Chapter 18

The Vision, the God and the Forgotten

I recall my great grandfather telling me the story often; though he never used names, at least never the names of the Lost One.

He says everyone called it the Battle of the Immortal's. But he was there he watched, he watched the First rise up as the Dark One attacked. To wield nature itself to do your bidding, to will fire and water at your command...

It was not Battle of Immortals

It was a battle of Gods.

He would tell of his village, the one high on the mountains not far from where we resided today.

He says the reason the Other attacked us first was because our home was special to the Wanderer. Our village was the very first one he established when we mortals were created.

He says it was a blood bath before the Wanderer got there, none of his people were capable of fighting a demigod.

His father was killed and so was his little sister. He had to drag his mother out of the home.

He had only been fourteen years of age.

As his age rises and his health depletes the story becomes more forgotten. He cannot quite recall how his father died, or who made it out. But he still remembers vividly the look on the First's face when he arrived.

My great grandfather is the only one left alive now from the incident, and he can no longer even remember the names of his children.

But he has not forgotten that look...

The First had been betrayed. He was wounded straight down to his soul. In a matter of seconds and in rivers of blood his heart became dark.

He wanted revenge.

The woman wailed.

There were people screaming

There was a deafening crack.

Petra's eyes shot open right as a large oak tree crashed through the ceiling. Crying out in alarm she rolled away, scrambling and racing for the wall.

She hit the stone gasping for air. This wasn't Steve and Alex's! Where was she?!

There was an ear splitting roar and the ground shook.

"Lukas! Steve!" she cried. "Where are you?!"

That woman screamed in response, a broken horrified cry of agony.

Petra turned away from the wall, facing the unknown house she was in and its sole resident.

A dark hair woman of her later forties knelt before the fallen tree that had destroyed her home. Her thick village dresses in tattered rags at the hem. The source of her grief was a man and a small child, victims of the relentless branches.

Petra's heart stopped.

The tree.

The house in the abandoned village.

The bones.

The books sometimes contain memories of things that happened long ago in this world.

She was in the village.

"No! No! No! Noooo!" the woman screamed.

The ground shook again, and parts of the roof caved in, but still the stranger remained kneeled in her grief.

Petra shoved herself off the wall, "Hey!" she grabbed onto the woman's shoulders, "We have to go! You can't stay here!"

"Amar! Shia! Notch! Please dear God do not take them from me!"

"Hey!" she tried to shake the woman all while trying not to look at the gruesome scene within the branches. "I'm sorry, but you can't stay- Can you hear me?!"

There was a vociferous roar, followed by an overwhelming wave of screams.

"Mama!" a young boy perhaps a bit younger than Petra, raced into the room out of breath ; bleeding profusely all over his arms, "Mama!"

"No~"

"Mama! He is coming we must flee!"

"No!"

The son cried out, a mixture of grief and rage and yanked her roughly up, "They are gone mama!"

Petra's ears were buzzing, she could hear the old tongue coming from their lips, but she could hear her language as well. This was like a vision, like a dream, and it conveniently translated for her.

The picture in the book.

It revealed a memory!

Now sure of how she got here, she got up, following the pair outside hoping to find an exit from the memory. Petra was immediately greeted with an overwhelming wave of fire and smoke. There was no temple, there was no Portal door, but she recognized the village high upon the cliffs.

She spotted a large glittering stone mansion, the one Lukas told her hand gemstones in it. The stones sparkled in the fiery blaze-

Till the roof was smashed clean off.

"You are all gnats!" A mighty voice shook the earth, "You are dust under my finger nails!"

Someone raced by Petra bumping into her, "Notch preserve us!" he cried, fleeing with others into the woods - the forest much smaller than it had been before.

"Your God is no longer here! He cares not for you and your filth! I am your God now!" Fire came raining down from the heavens, striking the edge of the forest up like a set of matches. Agonized cries pour out of the burning wood, "I will purge this world!"

Petra started running, unable to resist her overwhelming urge to flee. She ran with others away from the woods, towards a cobblestone road away from town.

Something hit the ground behind her, a wave of air sending her and almost everyone else to the dirt. Petra looked sharply behind her, gasping in shock and fear.

One of the Immortal's.

They're real.

She had honestly doubted Steve and Alex's stories, brushing them off most of the time. But right here, right now, she believed very much.

She couldn't see a face, beyond all that armor, but evil radiated off him like smoke. Some villagers got up, arming themselves with hoes and axes. They charged at the all powerful being, seeing vengeance for their home.

