Chapter 66: The Hallowed Grounds

The Ender Dragon stomped toward them, her mouth open horrifyingly wide. Matthew shot a spectral arrow right into the Ender Dragon's head and struck her exposed skull. The impact caused a burst of light which made her rear back in annoyance, but the arrow was otherwise harmless and bounced off.

Alice began to creep around the side while the Dragon was distracted. Realizing what she was getting at, Matthew shot another arrow, this time landing a solid hit on her neck. The tip embedded in a rotten patch of her scales, but once again seemed to do little more than irritate her. She snarled and took another step toward Matthew, and Alice took advantage of the opening by smashing her mace into the Ender Dragon's leg. There was a flash of light, and the attack yielded a pained growl, but Alice couldn't get out of the way before an enormous, rotting wing flapped up and knocked into her. She was swept off her feet and hurled a few blocks away, like a pest being casually swatted. Thital teleported to her, then warped again to get her further away, and Volas did the same for Matthew while Azhero launched fireballs into the Dragon's side. His projectiles exploded against her scales, yet didn't leave much of an impact, and the damage she had suffered appeared to be negligible. Worse still, a gray beam of light shone from the top of the nearest obsidian tower onto her, and her injuries were healed. Even her rotten scales were regenerating, making her look a bit healthier.

"This isn't working, we need to stop her from healing!" Alice yelled. "What's on top of the towers?"

Volas squinted at the beam, then hopped up and down, crying, "Halzost'gan! Crystal Halzost'gan!"

Eyes of Ender were giving her power? Now that Matthew knew how important the pearls were to the Endermen, he felt a twinge of anger at her using them for herself. The beam faded, and the Dragon snapped her fangs at Azhero. He teleported behind her to continue his barrage, but she whipped her tail into him, and he was knocked onto his back with a grunt. Another beam came down to repair what little damage he'd dealt.

"You two! Destroy Halzost'gan, we distract!" Thital said. He and Volas warped to their sibling's aid, drawing the Dragon's attention onto the three of them.

Matthew looked up at the towers. "Destroy them? They mean so much to everyone, can we really do that?"

"I don't think we have much of a choice," said Alice, hurrying over to him. "If they heal her back to full strength, we might not be able to win. Let's take them out quickly."

Reluctantly, he ran to the shortest pillar and fired his crossbow. The arrow arced to the top, sailing straight into the crystallized Eye of Ender. What resulted was an explosion strong enough for him to feel in his bones, even from the bottom. The violet light vanished as the smoke faded.

Alice watched his handiwork with a nervous grin. "That's one down, but if they'll blow up then I don't think I want to go up there and destroy them myself."

He reloaded, already looking for another crystal that would be easy to reach. "Just watch my back, I'll take care of-"

Ironically, his front was of greater concern, because at that moment an Enderman teleported directly into his line of sight at random. He couldn't look away in time, and they made eye contact for the briefest of seconds. The Enderman's purple eyes widened, then their jaw opened to a frightening width and they let out a scream of mindless rage.

"No!"

Alice leaped between the two with an iron shovel and batted aside the Enderman's outstretched claw. They shrieked at her, forgetting their aggression toward Matthew for the moment.

"Get moving, I'll hold 'em off!"

There was no time to argue, so he hurried away from the attacker and took a shot at another crystal. It exploded, and somewhere behind him the Dragon snarled. Matthew wondered what exactly they would do once all ten were destroyed; crystals or not, she was still strong enough to crush them with barely any effort.

"Two down! Alex, here it comes!"

She dove into a roll, avoiding the incoming spray of noxious breath by a hair's width. She'd fallen victim to it once already, and another death would just waste time. Alex watched the Ender Dragon swoop toward her, knowing her shield would do nothing against such a massive impact. But her shield wasn't what she had in mind, for at the last moment she pulled out a bucket of water and threw its contents right into the beast's face, then jumped out of its path. She heard the harsh sizzle of its scales burning, and the Dragon shrieked and thrashed its head around, trying to clear its vision.

Alex took the moment's rest to see what Steve was doing. He had an Endermen chasing him, but he spun on his heels, leaped upon it, and buried a diamond pickaxe through its mouth. It teleported about the arena, weakly clutching at its head, then collapsed.

"This isn't getting us anywhere," Steve grumbled. "No matter how many of them we kill, there aren't any fewer. Let's just focus on the crystals and take out the boss."

