Chapter 85: Fear Without Bounds

Perspective: Freak/Astro


In all honesty, I was a bit disappointed, having returned to my throne so soon. I expected the dreaded Herobrine to put up more of a fight, especially since this particular one was apparently a god as well. I chuckled to myself. There were no gods in Nexus, no matter how much they claimed to be. I could have killed him like the others, but why deprive myself of many potential future meals of 'godly' fear?

I took a look at my throne room. It had not changed much since I took the Entity's place, the scratches and bloodstains were still in the same place, just some scorch marks had joined them when the rebel leader Fire escaped. The scar that had ejected the Entity was still above the throne, bigger now and visible to the plain eye. I could have closed it, but it was harmless to me, and it added to the ambiance, so I didn't.

It wouldn't be long now until the rest of the rebels came barging in. I was honestly a bit surprised when they showed up with an army that size, but if anything, they played right into my hand with the panic they spread through the Tower, every droplet of fear strengthened me.

Speaking of fear, it was time I laid the first brick of my very own empire. I decided that walking was for those who had no other option and floated around my seat. Behind the throne was the all-important switch that controlled the machine. The good doctor was locked in the same room as it, but completely powerless, unable to do anything because of the countermeasures she had designed herself, talk about irony!

My hand came to rest on the cold obsidian of the switch, pressing down ever so slightly. Before I made the final push, I decided that this room needed a better view of what was to come. With a wide sweep of my claws, I decapitated the throne room, the ceiling now only rested on the spiral staircase up to the observatory. A flick of my wrist and it tore off, sliding down the outer walls of the Tower with a delightful screech, before coming to rest on top of a roof some distance below.

Above me was now the clear night sky, stars, moon, and all. My hand came to rest on the switch again, this time I flipped it without hesitation. It fell into place with a loud clank. At first it seemed like nothing was happening, but of course that was not true. A great ripple went through reality, though I may have been the only one to feel it in its true intensity.

The stars in the sky slowly gained in size, because they were not stars at all. They were worlds, thousands and thousands of worlds, all now drawn towards Nexus. I floated upwards and came to rest on the shattered tip of the observatory staircase.

I laughed and kept laughing. Soon all would be Nexus, and Nexus would be mine to terrorize!


I pull the sword from my opponent and a black flame consumes him. My eyes slide shut, the energy bundles within me, and with a thrust forward of my wrist I send the burning man flying back through his fellows. He slams into the barricade so hard he cracks the stone.

We have ascended the stairs and continue to fight our way through to the Entity's throne, but it is slow going. They make us pay for every inch of ground, and though our objective is at the centre of the floor, we only seem capable of spreading further around the edge. What may well be the last sunset of all creation casts its dying rays in through the high-arched, empty windows behind us.

Above my head, arrows fly, and mages sling spells. Drake the Enderdragon swoops low and snaps at the heads of Tower soldiers with playful glee, while his older fellows follow through and kill them outright.

On the ground, Vanillan and Shelter troops fight fiercely. Sword locks with spear locks with halberd, until the crack of a rifle or thud of a crossbow bolt sounds and armour clatters to the ground. In a bloody ouroboros, a pigman warrior screeches in pain or triumph as he decapitates an Endling whose talons just tore open his stomach.

Gunsmoke perfume sears my nose, stings my eyes. Weapon screens against armour. Squelch of boot. Snap of bone. I am buffeted this way and that by war as it is and ever was and always will be.

A glance in each direction reveals a new awesome and terrible sight of battle. This way, my Guild fights their way into a bathhouse, blood staining the water. That way, Ryan and the moderators try to hold back the charge of several bedrock golems, staffs barely slowing their titanic adversaries.

In one direction, I see Voidblade teleporting this way and that to guard a red dragon who has fallen under the weight of hundreds of arrows. He lops off limbs, slashes at faces, kicks in knees and chests and skulls.

Another way Fedwin the Tinkerer pulls levers from his seat on the back of a headless iron golem, contending with one of its bedrock brothers. Below the brawl, the Arcation priesthood pass ropes between the legs of the enemy behemoth, trying to avoid the precise blasts of its great, red eye.

And atop the barricade the Tower has erected to impede our process, I see Rose hurling daggers this way and that. They cascade from her hands in great arcs, each blade finding a man to slay until they are stopped by a twin-sided axe head large enough to cover a man. General Forgelight, the Tower's great ideologue, sweeps the barricade with his mighty weapon and forces Rose back.

"Keep heart, men! The final unification is upon us!" Forgelight screams, swinging his axe up and striking the ceiling.

However, the figure he cuts is more desperate. One of Rose's knives has implanted itself in his thigh, blood oozes from it. And Ozen's powerful arms are clamped around his neck and under his left armpit, trying their best to restrain his movements.

Again, Forgelight strikes, splitting open a rank of Gaian riflemen. Cossack only barely staggers out of his reach. Another swing threatens to kill an approaching starry-scaled dragon, but I summon a shield just in time. It cracks, the dragon falls dead. Forgelight rears up, he swings once more, but this time it stops.