The Immortal flicked away the first one with a mere swipe of his hand. The next he summoned water from the earth, using it like a whip to slice the next man's throat. He caught a woman by her face, and smashed her head to the ground, "You are nothing to me." He started walking.

Horrified Petra scrambled up.

FLEE! FLEE!

"You are nothing to a God."

Petra felt her arm get wrenched back, and she was whipped around. Now face to face with the Immortal.

"Well, well, well. What have we here?" His lips didn't move.

What?

Petra looked into the brown eyes between the helment visor and couldn't work up a sound.

He raised his arm, and Petra heard a scream as he forced his fist through her midsection.

Nothing.

Petra looked down, just as she saw a woman fall out of her body, entire middle cleaved through. She hit the ground, her blood pouring everywhere, while Petra remained standing, now transparent and unharmed.

The Immortal spat into the ground, and moved on. Leaving his own phantom behind.

"Well, well, well." the ghost repeated.

Petra took a step back.

She couldn't recognize the male; there was hardly anything to discern left. Most of his skin was cracked and burned, like a charred corpse from a fire. His eyes were milky white, the iris's gone as if he had been recently blinded.

He was looking right at Petra.

"I don't get many visitors here."

"W-what?"

"No one has seen what happened here in a long time." He gestured around, "Do you like my handiwork?"

Petra took a step back, "Who the hell are you?"

The man laughed, "I am an Immortal you foolish child can't you see that." he grinned. "Oh well, you'll see soon enough."

"-What d-do you mean-"

He lunged at her.

Petra screamed and sat up, skull connecting with Steve, "OW!"

Steve seemed unfazed by the sudden and unexpected head butt. "Petra are you alright?"

Dazed and confused and seriously sore in the head, she took in her surroundings, "Where-" she recognized Steve and Alex's kitchen. She's out of the dream.

Lukas was next to her, hand on her shoulder, "Are you alright?"

"What happened?"

"Your hand touched a page, then you collapsed." he said worried, "We've been trying to wake you up for over twenty minutes! I was afraid that you, that you..."

She looked to the table, the book was no longer glowing. "I-I"m okay, Ow, I think." she rubbed her head, "Who did I hit?"

"Me," Steve said, he placed a hand on her free shoulder, "Petra...what did you see?"

"I saw-" she froze.

The village.

The Immortal.

Lukas leaned closer, "Petra?"

"Lukas! I saw it!" she grabbed his hand, "I saw what happened."

"Happened to what?!" he asked alarmed.

"The old village where the portal temple is! I saw what happened, I saw people die. Lukas, there was an Immortal!"

"What?!"

"It had to be, who else could have had that kind of power?!" she looked to Steve, "Did the First, did he destroy that village? Did he kill those people. Jesse said Alex told him there had been a battle. Did the First do that?!"

Steve looked a bit pale, "No."

"Was it the second one then? The Healer?"

"No..."

"I know it was an Immortal Steve! What happened?"

Steve leaned back on his knees, sighing heavily, "It's well..." he ran fingers through his hair, "You guys have heard about the First, and the Healer. But have you ever hear about the Dark One?"

Lukas nodded, "Back home yeah, they said he was the opposite of Notch. Notch created, while the other destroyed." he hesitated, "But isn't that just a fairy tale for children to behave."

"Not exactly," Steve said.

"Then what," Petra asked.

"No one in town talks about it. It's kind a hush hush matter, sworn oath an all that..."

"Steve?"

The other male stood, rubbing his amulet around his neck, circling his thumb counter clockwise on the shimmering blue stone. "I guess I'm going to have to explain a few things to you kids before we go messing with any more First World stuff, things you might need to know now. But we're going to have to wait till Jesse gets back."

"Explain what?" Lukas asked as he pulled Petra up.

"The Dark One isn't a boogie man. He was real and he isn't who you think he is."

"Oh!" Alex stumbled shortly after exiting the Hallway of Worlds, going to her knees.

"Alex!"

Jesse dropped down next to her, "Alex are you alright?"

The woman had gone pasty white, sweat dripping down her neck, she clutched her amulet, the blue stone almost seemed to pulse light through the gaps in her fingers.

Far off in the distance the volcano let out a low rumbled, and the sky rattled with thunder.

"Alex?!"

"I'm fine, just fine," she assured, more to herself then Jesse.

Jesse looked to the volcano, "Did the mountain cause an earthquake, are you sure you're okay?"

"Mt. Incendia didn't trip me," She stood, gripping his hand tightly; "I'm fine dear don't worry."

"Let's just sit down for a minute."