Alex switched to her bow and looked around at the towers. Eight crystals remained, three of which were encased in iron cages. Until they were destroyed, none of the harm they inflicted upon the Ender Dragon would stick, and Alex wouldn't have any peace of mind until their final enemy was brought down.

The Dragon snarled and turned toward them, its burns from the water already being healed by the crystals. Steve drew an enchanted diamond axe with a smirk. "Get to it, I'll keep our friend entertained."

They split up. Alex, careful not to look directly at the Endermen gathering around the towers, found her mark and loosed an arrow. Three down.

"Hey-!"

She turned to see Steve had climbed onto the Dragon as it took flight, and was clinging to the ridged spikes on its back. Alex watched as it flew away from the island and rolled, throwing Steve clear off and sending him plummeting into the abyss below. She took cover behind one of the obsidian towers before the Dragon could see where she'd gone. Steve might well have been lost forever, falling endlessly, and the thought of losing him barely even registered for her.

Of course, she couldn't have been so lucky. A minute or so later, he reappeared at the obsidian platform they'd arrived on through the portal, wearing a fresh set of diamond armor. Steve jogged over to where she was hiding, visibly annoyed.

"I'm not sure if there's even a bottom to this place," he said. "At a certain point, I think the void just dissolved me. Took away a lot of my good items, too… be careful not to get thrown off."

He went back to work in keeping the Ender Dragon occupied. Alex looked across the battlefield and saw the next shortest tower had an iron cage surrounding the crystal. Shooting through the bars would be next to impossible, so she had no choice but to get closer. Retrieving a stack of dirt blocks from her inventory, she began to create a makeshift stairway, high above the ground until she was at eye level with the crystal. Alex glanced below to see the Dragon trampling an Enderman as it pursued Steve, and couldn't help but wince at the display. She built a bridge underfoot to reach the top of the tower, then broke open a hole in the cage with her pickaxe. With her target exposed, she backed away and shot an arrow into the crystal, detonating it like the first three.

"Look out!"

The Ender Dragon had taken flight again and was barreling toward her. Alex had just enough time to make eye contact with the beast before being knocked off the bridge by one of its enormous wings. She didn't scream, or even feel any fear. It would just be a matter of grabbing a new set of items from the stash they'd set up outside the portal, next to their beds, and then she could get right back into the fight.

She hit the ground and died instantly, marking yet another meaningless death in her meaningless life.

The possessed Enderman wasn't giving Alice room to breathe.

"I really don't want to hurt you, but I need you to stay out of our way!"

She didn't recognize them from the Dwellers of the Ashen Fields. For all she knew, they were an Acolyte soldier. Even so, she couldn't bring herself to fatally wound them when they weren't acting of their own will. The Legendary Heroes had cut down scores of Endermen who had been compelled to fight; in that regard, she wouldn't follow in their footsteps.

Of course, non-fatally subduing her opponent wasn't any easier, as the Enderman didn't show any self-preservation in their attacks. They bore down on her with heavy swings of their arms and claws, never stopping their advance even for a moment. Alice had switched to an iron shovel to try and daze them, but in the brief intervals when she could get in a strike, the Enderman made no effort to dodge or even block her attacks. She battered the side of their chest with the head, and the shovel's edge actually managed to leave a long cut in their exoskeleton, yet they simply kept stomping after her, wildly flailing their arms. Alice could do nothing besides step backwards from them, praying she wasn't about to be driven off the edge of the island.

The Enderman lashed out, scratching across the front of her chestplate. Alice lost her footing as she tried to get away and landed on her back, then had to roll before they could stomp on her.

"I need to end this quickly, or they'll wear down my armor!"

Not helping matters were the other Endermen which had been attracted to the scene of their fight. While they hadn't become aggressive, standing idly around without much purpose, she knew how dangerous it was to be near them. Even one wrong look would lead to another relentless attack.

As she hastily got back up, Volas teleported over and began throwing globs of webbing at the hostile Enderman. Their arms were pinned to their chest, and one of their feet became stuck against the stone. They thrashed and growled, trying to free themself of her trap. She took a running leap and bashed the flat edge of her shovel against their head, and they dropped like a rock. They'd live; she just hoped they wouldn't be too injured when they recovered.

"Thanks for the help," she said. "How are you guys doing?"