The axe-head has connected with a large, rectangular wooden shield. Steve holds it, dressed in the strange grey armour of his adversary. He sticks his head out from behind the shield and grins. Behind him, Jennifer finishes pulling back the string of the ghast bone bow.

The arrow strikes Forgelight in the chest, piercing his armour nearest the heart. He falls from the barricade and slams into the ground. General Issa sounds the order for them to fall back to their next line. I heave a sigh of relief.

I pull back from the fighting and approach one of the great, arched windows and speak into my radio. I catch Steve's eye and gesture for him to join the same frequency.

"Urist, what's the situation, did you find Herobrine?"

"We've found him alright. Looks like he located a path right into tha Throne room."

My heart soars. If Herobrine could punch through, that might put an end to the whole thing.

"That's fantastic!" I yell.

"Crack open the wine cellar, Urist, we've got this in the bag!" Steve joins.

Urist is silent.

"What's wrong, Urist?" I ask.

"He mighta ran into Freak, didn't go well for Herobrine. We found him on tha ground, asleep, tossing and turning, like he's havin' a nightmare. The others who were with him… less said tha better."

I struggle to find the words to respond with. I looked over at Steve. He has an arm around Jennifer's shoulder. He nods firmly at me. She stares at me with stern but respectful eyes. Their implication is clear. With Herobrine gone, I am next in command of the upper assault. The decision is mine. I ball up all the courage I have in me.

"Okay, Urist, here's what we're going to do-"

Rubble cascades past the window, and associated dust fills my lungs and clouds my eyes. When I can finally see again, I become aware of a gentle tremor which has seized the room. Discarded weapons begin to skitter along the floor, all in one direction. Something like the sound of an earthquake strikes my ears and I flinch, a far-off booming that sounds all the more dangerous for its distance. My skin begins to prickle, the very flakes of my skin now feel a pull upon them. Again, all in the same direction, into the heart of the Tower, toward the Throne room.

"No…" I breathe.

Suddenly I see it in the corner of my eye. The horizon has begun to curl upwards. A terrible wind rises and begins to hurl dragons and mages across the sky. The stars stretch and grow until they rupture, leaving burning, yellow holes in the sky which only swell further until one can see the worlds on the other side. Rolling hills, scorching mesas, endless oceans.

A white-hulled airship tumbles through one of the ruptured stars. In the seconds before the terrible winds disassemble it and hurl its crew to the ever-shrinking borders of creation, I see the True Court's crest. Within the star, I see the distant peak of the Citadel of Mojang. Finally, it hits me.

All of creation is collapsing into this one point. The Entity's plan is fulfilled, and Freak will profit by it.

There is a hand on my shoulder. Steve is looking me in the eye.

"Astro, what do we do?" He asks me again and again.

Aaron comes up and asks me the same thing. And Jennifer. And Ozen. And Tassadar. Ray. Fedwin. Ryan. A vortex of questions, soon to become screams once that thing finishes its plan.

There is a distant chuckling. The questions stop. I am granted a moment's respite. I look over to my saviour.

Forgelight rises, leaning on his axe. Blood runs from his mouth. There is a brief respite from the questions.

"At last…" he wheezes. "Comrades, our labours bear their final fruits: Convergence is achieved!"

He laughs and looks around. His jaw hangs looser than natural. His eyes are glassy. I can't tell if he can see us.

He uses his axe as a crutch and hobbles over to the window. I back away. Rose looks at me, eyes burning with hatred, begging my approval. I gesture for her to hold fire.

"Marcus, Marinus, Issa, is it not as beauteous as I promised you?"

He now gazes over the approaching horizon. Mountains seem to swell up, crushing villages between them. For a second I think I catch a glimpse of the Shelter's entrance amidst a shower of collapsing jungle trees and shattering scaffolding.

"Ender, Ape, surely even you can see the… merit in this," he spits out blood and begins shaking as he tries to lift his axe, "nnngh, most g-glorious union."

He raises the axe above his head, his eyes glowing with triumphalist rapture. He starts to stalk an unseen prey, slow and arch-footed despite the creak and clatter of his armour.

"I thank you, Entity, for your help in getting us this far… but Nexus is of my making. I am Forgelight, the unifier!"

He swings down, and to prevent injury to anyone I magically strike the axe from his hands. He does not seem to notice, however. He cackles on his knees, delighting in his imagined glory.

"Then, it is done…" he looks up at Jennifer and sneers stupidly. "No, Issa, I am no traitor… You would have done the same."

This is enough for me. I give the signal to Rose. She flicks her wrist and the luminary's head rolls onto the floor. My respite is over.

"What do we do?" Steve asks again. He sounds like a lost child.

I feel my eyes begin to well with tears, so I slam them shut.

"I don't know, all is lost," I think.

"We wait for orders from below," I say. "Brace for new instructions."