Chapter 21:

As the coronation went on, we all watched. It was nearly silent besides Estol's constant talking and ranting. It was getting obnoxious honestly. There were food and refreshments down there, and no chairs, tables though for the food and drink. It was just a big room with was I took as the throne to be in it. Nothing else really. Enderlox was up front with Estol, Estol dipping his hands down into a small bucket of water, then placing them on Enderlox's head, continuing to speak, but eventually pulling his hands away. I thought Ty got burned by water?

Estol lifted his hand up, a small magic ball forming as he had Enderlox repeat a few words or something, and when they finished with that, the ball of dark magic turned into a fucking crown.

"Wait, he's king?!" Mitch question near silently. I shrugged.

"That completes the coronation." Estol determined as he placed the crown on Enderlox's head, everyone clapping with smiles on their faces.

"I guess so." Ian answered, still very quiet. Everyone started to talk with each other again, the lovely music starting up again as Enderlox returned to the girl he'd brought with him, who was leaned against the refreshment table with a dark red drink.

"Are you enjoying yourself?" Enderlox slightly chuckled.

"Yeah, I was, but then you came back." Nova spat, not seeming happy she was even here.

"Oh snap." Jerome whispered, causing us the need to hold back laughter. Enderlox didn't seem fazed, just stayed at her side, his eyes soon averting to the many people that were dancing, but returned to the table. And they stayed there, Enderlox trying to strike a nice conversation, to get a well thought up come back from Nova.

"Enderlox, it's time for the dance, you have to dance at least once, you know." Estol informed him after walking over. Enderlox smiled, then looked to Nova. Nova didn't notice, but when she did, she choked on her drink.

"Me?!" She quietly asked; a shocked look on her face as Enderlox slipped the drink from her and set it down on the table, taking her hand.

"You are my guest, but usually the dance would take place with a parent, but I don't see my mother anywhere." Enderlox explained. Nova had been struggling until she heard that statement, a confused look coming to her face that Enderlox didn't see. When out on the dance floor that had cleared just for them, Nova looked down, staring at their feet as they danced, in turn messing it up as her face flushed a light red. Enderlox took his hand from hers, running his fingers under her chin to make her look up at him. "Trust me." He whispered, taking her hand again as her face went red, an angry look on it as she stared into his eyes.

"I don't think she likes him." I happily assured myself. And they danced, everyone happily watching them as Enderlox led, Nova staring at his face, eventually averting her gaze to just stare at his neck and shoulders. When they finished their dance, everyone clapped and Nova went back to her drink, still seeming pissed off.

"Nova, what's with the-" Nova cut him off by slapping him across the face with the back of her hand, but Enderlox still smiled as we held back laughter.

"You fucking jackass, you couldn't have picked some other girl? Anyone would love to dance with you, dear king." She harshly spat, Enderlox rolled his eyes playfully, getting himself a glass of the dark red liquid as well, sipping it as Nova grunted and walked off, leaving him there.

"You danced very well, Enderlox." Estol assured. Enderlox smiled at him.

"Thank you, but may I ask you something?"

"Anything."

"Where's my mom?" The entire room seemed to get silent instantly, and Estol just stared at him. Enderlox returned to sipping his drink as Estol ran a hand through his hair.

"She's dead." Enderlox's eyes shot open from their previously closed stated, the glass in his hand shattering as he made a fist, the red drink splattering all over him, making it look as if he were bleeding badly. He didn't say anything, just stood there, staring at Estol like he was kidding.

"What?" Enderlox breathed softly.

"Ender's dead, I'm sorry." Estol assured, placing a hand on Enderlox's shoulder. There was a long silence, until Enderlox just started walking towards a doorway that was behind the throne. "Enderlox, where are you-"

"I want some space." Enderlox quietly interrupted, not even waiting for a reply. I motioned for us to follow, going down the hallway behind the throne and soon finding a staircase. Going downstairs, we saw Enderlox turn down a different hallway, rushing after him, but by the time we got there, he was gone.