She didn't know if Volas spoke her language well enough to answer, but there wasn't much need. Thital hit the ground near them with a pained cry, tossed aside by a casual swipe of the Ender Dragon's tail. Azhero was keeping his distance with quick warps, always staying out of reach of her fangs, but Alice could see how fatigued he was becoming with each jump, and his fireballs were having less and less of an impact. He teleported to join the three of them, slumping and taking heavy breaths upon arrival.

Another resounding bang indicated a fifth crystal had been destroyed, and she could see Matthew building a stone bridge across the top of one tower to get closer to its neighbor. The Ender Dragon's undead state worked to their advantage in one regard: she didn't seem capable of planning or strategizing, and wasn't making any effort to protect the crystals even as fewer of them remained. She turned toward Alice and the triplets with a strangled roar, completely ignoring Matthew for the time being.

"What's she up to now?"

A jet of purple gas erupted out of her throat, streaking across the battlefield and catching a pair of unlucky Endermen in its path. Volas grabbed Alice to teleport her out of the way, not quite fast enough to completely avoid the breath attack. When they reappeared, Alice removed her helmet and stared wide-eyed at the hole which had burned right through the side of it; this wasn't the same substance she'd used to possess the tribes, it was something closer to lava in its potency. It chewed through her diamond armor with little effort, and it would likely melt her to the bone if she were hit directly. Her fears were only compounded when she saw the unfortunate pair who'd been caught by her breath: the two Endermen were writhing on the ground, their exoskeletons reduced to grayish chunks of burned plating, letting out the most stomach-turning screeches she'd ever heard in her life. Unable to look away from their gruesome fate, Alice locked eyes with one of the victims. Despite their mortal wounds, they stood as if to attack her, only to collapse mid-step. Thital whined at the sight of it, Azhero went very quiet, and Volas hugged herself with her long arms and began to tremble.

"We can't let her get away with this… not again!"

A beam shot down from the nearest crystal, regenerating some of her lost scales, but it was cut off when another explosion shook the air. Matthew had destroyed it while it was in the middle of healing the Dragon, and the disruption to the beam sent a spark of energy through her body.

"Six down!" Matthew called.

However, the Ender Dragon had taken notice of him by then. She took flight, her enormous wings flapping hard enough to blow Alice and a few close Endermen off their feet, and charged toward him. Matthew shot a spectral arrow into her head, but didn't slow her down, and he toppled from the tower when she slammed into it. Thital teleported up, caught him in midair, and teleported back down safely. Alice counted her lucky stars that neither of them looked hurt, but Thital nearly collapsed upon his return.

"Thanks for that," Matthew said with a breathless laugh. Then his expression became more serious, and he continued, "You three look exhausted. We can keep her distracted if you can break the last four crystals, okay?"

Alice wasn't keen on the idea of going head-to-head with the Ender Dragon, but she couldn't stand the thought of such young Endermen being caught in her jaws, so she voiced her agreement with the plan. The triplets gave them a nod and teleported away to carry out their new task. The Dragon landed a few chunks away, her wings even more tattered after she'd flown into the tower.

"She's in bad shape, that's good news," Alice remarked. "Her wings have all those holes and rips, so I think she can't fly anymore. We need to avoid her on the ground now…"

Something was happening to the Endermen who'd been knocked off their feet by her. They were shaking and screaming as if Alice had looked them in the eyes, but none of their aggression was focused on her or Matthew. Instead, a group of about ten of them were running at the Dragon in a frenzy, clawing at her rotting hide from all sides. None of the others had such a reaction, nor did they step in to defend their master. She thrashed and shook, occasionally knocking into more Endermen and drawing their ire as well.

"They're still possessed… but her control over them must not be complete," said Matthew.

"Yeah, let's see if we can help them-"

The Dragon forcefully spread her wings, throwing her attackers off. They didn't let up, but as they rushed back at her, another of the observing Endermen met Alice's eyes through a gap in the crowd.

"Crap, another's about to come at us," she warned. "Switch to your shovel, we have to knock them out."

They both changed their weapons, but as their newest enemy came rushing for them, pushing other Endermen out of his way, they went still. Alice's resolve had been shaky in the face of the Ender Dragon, but against him, she was almost too nervous to move.

Baring his teeth and wildly swinging his one clawed hand, Salsh charged for them with a hellish screech.

