CHRONICLE

BOOK TWO: CORREN

PART FOUR: REBIRTH

Chapter Thirty:

Hell's Own

Present day

The priest looked up quizzically when Corren fell silent.

"Is there something wrong?" he asked.

Corren shook his head. "Do you know what it's like, losing everything twice?" he asked softly.

The priest stopped, his hand suspended over the page he was about to mark. Furrowing his brow, he put his pen down.

"I can't say I do," he replied. Then he opened his mouth again to say something further, but when he saw Corren's expression, he fell silent.

Corren gazed out the window for several heartbeats, something moving behind his eyes, old memories stirring.

"You saved us, you know," said the priest. "From what I understand, he never would have stopped until the last living thing was extinguished from this world."

"That's what I never understood-" Corren said suddenly. "Why? What happened to him? Why did he have to turn on us, and unleash the Nether into our world?"

The priest looked down at his book. "I don't know." he said with a shrug. "But you are the reason I'm able to grow old and enjoy my life in peace."

Corren only half-smiled. "Be careful how you write this down," he warned. "I killed a monster, but that didn't bring my teacher back."

He could sense it in the air that the end was drawing near. He could feel the shift in the worlds as all his enemies prepared to strike. He could feel their strengths, and their new weaknesses.

It was time to prepare the field.

He had sent the other gods into hiding. He knew that his greatest weakness would lie in stretching his powers too thin to protect everyone else, so he ensured that the Thing would be unable to find them. The war was narrowed down to its core players at last- himself, the Void, and a handful of chaos factors.

Notch stepped down onto the grasses of the Overworld. The wind tugged at his hair and clothes, and clouds scuffled across a clean blue sky. He took a moment, pausing, breathing in the fresh air. A moment of peace- a calm before the storm.

Then he turned his attention downwards.

Beneath the earth was a stronghold he built himself. The portals between the Overworld and the End had remained open through the war, as Notch and Herobrine had agreed to leave them until the time of last resort. They were only big enough for human-sized creatures to pass through- Endermen and such. They were not big enough to permit the Thing. And as it had proven during the attack on the Aether, the Thing needed no portals.

No- the only time the enemy used these portals was when the creators were oblivious to the danger. By the time Laskig was discovered, it was far too late to bother.

But now circumstances had changed. Herobrine, in his last efforts, had weakened the Thing desperately. It was now willing, or so Notch hoped, to use the portals to travel in secret, and that's what he expected.

He walked through earth and stone, passing through the matter without moving it, down into the portal chamber. For a few moments, he gazed down through the starry depths, feeling the malevolence of the Thing on the other side.

Then, with a swift blow, he shattered the portal.

The boxes shuddered, and Ender eyes, cracked and clouded, fell to the floor. The dizzying circle of sky folded in on itself and vanished. All that remained was an empty ring floating over a pool of lava, needing fresh eyes to open it again.

That was one- two more to go.

He found the second deep beneath the sea, and did the same thing. He left behind a dim and abandoned stronghold, carefully guarded by monsters, and collapsed tunnels after him so future people would find the place inaccessible.

At the third and final, he flew over high, cold mountain peaks, and found a tunnel cut straight down into a mountain to the stronghold portal. Landing neatly on the floor near the portal, he looked around, sniffing. Laskig had not been here recently.

So this is what he was up to, Notch thought, running a hand over the things kept in the underground haven. A twisted mask hung on the wall, and near it, a cruel-looking iron crown.

He approached the portal, energy gathering in one of his closed fists. He wound back, and then unleashed his power. It flew through the air in a brilliant flash of light, and fell like a net over the portal. There.

The portal remained open, and now, the Thing would not be able to come through directly. Instead, it would have to send one of its agents through first.

Notch shook out his hands, steadied himself, and stepped back to the Aether between dimensions.

The Thing had forced his hand one too many times in this war. Now he was going to strike back with the same. The Thing would be forced to resort to the one agent that would be able to pass through and continue the wave of destruction until it could create a new portal:

Herobrine.

Laskig watched the prince in his enraged grief and laughed.

He'd taken the bait. When the war settled, the crimes of Laskig would be erased from history. Only the evils of Herobrine would remain- Herobrine, the one who turned on his creation and destroyed it. Notch, destabilized by the loss of his brother, would be forced to turn his attention entirely to the defeat of the Thing.

That battle would surely weaken Void and Creator alike. Whoever won would be vulnerable to Laskig's trap. They wouldn't have the strength to fight him off when he struck, whichever came victorious.

Then, at last, he would be free to do as he had wanted all along, to recreate the universe in his own image. To be the supreme power. All would bow before him in awe and terror.

Summoning his power to him, he opened the fresh portals, sending mutant monsters up into the Overworld. They would guide the prince, but they would not kill him. At the end of the road, the boy would find his enemy. And he would kill Herobrine at last. He would end the miserable former creator.

You should have died then, Laskig thought. Imagine all the suffering you could have avoided if you had just given in and given up.

The last days had come at last.

"I traveled for months before I found it," Corren said.

The priest raised an eyebrow. "Found... what, exactly?"

"Herobrine was ready for me. He had built a massive fortress almost at the edge of the world. And he had monsters roaming the world. There were golems all over the stone that castle was built on. I could see where he had passed before, because all his victims rose again as zombies and skeletons. There were thousands. Thousands, and some of them children..."

The priest swallowed hard. He had not considered that- where the smaller zombies came from. He should have known.

"What then?"

"I faced him," Corren said simply. "I did what had to be done."

And with that, he spoke volumes.

The priest shook himself, and resumed writing.

"And the prince came forth to defeat Hell's own king, the rogue god Herobrine," he wrote. "Ending at last the quest for vengeance and justice, for his family, his mentor, and for his world."

Putting away his quill, the priest closed the volume. Across the front was stamped, Chronicle II. Finished at last. Now just one more volume to go, to fill in the context of the two prior chronicles. Of the past, the war, and the slow recovery since.

"Thank you, Corren," said the priest. "I have enjoyed your company, and I will be eternally grateful for your story. I am glad you came."

Corren rose from his seat, shaking the priest's hand. "I am glad I finally had a chance to tell my tale." he replied. "Farewell."

With that, the old man turned and opened the door. "Be well," he said over his shoulder, and left. The priest leaned on one elbow, considering his work. He was nearly finished with the three books. But there was still one more thing he needed to do.

Pushing the Chronicles he had completed already into his satchel, he picked up a blank volume and his traveling cloak, stepping out of his office. It was time to visit the scene of the final battle, survey the scars it left on the world.

Oh, this is getting tense for me here. Not many chapters left to go, but things are seriously going to go down in those chapters. I'm not sure my heart is ready.

I'm sure those of you in the original "A Minecraft Tale"/"Huntress's Tale" crowd think you know what happens next. Well, you do and you don't. You'll see what I mean.

Three more chapters to go.

Huntress out.