Ch.21 Dream and Illusion

The boat floated down the river silently, the water lapping the sides. Birds flew overhead but I noticed they looked a little…faded? The boat passed by a deer that was drinking at the edge of the bend. She didn't even look up at me. It felt much different here than anywhere else I've ever been.

Why here though? The boat hit the river bank with a gentle bump allowing me to get out. Pulling it onto the bank I stepped up onto the slight ridge and looked around. On down the river's edge was a dock that I could've gotten off at but didn't notice it until now. I walked over to it to inspect it for a brief second when the sounds of crying caught my attention once again. Where in hell were they coming from? Looking around I noticed a stone walkway leading away from the dock and towards a large beautiful castle.

"Whoa. What a place this is."

Heading down the path slowly to take in everything I came to the double wooden doors. What was the use in knocking? No one in a castle this size would hear someone like me knock. I pushed against the door and had it open for me. Stepping in cautiously, light flickering around the room from torches, I saw I wasn't in any immediate danger. Should I call out?

"Hello…?" I looked around taking a torch from a pillar. I held it out to light my way up the stairs. "I heard your cries and I came to see you. Come out for me. We can talk about what's made you upset."

"Everything's gone!" sniffled a boy from above me. "I hate them! I hate everyone! How dare they take my parents from me!"

"I hate it too, you know? It's a really sad story. Damn shame, really. I'm sure they loved you," I replied peering around trying to find the person to the voice.

"No. No, they had no interest in me. All they cared about from one another was money. It's all that they talked about!" the boy shouted, his voice bouncing off around the walls. "I'm going to get this from your mom. I'm going to get this much from your dad. I was sick of it! They couldn't have enough sense to ask what I wanted! They just assumed!"

"Wow, they're really single minded, aren't they?" I replied enjoying myself. "You don't like single minded people, do you?"

"No!" the boy shouted. "I don't even know why this world has them! They are useless to the gene pool!"

Hm, he's quite a smart child. "Yeah, I agree with you there. Hey, didn't you say you lived with your mom?"

Step after step I rose, getting closer and closer to the top.

"Yeah. So what if I did?" the boy replied going quite. "She didn't look after me. All she cared about was going out and drinking. Spent all of dad's hard earned money on ale!"

I was finally at the top. "Wow, she did that? That's terrible! What did your dad say?"

"He was mad at her," he replied coolly. "I wouldn't blame him. If the divorce would drive her to drink then why get separated?"

The kid wasn't there! Where in hell was he talking from then? I turned around and screamed when I suddenly saw the kid. "Dear Notch! You gave me a fright, child!"

The young kid giggled. His eyes were an odd shade of green. Not many Minecraftian's had green eyes. Not sure why. He looked up at me and ran off in a blink of an eye.

I quickly followed after him down the stairs, as carefully as I could so I wouldn't fall. "Wait! Hey!"

I saw the child streak through the door of the castle and into the grass. I sprinted through the door into the bright sunlight and was suddenly face to face with wooden bars. My chest throbbed with pain from running into the bars with all my weight. I suddenly saw the ten year old smiling at me on the other side. The scenery around us had also changed to a dark and damp place that held no warmth.

Where were we?

"Hmm. You're much different than them. You sought me out unlike the town's people. Why?"

"Villagers have been missing. It's why I'm here." I replied grasping my chest. "Where have you put me?"

"Nowhere special." The child replied shrugging and looking about. "Just a place I found when I was roaming about. Are you scared?"

I was a little bit. The darkness was something I disliked. I had always disliked the darkness. Something about it made me want the light. Any kind of light would do.

"I'm not too fond of the darkness. Why are you?" I asked staring at him through the bars that held rust and decay over the years of being set aside.

"It's always been there just waiting. Like a hug from your mother when you get hurt, how she knows you'll be crying. Or a warm hand to hold when you feel lost, you have the grasp of someone that will lead you the right way." The child replied staring at me with a long lost look, his mind going over past memories that he had cherished. "The darkness was always there for me when it all fell apart. When they got divorced over something. When I got bullied at school. Anything that affected me in some way I always turned to the darkness."