"Fuck!" I hissed, leaning on the wall.

"We need to keep looking, he couldn't have gone far." Ian insisted. I nodded, and soon we split up, determining that we should meet on the upper floor of the throne room. Ian and I, Mitch and Jerome. It was quiet, and honestly it seemed like the world around us just stopped entirely. Nothing but our echoing footsteps. We popped our heads into different rooms, but never found him. Where did he go?

~Nova~

As funny as it was to see Enderlox drenched, I couldn't laugh without sounding like a jerk, not that I really cared, but I don't want to get myself in trouble. He left, but once again it wasn't like I cared. I continued to snack on the food and drink the… I think it was some sort of royal blood wine. Hmn, tastier than it sounds. This party though, rather boring. I set my empty glass down, dismissing myself and heading upstairs. When I got to my room, I saw a faint glow from under Enderlox's door, but it wasn't like I cared how he felt. Undressing and redressing into my normal outfit, I undid the side braid he put in my hair and gathered all of the fancy stuff up. When I knocked on his door, he didn't answer.

"God damn it." I quietly opened the door anyway, but the light wasn't coming from the room, it was coming from under the bathroom door. I set everything down on his bed, then went up to the door. "Sorry for coming in without an answer and all, not that I care anyway, but since I'm part of the royal family I'm allowed to use the training facility, correct?"

"Damn it Nova, yes, now get the hell out." He replied, somehow calm after finding out about the death of his mother. The scent coming from the bathroom… I smirked.

"Twilight woods, huh?"

"Don't do this." He whined childishly. I laughed.

"Whatever." I left, closing his door and returning to my own room, grabbing my daggers and a few small bottles of poison and swiftly heading down the hallway. I hadn't ever been in the training facility, but considering I don't have any work to do, why not? I mean, writing all day does get rather boring, especially when you know it'll never get published anyway! I jumped down different holes in the ceiling, until taking the stairs and sliding down the railing, smiling. I passed by many guards and none of them even questioned me. When I got to the training facility, I went in, but froze.

"- training arena or something." The creature stated.

"I don't know, but we need to keep looking." The rather tall human looking dude confirmed.

"Awe, come on, can't we stay for a little? Besides, everyone's at that party, we won't get caught." The creature retorted, wrapping his arms around the human's neck as they smiled at each other.

"The party ended a few minutes ago." I announced. They nearly jumped out of their skin, but I just stood there, my arms crossed over my chest. The human was pale, and the creature… I have no clue. "Oh, and may I ask who you're looking for?" I demanded, starting towards them with a glare.

"Uh… Nova, right? We're looking for your date." The human informed me. I made a face.

"Date?" I questioned.

"Enderlox, your date." I burst out laughing, causing them to jump again, but I soon calmed myself, looking back at them.

"He's not my date! He's my cousin! I'm his only family left, our parents are gone because of the war that ended 20 something years ago. It ended when Notch and Herobrine killed Ender, our people retreating back here. I tried finding family by going-"

"Wait a minute, how old are you?" The creature interrupted. I huffed.

"20, I hatched the same time Enderlox did." I determined.

"What's your name, but chance?" The human asked, seeming curious.

"Nova Caelum. Why?" I uneasily answered, getting my daggers ready. They smiled.

"Our friend has your book. It helped us get here, we came to get Enderlox and change him back to normal; he's our friend." I just stared at them dumbstruck. My book…?

"… MY BOOK!" I gasped, covering my mouth. "You found it? I thought I lost it- or it got destroyed!" I breathed. They just kept smiling.

"Yeah, our friend found it in his Uncle's library. He was really interested in the book too."

"Thank you, I try." I responded, putting my daggers away again. "What're your names?"

"I'm Mitch and this is my husband Jerome." Mitch introduced. I gave them a confused look.

"You two got married? I thought gay marriage wasn't allowed."

"It's been allowed for over a decade now; you haven't been to the Overworld for a while, haven't you?" Jerome questioned. I shook my head no.