"If that makes you feel better. " she complied, joining him on a fallen pillar. She smiled, "You're such a worry wart, and so sweet," she placed a hand on his cheek, "Sometimes I just wish I could keep you."

Jesse smiled softy.

"I'm just a little worn out, probably from my heart attack when you stepped into the dead world. Don't worry."

"If you insist..." he said slowly, he glanced back at the smoking mountain, "Did you call is Mt. Incendia?"

"Yes, it means Fire in the old tongue."

"It's not ready to blow is it?"

She chuckled, a weak sound since she seemed drained and out of breath, "Oh no. The people of long ago harnessed the energy of the mountain when they built their city there."

"A city?"

"Yes, and entire city and castle rest in that volcano. Underneath the base of the volcano are the diamond mines, rich and full."

"Do people still live there?"

"No, and they don't go into the mines either. It's completely abandoned," she explained. "No one has been there for a long time."

"Why doesn't your village mine the diamonds there?"

"Too dangerous, it's pretty unstable in the city above, and you know how spawns like mines. Not to mention, the city was founded by the Immortals, and you know how we are with his stuff."

"Oh..."

There was a moment of silence, just Alex taking her deep breaths and Incendia rumbling in background.

"I've never seen your amulet glow before."

Alex opened her palm, the blue stone still gently pulsing in her hand, "Yes, Steve is calling me."

"Steve is calling?!"

" Yes. You've probably noticed he has a matching piece."

"Yeah. But how is he, you know? "

"Well we can send magical signals to each other. The amulets can also help us find the other if one of us is in danger. They are enchanted. It was a wedding gift from him."

"Wow that is, wait - Danger?!" Jesse went into alarm, "Is there danger right now?!"

"No, no," she thumbed the amulet, "It's a gentle light, he's telling me to come home. He probably needs to talk."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive." She stood, "Good thing we're heading back now." she crossed the clearing to where their horses were still faithfully waiting.

"Those amulets seem pretty handy. Wish I had one," Jesse smiled slightly.

"They are," Alex climbed up onto Gaea, "We actually have three of them."

"Really," Jesse hopped onto Titan, "Why do you have third, is it a spare?"

Alex's eyes went sad, like she regretted bringing it up. She gripped her amulet - the pulsing now almost gone - and turned her horse away, "It was a gift I never got to give." she said quietly.

"I have never seen you so engrossed in something before."

Aiden set down his pencil and took a drink of his coffee. "Sorry, Ivor just really wants these things translated." he laughed, "Kinda obsessed with it actually."

Isa smiled into her teacup, "Well his decoder isn't lacking enthusiasm."

Aiden felt his cheeks heat up a little, "I'm sorry, I know I should stop. I haven't had much to do lately with Bites in the jungle and Cosmic Orchids locked in the greenhouse for winter..."he shrugged, "It entertains me. I should come out and help with the wall some more."

"The wall is as fortified as it's going to get for this year," Isa said, "I'm pretty sure that no one is going to be able to get through, over, or under it."

"What about the food stores?"

"Pretty good." Isa sighed, "I just wish we could find a health potion for Ivor, but without accessed to the Nether and therefore recourses to a brewing stand, you're stuck with him."

"He's not too bad," Aiden said, "A lot quieter since he got the book. Lukas says the First World is out of them too, but if they get their hands on any, they'll bring them here."

"I'm glad it has been of some pleasure to him."

Aiden hummed, taking another drink, "Did I tell you Fifty Shades burned?"

Isa knew immediately what he meant, "Oh joy. Revolting piece of work if you ask me." she raised an eyebrow, "Did you read it?"

"I did see the label! I thought it was the journal. I opened it up in the middle and well..." He picked up his pencil and went back to decoding, "It burned."

Isa laughed. She scooted her chair over, "What section are you decoding now?"

"Ivor spent most of the past week translating the newest part of the book. That one seems to be the youngest piece; he estimates it was written between ten to twenty years ago.

"And?"

"Well, from what I read, the writer is the descendant of all the previous entries. I think she gathered multiple writings and gathered them together in one big book."

"She?"

"Yeah, it was a woman. She talks about her husband at one point, and longing to start a family."

"Sounds like a normal journal."

"It was,"

Isa leaned in, "What do you mean?"

Aiden flipped to the beginning of his notes, "These pages right here didn't have to be decoded, even though there are a few entries missing and a few dates that are unreadable. She seemed to have pretty normal childhood and blissful youth."