My heart felt for the kid. At such a young age, how was he to know anything bad was there? Something about his character wasn't right though. He looked real, like in everyday life, but something about him wasn't. He turned around halfway with a grin that almost split his face in half, it reached almost to his ears.

"You'll be staying here until I decide to take your energy. That should be tomorrow. Tomorrow to me though is in a span of just a few hours though."

I cocked my head wondering what he meant by that. "My energy? What are you talking about?"

The child turned back to me. "You don't know that Minecraftian's have energy within them? It keeps them alive. It's their 'life source'. Each being on this Earth has an energy about them that keeps them alive. Simple knowledge, girl. How do you not know this? Weren't you taught this in school?"

I shook my head. "I'm a bit different than other Minecraftian's. I was home schooled."

The child snorted. "It's no different. Your parents must be quite simple minded then."

I leaned forward grasping the wooden bars and suddenly got the shock of my life. I yelped letting go, sinking to my knees, shaking. The child chuckled and knelt down to my eye level. "Interesting. You're different altogether than a normal Minecraftian. Hmm. This changes everything."

"What do you mean?" I asked flinching from the painful throbbing that went through my muscles.

"It seems that I'm going to have to turn up the voltage of the Redstone to drain you of energy."

The child looked me over further before standing. "What are you exactly? Now that I'm actually focusing on you, your energy level is much higher than a Minecraftian too."

I stared at the boy wondering if I should tell him or not. "I'm a skeletal heir."

The boy's eyes grew big and a huge smile spread over his face. "I'll be damned! I've finally found one! A skeletal heir!"

I narrowed my eyes at his reaction as a bad feeling bubbled in my stomach. He drew nearer to the cage chuckling. "I was told that your powers were quite special. You could power thirty Dark Matter balls in one draining. I can't believe that I have an heir. You'll possibly power half that amount."

My teeth ground together. "Jackass! So this is what you've been doing to the Minecraftian's? Draining them for energy?"

The child gave me a smug look. "Yes. It's why I was called back to life once more. Who would've guessed that the Lord of the Darkness was fulfilling his evil doings through a child like me? Pretty ingenious, don't you think?"

My hands beat against the wooden bars out of anger. Fuck the Redstone electricity! I yelled out from anger and frustration, beating against the bars repeatedly. The child took a step back watching me. He began laughing and pointing at me.

"Bastard! How can he use a child like you? Do you know what you're even doing?" I barked.

"Like I could give a damn," the child replied folding his arms over his chest. "Now, stop wasting your strength, I want it all in the draining process."

I screamed back at him angrily. "Where are the other Minecraftian's?"

The child turned his head away sticking his pinky in his ear, cleaning it out halfheartedly. "Damn, you woman are loud bitches. I doubt you want to see the bodies though. Quite a magnificent sight, if I should say so myself."

He smiled pressing a pressure plate to the right of him that I hadn't noticed. A wall behind him opened up to show me a pile of dead bodies lying upon one another in a heap. I gasped as my jaw fell open in shock. Revulsion. Sadness. Pain. Anger. A multitude of feelings began to well up inside of me as I stared.

"Son of a bitch," I whispered shaking.

The child pressed a button on the wall that opened another wall. A glowing light filled the room as orbs full of energy floated there on ledges. The boy smiled at the sight of twenty or more orbs in front of him. "Oh, the energy. Look at them all. Aren't they glorious?"

I couldn't stand it anymore. These people, the Minecraftian's, were being tortured for their lives! The child turned to me smiling like nothing was wrong. "Do you know the difference between you and a Minecraftian?"

