CHRONICLE
BOOK ONE: LYDIA
PART ONE: OUT OF THE GOLDEN CITY
Chapter Eight: War Overture
Year 268 F.E. (First Era)
There was just one entry for this entire year in the green diary.
Lydia's twentieth birthday came and went uncelebrated. Her family was broken, and her house no longer a home. The snows piled deep that winter, and when they finally cleared, she made the choice to move her family out of the kingdom. It wasn't easy- Jonas couldn't bring himself to leave the house, for it was where Alayne was buried. But Lydia was adamant, and so that summer, the family began to move to a small neighboring kingdom known as Arrenvale.
Her faith had fallen with her mother. Herobrine could no longer protect them.
She made this choice after one last event made her lose not only her faith, but any hope for her country. That day, she abandoned her badge, knowing she could do no more to help anyone at all.
When unrest began in Luminara again, Lydia was called in to help keep the peace with the city guard. Drayda was as well, and the two rangers helped keep shield barriers up around Kingshall, where Herobrine and the city's Council had taken shelter. Monsters came up into the streets, attacking innocent people at night. The unrest got even worse after that- Herobrine had sworn to keep the monsters away from innocent people. While Lydia helped to keep the zombies out of the houses, she felt the hairs on the back of her neck prickle up.
Turning, she saw a tall, purple-eyed being standing atop the house across the street, watching her. The sight of the creature gave her unpleasant chills, and she had a bad feeling about it. Resting with her former craft master one night in the ranger camp outside the walls, she asked Drayda what it was.
"I'm not sure," Drayda had answered. "I've seen a few myself, but I don't know what they are. Or what they're for. All they do is watch."
Lydia heard from other people similar reports of these Watchers, as someone else had nicknamed them. She gathered that they were usually only seen where there was trouble, so it was best to avoid them.
The unrest broke out into violence in the streets the next morning. A peaceful protest had turned sour quickly, and the situation was rapidly deteriorating. The rangers were brought in again, to keep up the shield wall around places and people of importance. But just as the crowd was beginning to die down, a cry went up like Lydia had never heard before. That was when the riot truly began, the worst Luminara had ever seen in its history.
Lydia thought she saw dark shapes moving with the shadows of the crowd, but she blinked and shook her head, bracing herself behind the riot shields with everyone else.
At sunset, the shield walls went down.
Drayda saw the makeshift battering rams coming in the crowd from above on her mount and ordered her own to retreat quickly, pulling the heavy wooden shield with them to negate the impact. The others were not so lucky. Tables, tree trunks, and other weapons smashed into the barriers and broke the shield wall completely.
Lydia fell and was pinned by the trailing edge of the wooden barrier she and the rangers had been carrying, her legs caught below the calf by the ten-block-long riot shield. By some miracle, the corner caught on the end of a low garden wall on the side of the street, so the solid wood didn't break her legs. Levering herself sideways, she worked herself free and prepared to run. The crowd hadn't reached her- yet.
Drayda reached her first.
"Get out of here!" she shouted into Lydia's ear. "The city is shutting down! Run while you still can!" With a hard shove to her former apprentice, Drayda vanished into the crowd.
Lydia never saw her again after that day.
She fled, moving down side streets and alleys until she got to the west gates, left abandoned by the guards for the riot. Her heart burned with anger, first at herself for running, and second at Herobrine for allowing things to fall this far. She could no longer trust the god. Third, for the people responsible in the first place.
Mounting her horse at the encampment, Lydia slapped the reigns and galloped out of Luminara, making the decision then to never return. She would convince her father and sister to move with her, away from the violence and fear. Somewhere safe. Somewhere far, far away.
She galloped out of the golden city and into the night.
Present Day
The priest was hard at work again in his makeshift tent study, glancing up at the snow outside his window every now and again and giving it a baleful glare.
The Chronicle was coming together beautifully, and he was just finishing the final chapter to the golden age of human history. Referring back to the green diary now and again, he wrote fast and carefully on the clean white pages of the codex. There was just one more page to go.
That night was the beginning of the end, he wrote, of a long era of majesty and wonder.
The people of the Overworld rose up against their creator, resisting their vice no longer.
Many Watchers were seen in the Golden City, the creatures of the End, watching the violence and affecting nothing in their silence. The mighty Herobrine fought for the souls of his people, but it was to no avail. All that were good were slain or fled, and all that were evil were victorious. The battle raged, between God and Man, for the fate of the Overworld and its people.
Dark forces gathered about the city, and Luminara's light was broken. Herobrine's hand was forced, and he locked down the city. For the years that followed, he became the tyrant that his people feared most to protect them. He dispelled the Council and took the throne for his own in reality, enforcing his laws ruthlessly and making no allowances. All the while, he was seldom seen. Only in his throne hall could he be approached, and for a time following, he was nowhere to be found. Yet he was always watching.
An estrangement began between the two Creators, as had never happened before. Seldom did they speak, and they trusted one another no longer. For the Elder denounced the harshness of the Younger, and the Younger denounced the inaction of the Elder. The brothers were divided on all, and that division reflected in the Overworld.
Mankind, too, divided. All the rogue kingdoms outside the long reach of Luminara declared independence. Wars were fought and settled, and new kings were crowned. One by one, all fell away from the guidance of Herobrine and turned to themselves, refusing to pay homage to the Creator.
But when this was done, the Watchers were no longer silent. Their battle cry could be heard across the Overworld, and the attack began. Only in Luminara were they silent, and no violence was made. But beyond the reach of Herobrine, many thousands began to die at the claws of the Watchers.
Dark forces had gathered, and now war was declared. It was the overture to the greatest tragedy the Overworld had ever known, and many pieces began to fall into place as if by a sinister plot. Divided were Men, and divided were Gods. Helpless, then, were the innocent, and out of control were the wicked.
Upon the fifteenth day of winter, the sun never rose. All day, the skies were dark and starless, without even a moon, and by night, the moon rose at last, dark and lightless. When the light returned at last, Herobrine was gone from his place in Kingshall, and the Watchers were no longer silent.
Thus began the Ender Wars.
Putting away his quill, the priest shook his hands loosely by the wrists and stood up, stretching his legs. It was finished- the first part, at least. He felt that there were pieces missing from the puzzle of his history, but he would have time to reflect on those later. In the morning, he would at last reach the village where Corren, the former prince of Arrenvale lived. Perhaps he would have the missing parts.
Putting away the quill and codex, the priest prepared for bed.
Happy New Year!
Well, I was planning on posting this on New Year's Eve, but that didn't happen at all. My excuse is on my profile: An unexpected change of plans had me out of town for the time I was intending to use writing and publishing, but hey. I updated today, and I'll update again soon. I mean it. I mean it in the I'll-update-in-three-days-or-less sense of soon.
Sorry about the jerkiness- this was supposed to be a short chapter anyway, since this is (obviously) the wrap-up to something big.
Like all of the time before the Ender Wars, for instance.
So I'm back- show some appreciation with a REVIEW if you enjoyed this update, or this story in general, and if you would like to see more where that came from, well- You know what to do. I've typed this message a million times now.
See you again soon in the next installment of Chronicle!
Huntress out.