Only four crystals were left before they could really bring the fight to the Ender Dragon. She'd recovered from everything they'd thrown at her, but once her ability to heal was out of the picture, it would just be a matter of wearing her down.

Of course, Steve would have a little fun with her before then, savoring the battle as long as possible. He'd killed enough Endermen over the last ten or so years to no longer find it fulfilling, even if he and Alex HAD been bringing peace to the world bit by bit. As they'd searched for a way to put a stop to the invasion, the normal mobs which had once given them so much trouble became insignificant, barely noticeable to such a powerful duo. Not even the Enders of Man could stand against them, and before long they had avenged Alex's village a dozen times over.

Steve was always happy to remove a threat to humanity, but he couldn't deny their adventure had lost its spark after a while. Merely wandering the Overworld and the Nether in search of enemies to kill had grown tedious, without a hard goal in sight. Fortunately, Alex's revelation gave new purpose to their travels. The Endermen were apparently being compelled to fight by something much more powerful, and thus did the two explorers have a new target. She'd seemed horrified at what they'd been doing to the enslaved race, but he didn't think very much of it. He was sure the Endermen would thank and forgive their liberators when all was said and done.

Besides, even if they didn't, it wasn't like they could pose a threat to him and Alex.

Speaking of his lovely partner, she'd finally returned to the battle after her most recent demise, wearing an enchanted iron suit. The Ender Dragon swooped above, circling between two of the remaining crystals to heal itself, which gave them a chance to regroup. Steve jogged to Alex and gave her a pat on the shoulder, imbuing her with the power to return from death as he had for the past several years. It was an invaluable ability, and he knew they wouldn't have lasted nearly as long without it.

"We're almost there," he said. "I've destroyed another two crystals, so there are just four left. I think the beast's focusing on me. I'll keep it entertained while you go after the last few, then we'll group up to take her down."

Alex drew a bow and ran off, leaving Steve to contend with their enemy. The Ender Dragon spat a condensed ball of purple gas his way which burst into a noxious fume cloud just above the ground. He had sprinted out of its path, but he realized too late what the real goal of the attack was. The Dragon was diving, and he wasn't quick enough to get out of the way before he was snatched up between its jaws. Its throat wasn't quite wide enough to swallow him completely, but it was certainly trying. He was stuck hanging halfway out of its mouth while it took flight again, groaning as he felt his armor bending and crushing under the force of its bite. His chestplate broke, and Steve gasped at the feeling of its teeth sinking into him. Black vapor spewed from his wounds and leaked out the sides of the Dragon's mouth.

"No! You're NOT getting me like this!"

He pulled out his diamond pickaxe and swung as hard as he could, embedding the tip right through the Dragon's right eye. It shrieked, and as its mouth opened he pried himself free of its teeth and tugged down on the pick until it was wrenched out of the beast's face. He had no time to admire his handiwork, because it swung its head to send him hurtling onto the top of an obsidian tower.

Steve scarfed down a cut of steak and got a look at his surroundings as the Ender Dragon flew away from him. He'd landed on a tower they'd already dealt with, and the closest crystal was on a pillar almost directly across the island, surrounded by an iron cage. Alex was busy making her way up to the last unshielded crystal, and she was completely ignored by the Dragon, who only had eyes- or rather AN eye- for Steve after what he'd done. It wasn't coming near him again, having learned its lesson, but rather it was raining its corrosive breath onto his tower from above. He leaped from the top and threw a bucket's worth of water below him, landing safely on the ground in a puddle.

"Over here, scales!" he taunted. "Can you still see me?"

He dodged another wave of its breath and ran for the tower with the caged crystal. Building his way to the top would leave him vulnerable, but he had a solution. He and Alex had assembled quite the collection of pearls, and he threw one high into the air, watching it sail toward the cage as the Dragon shot another burst of fumes at him. Steve was teleported to the obsidian tower's peak when his pearl landed, stumbling from the sudden impact and crashing into the cage.

"Ow… well, results are results."

He looked back at the Dragon with a smirk. It couldn't fire at him without risking damage to the crystal, so instead it was flying toward him with its jaws bared once more. Its right eye was still ruined, and it hadn't taken the time to recover by another tower, but it seemed undaunted as it flew after Steve. He pried apart the bars with his pickaxe, then jabbed the crystal just as the Dragon was on top of him, and the explosion struck them both. As he fell toward the ground, he heard another burst when Alex destroyed her own target. Only two of them were left, and he couldn't wait to see their enemy's confidence shatter once it could no longer regenerate.