"Unfortunately, Estol kept telling me no. I don't ever listen to him, but anytime I tried disobeying him I'd get caught and punished, so." I shrugged, and then blinked. "Speaking of Estol, if he finds you here… We need to go." I declared, going passed them and starting down the hallway. They followed.

"Where are we going?"

"We need to get somewhere secure; there are lots of places like that in the castle if you know where to look." I assured, turning down a hallway. We walked for a while, having to avoid guards and sometimes hide until they passed by, but eventually we got to a dented air duct. I pried it from the wall and motioned them into it, then crawled in myself and pulled the cover back on.

"Where do we go?" Mitch breathed

"Just go forward!" I hissed, the air duct dark, even for my slight dragon eye sight. I heard something clank against the floor, light spilling in as we all crawled out of the wall and stretched. "Ok, well, this is one secure place, I'd know, Estol's persistent when it comes to me doing stuff." I laughed.

"Where are we?" Jerome questioned.

"We're in a rundown bathroom, I used to keep a bunch of my stuff here, but then when Enderlox came back I once more became royal family so I got a new, better room to keep my stuff in." They gave me a confused look.

"Then why did we crawl through the air duct, there's a door right there." Mitch pointed out.

"Because guards frequently pass through that area and there aren't any hiding spots." I informed them, sitting down. They sat down too. "So, let's talk."

~Adam~

"I don't see why we shouldn't try!" I quietly exclaimed.

"There's probably a reason that there's a hole in the ceiling and it probably means you need wings to go up there!" Ian softly responded. I groaned, grabbing his wrist and teleporting us up there anyway. "Adam!" Ian argued.

"Hang on, there are more." I insisted.

"No- Adam!" Ian whined. I didn't listen to his protests and kept teleporting, until eventually there were no more rooms to go up to. There were a total of 5 rooms. One at the very end of the hallway, 2 on the right, and two on the left. "I hate you so much right now." Ian grumbled as I went to the rooms on the left. We carefully examined each room, making sure not to mess anything up, until getting to the second room on the left side. It wasn't going unused. The bed was in total disarray, a desk was completely unorganized, a few bits of clothing were hanging up while most of it was in a basket, and overall it wasn't the prettiest sight to see. Still, we looked around a bit. It was being used by a girl, considering the vanity with makeup and perfume, but was made me curious is where the girl is. Isn't getting really late?

We left the room after turning off the lights, going to the room at the end of the hallway; the only room with double doors. When I opened one of the doors, it was as silent as air, not creating a single sound at all, not even the slightest creak. No lights were on, not a single one. What interested me was the lump in the bed. I slowly started towards it, Ian not following for whatever reason. Right as I was about to touch the lump, a hand suddenly covered my mouth harshly, dragging me noiselessly from the room and closing the door, then proceeding to take me to the girls room where I found Ian, Jerome, and Mitch. The person shut the door before releasing me.

"What the-!" I turned, but stopped talking as I saw that Nova girl, who looked rather ticked off.

"You could have very easily gotten thrown off of this tower for waking him up you know. He doesn't exactly know you, understand? The enchantment potion erased his memory and faltered his personality. He wouldn't hesitate to kill an intruder in his castle." The girl calmly explained, unsheathing different daggers and putting them into a drawer, as well as placing what I took to be some sort of poison with them.

"Yeah yeah, whatever…" I muttered.

"Adam, don't worry!" Jerome laughed.

"What?" I questioned, confused.

"Nova is just Ty's cousin!" Mitch determined with a laugh. I had to think about that for a second, before it finally registered in my mind that they weren't dating and never would be. I sighed.

"That's a relief."

"Yeah, but still, even if he did ask me out, I'd beat him senseless, then toss his body into a river in the Overworld and watch him burn!" Nova determined, chuckling a bit. We all just stared at her, not sure what to think anymore. "I have an anger issue, and, might, be, just, a little, insane. Just a little." She whispered the last sentence as we all nodded, getting the hint.

"OH, Adam, this is Nova Caelum; you have her book, remember?" Jerome declared. I nodded, pulling it out.