I shook my head stiffly. The child turned back to the orbs gazing on them like a mother would to their child, full of love and adornment. "Skeletal heirs and lords can power all of these in just one draining. Whereas a Minecraftian can only fill half a Dark Matter orb." He snorted pressing the button to shut the wall back. "Sad, how I would've had plenty of energy if I could've found several heirs and lords. I wouldn't have to go out and hunt down these stupid Minecraftian's."

My eyes glared at the back of the child. If only I had a weapon or my abilities. "They all have a resemblance. The Minecraftian's. Why is that?"

The child's posture changed then. He turned back to me looking interested. "How do you see that? Where?"

"The hair. All the females have the same hair color. The men have the same height and the same eye color. A few have the same hair color. Let me ask this. Your mother had green hair while your father had blonde?"

The child turned to the dead bodies and snorted. "Sharp you are. Yeah. Mother was gorgeous. Many men wanted her for her looks but none wanted her for anything else. That's where father was different.

She liked that about him. Everything about her seemed perfect to him. I can't figure out why it all went downhill from there. They were the happiest couple throughout the town. It all changed when I came along."

I looked at the bodies. Staring at them long and hard. "This is just wrong though. You know that. I won't forgive you for any of this. You or the Lord of the Darkness."

The child stepped on the pressure plate once more and smiled at me as the wall shut behind him. "It won't matter. I'm already damned for all eternity."

"Sell?" a voice from above them asks.

"It's Sell, Rien!" exclaimed another.

The child and I looked up to see my father and Lones peering down above us. The child glared. "Bastards! You're too late! She's trapped down here until I drain her of energy!"

Father leapt and sunk down into what looked like water to me. He was so near yet still far away. Something was keeping him blocked from reaching us. Father reached out to me but touched an invisible wall. He pushed off and headed for the surface. I watched Lones grab my father's hand and yank him up onto the grass.

The child grinned looking at me. "Once I send those orbs to the Nether your race, the Minecraftian's, all of Minecraft will be doomed!"

I glared at him. "How do you plan to send the energy to the Nether? All portals have been banned from use!"

The child smiled at me keeping that a secret. "It won't matter. It goes along with the darkness anyways. Hm? As for your friends up there, they won't be able to reach you. Not until I'm gone will this place fade. As if I would be killed by you or your friends. You can't get out and they can't reach me!"

I watched the child stare up at my father and Lones with a smirk. "You're hiding a secret. That secret must be your downfall. We'll find it."

The child giggled. "I'd like to see you try! No one has been able to figure that out! You don't have the time though but feel free to with what little time you have left."

I watched as the child disappeared into a dark corner. I looked up to my father and Lones, a feeling inside me that we weren't on the losing end. There had to be a way to get my father into the same time as I was. Since I couldn't use my abilities and needed my body for that I was stuck here.

"That…child…"

I perked up thinking I had heard someone speak. Was my mind playing games with me after seeing the dead Minecraftian's?

"Evil… child…"

I blinked. No I wasn't going insane. Someone was alive! "Ma'am, I hear you. I'm Sell. I need to know how to help you."

"Child…weakness…Sell….the moon."

I couldn't understand what she was talking about. The child had a weakness and I was from the moon? "Can you explain that better? I didn't understand that."

"Weakness…moon."

It suddenly hit me what she was trying to say. I yelped as I brushed the Redstone powered bars of the cage I was in. I now came to hate fences. I hated electrical fences.

"Ma'am, thank you! I understand now what you were trying to say!" I looked around and my hopes of defeating the kid went out the window. There was no way the moon could filter in through the water above. The water was deeper than a moon's rays could fully penetrate through. "How does the moon make him weak down here? Better yet, how does it reach through the water?"

"Nature…penetrates…time."

"Of course!" I could've smacked myself for not realizing it. The sun was the same as back then. So was the moon! The moon isn't affected by the past…much. I looked up to where my father and Lones were discussing a plan. "Dad!"

Dad and Lones stopped and looked down to me.

"I know how to stop the kid! We have to wait until nightfall! The moon rise!"

