CHRONICLE
BOOK ONE: LYDIA
PART TWO: THE FALL
Chapter Eleven: Commission for Truth
"Halt, traveler! State your business and present identification or begone!"
Lydia pulled back the reigns and let her horse slow to a stop as the guard posted on the wall above the gates leveled his bow at her. Sighing, she pulled her old ranger's badge from her breast pocket and held it up so it was visible for the gate guard. He squinted down, and then shouted something to someone below him on the other side of the wall. The small posterior gate opened, allowing a small man on foot to pass. Wordlessly, he came to Lydia and took a closer look at her badge.
"Lydia Jonassdotter. Former ranger, I see." he said, looking at the slash carved into the symbol on the bottom of the badge, indicating that it was void, and the ranger that owned it was no longer in service. "Say," he added, "Weren't you one of the ones that defected at the shutdown?" He looked sharply at her face.
"I was pardoned for that," Lydia said tightly, pocketing her badge. The man shrugged.
"And you're coming back after that. Oh, well. Your head, not mine." Then he looked up at the gate guard and cupped his hands over his mouth.
"Clear!" he shouted, knocking on the posterior gate. The small iron door opened and allowed him through, and then the larger gate began to open as the inside mechanism was activated. Lydia nudged her horse into a trot and entered the city.
Luminara had changed since her childhood.
The streets, unlike the bustling thoroughfares she once knew, were nearly entirely empty. A few people scuttled by on foot, keeping their heads down and their eyes forward, but Lydia was the only person riding on horseback in view. Many storefronts were boarded up or visibly empty, and as she passed, people closed their shutters.
It didn't sit well with Lydia.
Following what she could remember of the city, Lydia followed the main streets through Luminara until the looming arches and soaring buttresses of Kingshall were visible. But just as she turned onto Temple street, a line of men blocked her path.
"Halt," one called, and Lydia stopped for the second time that day. "Identification, please."
Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, Lydia brought out her badge once more. The man came over, glanced at it, and nodded.
"Do you have invitation or passport to go beyond this point?" he asked, and Lydia paused in putting her badge away.
"Excuse me?"
"Written permission to enter the Kingshall district is required, ma'am. I'm sorry, but if you do not have such-"
"I have it," Lydia interrupted, pulling out Herobrine's invitation, the black wax seal broken and the paper slightly wrinkled from being carried in the saddlebags. The man took a moment to scan the text of the invitation, nodded, waved to his companions, and handed it back to Lydia.
"You may go." He stepped aside and gestured for her to move along.
"Thank you."
The envelope Herobrine had given Lydia had contained two things: A certificate of invitation, signed by Herobrine, and a short note, reading: You were once one of my best rangers for your instincts of right and wrong. I need you to remember those days, and be the ever-ready ranger once more.
Trotting once more, Lydia went down the main branch of Temple street, between the two shrines and past the park that she remembered most clearly as a child. It was the one that she had picnicked in with her family...and Herobrine. That was the day that had changed everything.
Taking a deep breath, Lydia held it for a few moments before expelling it slowly. This was no time for nostalgia like that.
Crossing the small bridge over the decorative moat, Lydia halted her horse. The front doors of Kingshall stood right in front of her.
Seeing no grooms or servants anywhere, Lydia dismounted and tied her horse to the end post of the bridge and went to the doors, giving them a tentative push. They gave, meaning they weren't locked. Bracing her hands on either door, she pushed the heavy double doors wide and walked through, into a dark front hall.
She took a few moments to let her eyes adjust. There were torches and chandeliers everywhere, but none of them were lit. The only light came in through the stained glass windows and skylights, and while there were ample windows, it was a stark contrast from the bright late afternoon light she had just emerged from. The air was also very still inside, and dust motes drifted lazily in the beams of golden sunlight from the windows. The hall had a very lonely air to it.
Gathering her resolve, Lydia strode forward through the entry hall and passed into the main corridor, headed towards what she hoped was the main throne room. The entire building, she discovered, was unlit and empty. No living person could be seen anywhere. Herobrine had specified that she meet him here in Kingshall, but he hadn't specified where in the building. She resisted the urge to call.