Steve hit the ground, already eager to get back into the fight.

Two people stood before him, not Walkers of the Infinite Void, but someone else altogether. Interlopers, like those who'd come so long ago. She remembered the wicked two. In her scattered thoughts, she recalled their faces, and she would not allow these newcomers to repeat their success. She was under attack by others whose loyalty had wavered. But he would prove worthy of her trust. He would dispatch the new interlopers.

He roared and swiped his claw, missing both when they stepped to either side of him. They didn't fight back or defend themselves, only dodging. They were speaking in a language he did not understand, but their tones were not harsh or proud like his enemies' should have been. They sounded… sad. Desperate. The more he attacked, the closer he came to landing a solid hit on them, the sadder their vocalizations were. For some reason, he was beginning to feel sad as well.

There was an explosion in the distance, the ninth one he'd heard that day. He paid it no mind, he couldn't distract himself from the pair before him. They still weren't fighting him, not even when he managed to tear the helmet off of one. She gasped and backed away, but made no efforts to counter him. She'd always been kind and understanding, and he- her enemy- wouldn't be an exception.

"How… do I know that…?"

He teleported behind her and lunged to claw at her exposed head. Her companion was quicker, jumping between them to take the claw slash in her place. He too lost his helmet, and suffered a glancing scratch on his forehead. Crying out, he clutched the injury with one hand, but even then he remained defensively in front of her. He was a gentler, more cautious soul, but for his trusted partner, his bravery was stronger than any fear.

"How? How do I know that?!"

A tenth explosion rang out. He prepared to strike again, but the boy shouted another sad, unintelligible phrase: "Salsh! Snap out of it!"

He… understood. He knew what was being said. And as he looked upon the two he'd been attacking, he recognized them as well. Purple vapor was spewing out from the gaps in his exoskeleton, dissipating into the air. All around, the rest of the Endermen were being freed from their possession, one by one, and looking at each other in a daze.

Salsh'namisherad stared at his hand, seeing a trace of red blood on the tip of one claw, and gasped.

"Matthew… Alice." He'd been fighting them. His friends. "I… I'm so sorry. I didn't… I tried to fight it…"

"We can talk later," Alice said, though she didn't look mad at all. "We still have a problem."

He turned and saw what she was getting at. She of the Abyssal Tyranny, or the undead husk which was left of her, was hunkering down as a growing mob of furious Endermen leaped upon her. He saw a few Acolytes and Fliers amidst the attackers, seemingly uninterested in continuing the battle from earlier when they all had a common enemy. Members of his own tribe were also there, though none had noticed him in the chaos. It was the largest assembly of Void Walkers in centuries, at least three hundred strong, and Salsh couldn't take his eyes off of them as they tore chunks of scale and flesh away from their undead oppressor.

But the Tyrant Queen wouldn't be so easily defeated. She roared and sprayed more vile breath onto the ground beneath her, the fumes rising up to ward off the attacking Endermen. She'd taken an immense amount of damage from the mob, but she only seemed angrier, and withstanding the barrage had heavily impacted the alliance's morale. Many of the Endermen were evacuating, grabbing onto their younger kin and teleporting away from the Tyrant.

"Hey, you! We did it!"

He was surprised to see the triplets teleporting to Matthew and Alice, visibly exhausted yet smiling nervously. Thital proudly struck his chest, with one eye on the Overworlders while all the rest were staring at the Ender Dragon. "Halzost'gan, no more! No healing!"

Alice gave them a thumbs-up. "You've all done enough! Help everyone get out of here before she tries to possess them again!"

The triplets disappeared, leaving them alone to figure out their next move.

"There were ten modified Eyes of Ender on the towers," Matthew explained, pointing at the ring of obsidian pillars. "They were healing her, but now that they're all gone we might be able to put her down for good."

"The old portal frame…?"

Ever since the dreadful day of the Tyrant's arrival, the ruins of the Groundskeepers' final portal had stood above their home. Even after her death, they hadn't been demolished, as a testament to the calamity which had befallen their race. The portal was no longer operable, but she must have been trying to recreate it.

"Who could have placed the crystals, though? Surely not one of us…"

He got an answer as the haunting of Void Walkers thinned out. Only one was remaining near the Tyrant Queen, shouting for order and for a regroup to no avail. Phoros'malmislar had shown his true colors, and whether his forces were aware of what he'd done, they certainly weren't listening to him. He spotted the three of them standing off to the side, and he warped closer with a scream.