Isa read some of the notes, "On today, the happiest of days, I finally will be married to my beloved. Many years I have longed for him, many years I have looked forward to this day. Father says the First himself will be there...Interesting."

"Then something happened a few years later it never says; but she just snapped. I don't know what happened." Aiden turned a few pages.

Leave! Leave, we must flee! Death hides in the woods, blood leaks from the soil! He comes, he comes! This world is not safe, this world is a grave waiting to be filled!

The woman cringed, "Oh dear."

"That's her last normal entry. If you could call 'blood leaks from the soil' normal," Aiden explained. "Everything past that point is coded. Like she is afraid of someone reading it. "He flipped back to his current page, "I haven't read too much actually - I've been too busy breaking her codes. But I think she moved from whatever world she lived in."

"Moved? As in went into the Hallway?"

"Yeah, I think so." Aiden sighed, "I wonder what happened to make her like this?"

"Who knows. Poor girl."

Ivor rolled into the room at the moment. He had that look his eyes, his eyes narrowed and his inner gears turning. Aiden knew that look by now.

Something bothered the old man.

"Hello Ivor," Isa said, she herself wasn't familiar with his look, "How is the reading coming."

Ivor quietly set the book on the table, and then set his own translated edition next to it. "There are no names." he stated simply.

"What?"

"I started noticing that words were cut off at certain points. Like someone wrote a name in, and then it was blocked out." he thumbed the pages, "I went all the way back to the beginning, and the pattern is constant. Every time a certain name is about to be mentioned, the pages either tears over it, or there is so much ink covering the name I can discern it."

"But what's wrong with a name?" Isa asked.

The word stuck Aiden funny, "Hold on a second. There is something on names just-" he flipped through his own workings, then opened the original journal to the corresponding page, "Here, I found this when I was decoding. It came out in the old tongue instead of English, like the code was reversed."

In big bold letters on the original journal were these words:

Ille quaestus imperium ex eius nomine!

Over and over, the message repeated, till it covered the entire page. Aiden pulled out his own notes, "I remembered some of the old tongue you showed me how to translate, and I got this." he placed his paper down:

He gains power from his name!

Aiden leaned back in their chair, "I have no idea what it means though."

"I think I do," Ivor said. He picked up his notes. "Isa you said the opening English entry mentions the Dark One."

"Yes?"

"Well I think that's who their trying to cover up."

"The Dark One? Hold up," Aiden leaned back in, "I thought this journal contained entries on the Lost Immortal, not the bedtime story from back home."

"That's the thing," Ivor explained, "The Dark One started popping up again all over history. But he was never described as an Immortal; he was simply a being that did the opposite of Notch's work. Now, in this entry here that you gave me to translate a few days ago it says this."

Twas not the Brother but the Son.

"Now I found this very interesting, because the Dark One is often described as Notch's Brother, while the Immortals are considered the children of the deity. So this is what I have concluded, that somewhere along the time line, the Lost Immortal became the Dark One."

Isa's eyebrows went up, "Twas not the brother but the son."

Ivor nodded, "Exactly. What happened, these people, whoever they were. Erased his name from history to the point where historians couldn't even figure out who the Lost Immortal was. There is a poem in here talking about a false god, which some consider to be the Dark one. Now back home, there is only a few pieces, talking about how he came to purge the land and the First rose up to meet him. Everyone assumed it meant the First took down Notch's brother. But this journal has the complete poem, and at one point it says son of Notch, and brother of the First, so they must have gotten mixed up somehow."

"But what could have happened to force an entire society to erase someone's name?" Aiden asked.

"I don't know," Ivor said, "But whatever happened, it was so bad, that they feared to even speak it. To the point where if anyone slipped up in future years they removed or erased the evidence."

"But this confirms that the Dark One isn't real, but the Lost One is."

"I'm afraid it confirms them both."

"What do you mean Ivor?"

Ivor looked solemnly at the book, "The tales of the Dark One and his deeds did not appear till much later after the Lost One's defeat, and we now they are probably one and the same person."

"Which means?

"It means, that the Lost One might not be as dead as everyone in this journal believes."

Next Time On MCSM: Immortal's Child :

You will do nothing then," the First spat.

"You do not realize what you ask of me. He is your brother-"

"I am asking you to end him, simple as that!"

Jesse jumped slightly as the old man rose from his chair, the heavens roaring with thunder. "You ask me to kill my child!"

The Immortal glared, "He cares not for you nor I anymore."

Author's Section:

Whelp...There is a whole lot of important tid bits here, and a whole heck of a lot of talking...

See you all guys soon!