Then she heard the distinct creak of wood. The doors at the end of the corridor slowly pushed outwards from the inside, revealing the massive chamber beyond. Someone was here, after all. Without slowing, Lydia kept walking, entering the throne room and not looking back when the doors shut behind her once more on their own accord.
Herobrine sat before her on the high-backed wooden throne, leaning on one elbow and resting his head on his hand. His eyes were closed, but the fingers of his other hand were tapping the armrest in a complex rhythm. A sign of distress or impatience, as far as Lydia knew. When Herobrine opened his eyes and looked up at her, she could see the weariness there. His dark brown eyes had been lively and playful when she knew him as a child. Now they were dulled and darkened.
"You came," Herobrine said, a hint of relief in his voice. Lydia nodded, crossing her arms over her chest.
"I was hoping that if I came, I might gain answers to the questions I've been meaning to ask you."
Herobrine sighed heavily, smiling ruefully. "Why did I know you would say that?" he asked, more to himself than to Lydia.
"So?" Lydia prompted. "First- why did you summon me here? You want something."
Herobrine laughed shortly. "You have your mother's straightforwardness after all. That's a good sign."
"You're evading."
"No," Herobrine said, sitting up properly, "merely reminiscing. I did not summon you here for a specific purpose or mission. No, it is more vague than that. If you will allow me to explain..."
"As long as you give me somewhere to sit."
Herobrine looked up sharply and blinked, as if he just realized something. "Oh, of course! How careless of me. Please, come up here." Herobrine stood up from his throne and beckoned, walking around and behind the throne to an empty patch of floor by the windows. Lydia followed him, carefully climbing the stairs onto the dais, and watched as Herobrine snapped his fingers and summoned into existence a table and two chairs. Lydia blinked, then looked again. They had simply materialized, where one moment they simply were not, and then the next moment they were. Shaking her head briefly, Lydia picked the seat closest to her and sat down. Herobrine seated himself across from her.
"So- you wish to know first why I summoned you here?" Herobrine asked. Lydia nodded. "First, you will need to understand the situation." Lydia raised an eyebrow.
"The situation? So you have a reason for putting Luminara under a dictatorship," said Lydia. Herobrine sucked in his breath and tensed at the accusation.
"It is not so simple as it appears, Lydia," Herobrine warned. Lydia sat back in her chair.
"Oh? There's no business or commerce visible on the streets. No one walks outside except for bare necessities. No one speaks, and no one laughs. There had better be a good reason for this."
"It is for their own good."
Lydia slammed her hands down on the tabletop. "Their own good! Herobrine, Luminara is in a police state! How is this for the good of mankind?"
"To protect them from otherworldly forces, for one!" Herobrine snapped, then stopped and took a deep breath, closing his eyes for a moment. When his eyes opened again, he had calmed down several degrees. "Sky and star, you really are your mother. Now, if you will listen without interrupting, I will give you my reasoning for closing off Luminara. Will you allow me that much?" Lydia clasped her hands tightly before her.
"All right. I'm sorry."
"No need," said Herobrine. "It is your nature. Now, the truth is, I have been at war for some time. A covert war, between gods. I fear for the fate of my creation, should it be caught between hammer and anvil when the time comes for the war to break out into the open. The best I can do for now is to close off Luminara from intruders and any possibility of espionage."
"Espionage from what? How does this protect us from gods?" Lydia asked, brow furrowed.
"I was just getting there. Be patient. In a covert war, direct weapons of matter and energy are seldom used. More insidious means are used. In my case, my enemy, whoever he may be, has been using my creation against me. Humans have been used as the weapons to distract and weaken me."
"So you lock us into or out of the city like a kennel and so many dogs?" Lydia asked bitterly. Herobrine narrowed his eyes.
"Remember the men that killed your comrades, Lydia? Those who murdered Alayne?" He asked sharply in return. Lydia was taken aback by the directness of his question.
"I could never forget," she answered tightly.
"They are an example of men being used as a weapon to harm me. My enemy possessed their hearts with evil, and sent them to slaughter those still loyal to me. That night, your mother and your brethren in arms were not the only ones slain. Thousands were. Thousands that I could not save. And every single cry, every plea for mercy, every last despairing moment felt by each and every innocent whose blood was shed was felt by me! Trust me Lydia- I hear the cries of my creation! And when I do something cruel to them like this, I do it to protect them, because I must protect them. I must protect you."