"YOU! YOU'VE RUINED EVERYTHING!"

Fully clad in armor as black as their exoskeletons, down to the gauntlets over his claws, Phoros cut an intimidating figure. The violet glow may have vanished from his eyes, but he was every bit the enemy he'd been before his possession.

"ALL OF THIS WORK! OUR RACE COULD HAVE BEEN GREAT AGAIN, AND YOU HAD TO STAND IN OUR WAY!"

The Ender Dragon was walking toward them, entire chunks of her hide sloughing off with each step until she was more than half-skeletal. She came to a stop at Phoros' side.

"No… it's not over yet," he growled. "Stay back, Mighty One. I will dispatch these mites for you, and we can return to reassembling the Void Empire. You will have enough Halzost'gan to fully recover. I am ever your loyal serv-"

She must have grown bored of him, because she casually whipped her tail into Phoros. He was knocked into the nearest tower hard enough to shatter his armor, as well as a few obsidian blocks, and he collapsed onto his face. The Ender Dragon appeared to chuckle at the sight, before she looked back at the three of them with a snarl.

Alice equipped her mace again. "Ready, guys? Let's make some history."

She and Matthew ran to either side of the Dragon when she charged for Salsh. He teleported onto her head and began slashing at what little flesh she had left while she bucked about, trying to shake him off. One of his claws sunk deeper, and she howled in rage- he'd struck her remaining eye. He heard a crunch from behind when Alice took her mace to one of the Dragon's skeletal knees, and Matthew was shooting his glowing arrows into her hide, causing flash after flash of light as they embedded in her scales and ribcage.

Yet she wasn't showing any signs of slowing down, in fact, she was only becoming more frenzied the more damage they inflicted. She kicked out her broken leg to send Alice sprawling, and Matthew was knocked off his feet by a sweep of her wing. Salsh warped away at last when she rolled over to try and crush him.

"How's she still going?" Matthew asked with a groan.

The Tyrant Queen was upright again, but as she was hobbling back to her feet Salsh noticed her condition had somehow improved. Her leg wasn't broken, her wings had restored most of their membranes, and the scales over her exposed ribs had mostly closed up. Despite the towers being dealt with, she was still regenerating. She beat her wings hard enough to lift off, soaring over the Hallowed Grounds.

Alice gasped. "I think she's got one of the crystals inside her! There was something purple glowing in her chest earlier!"

Could it have been how Phoros returned her to life, or more accurately to undeath? If she were to escape and find somewhere to hide, she could return to nearly full strength and begin her conquest anew. She had to be stopped, or else there would be no peace.

He heard the familiar clunk of a crafting table in use. Matthew had placed one down and was assembling a firework rocket, which he loaded with a green ball of dye and gunpowder. Alice, meanwhile, approached Salsh with an apprehensive grin. "I'll, uh, need you to do something for me. I've got a plan."

The Dragon was circling to swoop toward them again. Violet fumes swirled about her mouth.

"Teleport as high as you can on my mark, and throw me at her," Alice continued. "Be ready, there's no time to lose!"

He wasn't going to argue with that, even if he was terrified for her safety. He trusted them both.

"Here she comes," Matthew said, loading the firework onto his crossbow.

Salsh held onto Alice as the Ender Dragon approached. She spewed a cloud of her toxic breath toward them.

"NOW!"

Then he warped straight into the air, past the violet cloud, and tossed Alice toward her using all the strength his one arm could give him. She reached the end of her climb just as the Tyrant was passing right overhead, and swung the mace into her reformed chest. Salsh teleported back down, then back up to catch her as she began to fall, then one more time to get her safely to the ground. He slumped to his knees, exhausted by the quick warps, but he was still able to see Matthew fire off his crossbow. The rocket sailed with perfect accuracy into the wound on the Dragon's chest, and the explosion of emerald sparks was strong enough to detonate the Ender crystal lodged in her ribcage.

The three of them were speechless while She of the Abyssal Tyranny swerved in midair, skidding her wing against one of the obsidian towers as she plummeted toward the edge of the Hallowed Grounds. She crashed through a few of the empty houses, tried to stop herself by scraping her claws along the ground, then slid over the island's side. They remained motionless until her final, desperate howl had faded into silence, swallowed up by the infinite void below.

