his chin, then whispered to Amanda intently, who also assumed a look of utmost focus. Finally, he concluded.

"How about V.B.?"

"Just one extra letter? Is that necessary?"

"Okay, I've got it." He summoned another chicken-leg and shot another bullseye. "Veebs!"

"Definitely not," said Amanda and Voidblade in unison.

"Veebus Apollo!" he fired this one through his legs, missing the bullseye completely but seeming completely unfazed in his enthusiasm.

"Is that a reference to something?" asked Amanda with an eyebrow cocked in Voidblade's direction.

"Probably," cackled Warnado. "Don't know what, though. Sometimes words just come to me."

The saliva building in Voidblade's mouth became too much to bear so he started to back away. The demon-child kept pacing, firing increasingly inaccurate shots in the direction of the bullseyes.

"Blade Lively, star of Sisterhood of the Teleporting Pants!"

Amanda shot Voidblade a thumbs up and a grateful smile. Voidblade considered this a successful manoeuvre in the dangerous world of human socialising. Voidblade's foot crossed the threshold, and he teleported away to enjoy his reward.