Silence stretched between them, charged with tension.
"We are not pawns in your battle," Lydia muttered. Herobrine relaxed, running a hand over his face.
"You do not have to understand," he resigned. "The situation will not be able to change until my enemy makes another move. I fear that older powers are at work here, powers that I have not seen since before this world was a dream in my brother's heart. You do not have to understand my tactics and motives, but you must understand this: I fear more is at stake than mankind alone. The resurgence of such ancient powers could mean the destruction of all things, including the gods. Including, perhaps, even myself and Notch."
Lydia's eyes widened, and she fell back in her seat, shocked. "How?" It was all she could ask. Herobrine shook his head.
"It is power older than words. Older even than knowledge." He fell silent, his eyes focused on a patch of table before him. For several heartbeats, he said nothing.
Lydia straightened slowly, studying Herobrine's expression. "Now, why did you summon me here?" Herobrine looked up.
"I have had visions as of late," he began, looking down at the table again. "You see, I can occasionally gaze into the future and past as a creator, to explore the paths that could be and those that could have been. I do not seek such visions often- only when I am in distress. This time, the future answered me with just one path. It is nigh on unavoidable, and it is the worst future I can possibly imagine."
"What is it?" Lydia asked, a cold feeling growing in her belly. Herobrine spread his hands before him, meeting her gaze once more.
"Utter destruction. Somehow, I could already be unshakably on a track leading to complete defeat. I have been manipulated and betrayed, and now it is already nearly too late."
"Where do I come into this?"
"You," Herobrine answered, "are one of the steps to averting complete disaster. I am not sure how, or why, but something of your doing from here on could very well save the world. You see, at the end of the path I am on, I can see only a wall of blinding agony. I cannot see beyond it, nor can I escape it now. But I can work with others that can circumvent it, and something you do will get past it and pave the way for a more favorable fate."
"How?" Lydia asked, not sure whether to be amazed or horrified at the idea. But Herobrine simply shook his head.
"As I said, I do not know. It would be something small- something you do without thinking about, and often. Perhaps a-" then he stopped abruptly mid-thought, gazing into the middle distance as if something had just dawned on him. "Do you still keep a diary?" Lydia blinked, her hand going to her satchel where the green diary rested.
"Yes. Well, sometimes." She pulled out the green leather-bound book with its quill stuck through the plain brown ribbon binding it shut. "I still write occasionally in this one." Herobrine looked at the diary with an expression of wonderment.
"This is the one Jonas gave you when you were merely seven years old," he breathed. Then he looked up at Lydia. "Make sure you keep this safe. Continue to write what seems important in it. Not just to you- events that are significant to the world, that could lead to a change in history." He stopped and stood suddenly, pacing to the far window. Outside, the sun was just touching the horizon in the west. The golden light made his features seem sharper, more taciturn, and a long shadow was cast behind him.
"Herobrine?" Lydia stood slowly from her seat, following Herobrine. He turned to face her, a pained expression on his face.
"I see now," he said. "I must work more quickly to find my enemy. You, Lydia, are the courier of sorts. You will keep the truth alive. My enemy intends to destroy not only my power, but my reputation. He intends to distort the truth, and make me a monster in history. But what would that accomplish?..." He stopped again, looking away out the window. His hands clenched into fists. "Blast it. My enemy knows me too well. He knew I would put Luminara on lock down. He knew I would go to the extreme to save my people. And now they will remember me as a tyrant."
"What do you know of your enemy?" Lydia asked. "It would help if I had something to write down. You know, so that those of us living outside Luminara know what to look out for." Herobrine turned to face Lydia.
"My enemy is a traitor god, wielding the power of an ancient Void force. It is not any of the godesses- I checked them first because the methods of attack seemed to match some of their personalities. However, their powers did not. It is also not one of the greater gods. The gods of sea, sky, wildlife, fire, and Void are all innocent by the same scale of deduction: the powers used do not match."
"How do you know?"