Then Salsh was almost bowled over as Alice and Matthew tackled him with an embrace. He felt a light stinging on his chest: tears from both of them were landing on his exoskeleton. He didn't mind at all, and wrapped the pair in as best of a hug as he could, allowing himself to laugh with them as the reality of their victory set in.

They'd done it. They'd really done it.

The rest of the fight passed in a bit of a blur for Alex.

Life after life, death after death, they wore down the Ender Dragon. It put up a strong resistance even after the crystals were destroyed, and by the time the finishing blow was struck nearly all of their equipment was broken. But the details of the battle itself were hazy for her, half-remembered like a dream upon waking. She recalled moments where she and Steve showered the beast's wings with arrows, tearing apart the membranes until it couldn't fly. There was a time when she became pinned under its tail and had to dig into the endstone to free herself. There might have been a few instances of Endermen joining the fray, against the pair of them or against their oppressor, when a stray attack drew their ire. She was almost certain she'd heard Steve instructing her to 'go for the neck,' but then he'd spent the fight cackling giddily to himself, cutting through Endermen whenever one got between him and his prey. Or had she been the one to kill the slaves? It was as if she'd sleepwalked through their final battle, and it didn't even feel real to her after more than a decade's travels.

Her focus returned as the mortally-wounded Ender Dragon stumbled across the island to the bedrock fountain at the middle of the pillars. Beams of purple light burst from its bloodied hide, and its scales popped and crackled as they broke apart. It feebly growled, struggling to keep itself upright while practically dissolving before their eyes, and ultimately collapsed a few blocks from the structure. When the low rattle of its final breath had faded, nothing remained of the beast but gray, cracked bones, scattered across the ground.

All around, the Endermen were changing. The violet particles surrounding them dissipated, and their eyes became lime green in color. They blinked and looked at one another, then turned to face their two liberators. Alex remained silent while Steve propped a foot on the Ender Dragon's skull. "Victory! And now, your invasion of the Overworld is finished!"

Regardless of whether they understood, they began to disappear, teleporting to parts unknown. Those whose eyes Alex met weren't becoming aggressive- one even gave her a short bow before vanishing.

Their long adventure to defeat the invaders was over, her village had been avenged, and she felt more lifeless than ever.

"Well," Steve told her, once he'd finished retrieving their dropped items, "this has been fun. We've made a great team, haven't we?"

She nodded, but didn't say a word.

"Now, then. What should we do about that?"

The fountain was now filled with a black miasma, just like the portal they'd come to the End with. They'd be able to get back to the Overworld safely, but Steve wasn't referring to that. He was pointing at something sitting atop the fountain's spire. Alex hadn't paid it any mind during the battle, but when she saw what it was, she realized why the Ender Dragon hadn't given up. It had to have realized they couldn't be beaten, yet it never retreated from the island.

No, not 'it.' 'She.'

A black egg, almost a full block in size, was perched on top of the fountain. The Ender Dragon had refused to abandon it, no matter the danger. She had dominated the Endermen and commanded an invasion… she was responsible for countless deaths… but she was also a devoted parent, one who'd fought to the bitter end to protect her nest from intruders from another world.

"We can take it with us," Steve said, carefully building his way to the egg to claim it. "Raising a little dragon could be fun."

As she watched him, a flash of memory she'd tried to suppress returned. She was being barricaded in the cellar of her old farmhouse, the screams of the townsfolk and alien shrieking muffled by layers of wooden planks. Most of the others had already been killed… she'd watched her best friend die right in front of her.

Her only comfort in that moment was the woman sealing her into the cellar. Fresh tears had streamed down her face, yet she'd remained stoic. 'Stay here, Alexandra. I need to help your father. Don't come out until you can't hear those things anymore. Whatever happens… I promise, I won't let them hurt you.'

They'd exchanged one last, desperate embrace, and then her mother had placed the final blocks to hide the cellar. She'd gone off to confront the attacking Endermen, never to be seen again.

"Got it! This thing's pretty heavy." Back in the present, Steve was grinning as he held the black egg. "I wonder what we should name the hatchling?"

Silence.

"Oh well, we can figure that out later. Let's get going, hmm? I'm starving."

Steve hopped into the portal and disappeared. She followed, not sparing a final look at the End.

Alex cried herself to sleep every night for months to come.