Father and Lones looked at one another skeptically. Lones didn't understand what my point of view was exactly but dad just smiled at him. "She'll be fine, Lones. We just have to wait. The moon will show the way."

I smiled. "Precisely!"

"How will the moon show the way exactly? It's high in the sky! I've never heard of a road or any such thing being shown by the moon!" Lones argued folding his arms across his chest.

"The moon is what makes all darkness darker. It's the one magical key that allows the evil to walk Minecraft in the open. The same goes for the child. His time gets over ridden by the moons light! It is past and present!" I yelled up to them. "Just keep near! I'll give the signal!"

Lones sighed, feeling all gung ho and wanting to rush in right then but father grabbed his arm and drug him away.

"We're… finally…getting… saved. Thank…you…Sell."

"You're welcome," I replied with a smile. "It's why I came here. Minecraftian lives are important to me."

"Savior…Sell…"

"Something like that." I said sitting there in an Indian style. The woman's voice didn't reply. Silence hung in the air. She had died. "May Lady Ananon be with you."

I closed my eyes lifting my head up. A figure stood at two huge doors that had a bright light shining through the cracks of the doors. The figure reached out to touch the doors but they automatically opened. Figures in white and gold stood in the door with the bright light shining all about them. They took the figure's hand, leading it inside.

I turned to see a line of people walking towards me smiling. I smiled back to them as they passed around me murmuring thank you's. The figures in white and gold welcomed the people through their doors. I saw the people were smiling and happy once more.

"How goes the fight, Skeletal heir?" asked a goddess-like voice.

I stood there for a moment wondering how to respond. "It's got its good days and bad ones. This was a bad one."

A hand touched my shoulder lightly. I turned to see Lady Ananon next to me. "You're doing your job well, Sell. You led the lost lambs of Notch to the Aether in one try. You're making great strides to becoming a great Lady of the Skeletal race."

"Your job is easy from here on, Ananon. Mine is different." I said patting her hand on my shoulder. "I and the rest of the race are the ones fighting. We'll forever be fighting until we die. You know this as well as I do."

Lady Ananon nodded. "Indeed I do, child of blood."

"That seems a suiting title for me." I said putting my hands in my pockets. "It has a nice ring to it."

"No, that title is not for you, Sell," Ananon said walking from me towards the doors that were opened for her return. "Your title is what all Minecraftian's have prayed for. You are The Prophecy."

"The Devil's Prophecy," I corrected turning and striding away.

"Yes. You are The Devil's Prophecy. Fear of the Nether and the justice of Minecraftian's." Ananon said as her voice faded away. "A different type of Skeletal heir altogether. You support life and death."

I stopped and turned back wondering what she meant to see the great doors of the Aether closing. How could a Skeletal heir support life and death when they only dealt with death? The great light faded and a thunderous boom rumbled the floor beneath me as the doors shut. I opened my eyes staring up at the water above, the light dancing on its movements. 'A different type of heir altogether? I support life and death?' My cloak that I wore when I faced maul came to mind. I remembered that it was white on the left and black on the right. Light and dark. Life and death.

"It was your idea all along. Wasn't it, Ananon?" I asked myself aloud with a grin.

Hey guys!Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out!I had a lot of things happening in real life. My bf and his roommate moved out this weekened so I and my dad had to go help with the furniture. I helped pack and organize the boxes while my bf's parents cleaned up the place. Thank god dad was there to help, my bf's dad was getting bent out of shape from moving a few had to be out before midnight and luckily we got them out before midnight. We were done around ten that another reason that kept me from writing was my cold and sinuses that had smacked me down. My head was so completely pressurized I couldn't think of one annoyed me so bad.I put myself under several sinus and allergy medicines I was knocked out all week I put off doing a project that I shouldn't have and am about to rush into class a few hours early to get the project done.I'm never going to put off a project again. Only because I couldn't think of anything for now I have an ,I'm going to let ya'll bask in the glory of a new next chapter will be something to look forward to.

Yunalia~3