"Simple," Herobrine answered. "Each god has a specific set of powers they are able to manipulate. Even if they should defect to loyalty to the Void, the Void could only grant them new ways to use the powers they already had or had the potential for. It cannot grant new ones. For example, a god of fire would not be able to manipulate the waves, he would merely be able to boil them away as a new form of his powers with heat."
"I see. Go on."
"It is a deity able to enter minds, which leaves a desperate few. Notch did not trust many with this power over free will, and I never needed it before this war. But it is someone skilled. Someone that can do more than read surface thoughts. Even I can do that. But my enemy can go deeper, to hidden intentions and desires..." Herobrine trailed off. Then, without warning, he leaped back to the throne, briefly snapping his fingers to sent the extra table and chairs out of existence.
"What?" Lydia asked. "What's going on-"
"Silence!" Herobrine hissed, and Lydia quickly closed her mouth. He crouched down with his back to Lydia and placed his palms flat on the floor, closing his eyes. Lydia stayed frozen in place, unsure of what to do.
"I should have known," Herobrine muttered under his breath. Standing once more, he leaped down off the dais with barely a whisper of sound and lifted a floor tile to reveal a tunnel down. It wasn't his secret meditation chamber- instead, it was a fox-hole, a hiding place of sorts, that he had Jonas add to the design of Kingshall in the case of disaster, so that any rulers caught in the throne room would have a place to hide or take shelter. "Lydia, come here. Quietly."
Lydia, moving as softly as she could, padded across the dais and down the stairs to where Herobrine knelt. He motioned down the ladder. "Go down there. Hurry."
"You still haven't told me what's going on," she replied in a whisper.
"There are things outside. I can sense malice, direct malice. And whatever it is that is carrying such malice is right outside the doors of Kingshall. Now get down there and don't come out until I tell you everything is clear."
A deep-throated boom echoed through the broad chamber. Herobrine and Lydia looked up simultaneously at the doors to the throne room, which were still shut. The sound had come from beyond, at the front of the building. "They are coming," Herobrine murmured. "Go."
Lydia carefully climbed down the ladder into the fox hole, and Herobrine slid the tile back into place, sealing her into complete darkness.
Standing, Herobrine looked around and reached out with his senses. Immediately, he recoiled in horror. These were his monsters outside! In the shade of Kingshall, a party of zombies and skeletons were gathering already. He could sense more monsters coming in from elsewhere, as well. This was a direct attack.
And not, he decided, one that was meant to weaken him. There were not enough monsters there to truly harm him. This had to be for a more insidious purpose. A test? A diversion? He could not tell. They were coming in fast, and he had to get ready.
Breathing in deeply, Herobrine rose up off the floor and floated to his throne, settling gently back down and taking a comfortable position. He produced his pickaxe from his inventory, leaning it against the armrest of the throne in readiness. Then he adopted a slouched, fatigued posture, letting his body relax as if falling asleep.
Just as he allowed his eyes to drift shut, he heard the first zombie growling softly from the recesses of the throne room.
Author's note time!
Oh, sorry, am I interrupting something?
Yes, I see you noticed. I left you hanging. Well, not for long! I have more updates planned that I just can't wait to write myself! It's MLK Day where I'm at, and for all you non-Americans reading, that's Martin Luther King day, a federal holiday that means a day off work for government workers and a day off of school for students. Including myself. So voila! I give you a fine new update to enjoy and agonize over.
Enough news. (Alright, you snarky and clever serial reviewers: Take three guesses as to which famous YouTube Minecraft animation the next scene is going to be based on. I'm waiting.) Next update: Coming as soon as my patience snaps. I'm so bad at cliffhangers. I just can't leave can't wait to read the next one, I can't wait to write the next one.
Review! Did I leave something unexplained that I shouldn't have? Any questions so far? I respond to questions in reviews, guys. ALSO: I MIGHT ADD A FEW OC'S. SO THAT MEANS I NEED SOME TO ADD. Add that in, too. Try to make the names good, no crazy hair, and no overpowered weaponry or skills. I can make a lame character pretty cool, you know. Just give me something to work with. (Heck, what's the point of the review if you can't interact with the author, anyway?) Remember to follow or fave if you want more where this came from, and I will see you next update!
Huntress out.