"OH MY GOD!" She took it and held it close to her chest, smiling like a little girl who just got a puppy for Christmas. "You don't know how long I thought this was destroyed!" She informed me, hugging me tightly. I coughed up the last of the air in my lungs.

"I can't breathe." I informed her, out of breath. She let go.

"Sorry." She stated, bringing the book to her desk as papers started to float around and organizing themself. She set the book down, then turned back to us. "But anyway, I don't think it's safe for you to stay here. I mean, as much as I'd love to watch you get thrown off this tower and land flat on your face as your blood splattered everywhere and your flesh flattened out, ripping itself into chunks and bits to the point where no one would be able to tell it was you… What was I saying again?" She questioned, tilting her head. I swallowed the lump in my throat.

"As much-"

"OH, right. As much as I'd love to see that happen, it isn't safe for you here. Just getting spotted in the castle could get you killed; I'd hate to see what Enderlox would do to you!" She laughed again at the thought she wasn't sharing with us.

"Well we can't go home; the portal didn't open behind us." Ian argued, crossing his arms.

"Well, you could stay here in the empty rooms I guess… then again Enderlox has a great sense of smell. He could tell I was part of the royal family just by my scent alone. At the time I was working my ass of too. Hmn… Maybe we should make you look like slaves…"

"He's seen me already though, not to mention if he's seen the pictures in the locket." I pointed out. She tilted her head again, seeming generally confused.

"What locket?"

"He wasn't wearing the locket?" I asked.

"He wasn't wearing headphones either; I think he's seen us all already." Mitch declared.

"Then it isn't safe for you to stay here." Nova sighed, running a hand through her hair. "Well… You're generally fucked." She announced with a smile, falling onto her bed with a happy sigh.

"Nova, we need help!" I argued.

"Should I care? I can't do anything!" I groaned.

"Who's this?" Jerome asked, staring at a picture on the vanity.

"Oh, a friend." Nova insisted.

"He doesn't look like he's a dragon…" Jerome concluded.

"He isn't, he's a mage named Seto. I'm surprised you don't know him, he's pretty well known from what he told me, best friends with the leaders of the Bacca Benja Army, the Dead Army, the Sky army ect…" Nova listed.

"Some people call me Benja." Mitch informed her. She perked up.

"I'm a bacca." Jerome determined.

"My name is Sky." I added.

"And Enderlox went by Deadlox." Ian confirmed.

"So you know him- how is he?" Nova asked, smiling brightly. We shook our heads no. She frowned, confused like we were.

"In fact, there's no such thing as the Sky Army, or the Dead Army, or the Bacca Benja Army, we have the Central city guard and that's pretty much it." Ian described.

"But Seto wouldn't lie to me." Nova argued.

"I've never even heard the name Seto before." I murmured. She huffed.

"Yeah, well my magic skill proves he was an amazing wizard, so maybe you people are just really stupid." She retorted, her arms crossed.

"I know plenty of different magic styles from lost magic to modern magic, what magic style do you use?" I asked, interested.

"Well, for your information, I use a lost magic, but I'm not telling you which one." She lied back down. I sighed.

"May we use the spare rooms?" I gently questioned.

"Whatever; get yourself killed for all I care. Actually, don't, I want to be their when you die." Nova muttered, getting under her covers. We left the room, turning the lights off as we left. Ian took his own room, I took my own room, and Mitch and Jerome took the other room. I surrounded us all with magic barriers to block our scents, as well as shielded the doors with illusions to make it look like the rooms weren't being used still. After all that I put a charm on each of us that kept anyone who didn't know we were here from hearing our voices. Nova would hear us, but Enderlox wouldn't. Yet.

I stripped down, getting into the cold, unused bed and sighing. I wanted to be in bed with Ty, but for now I guess its fine. I couldn't sleep though. I really miss my Ty. Thoughts were racing through my head. What's going to happen if we can't fix what happened to Ty? I can't move on! He's my life, nearly literally! I sighed. Why does the universe hate me? Ok… Focus on something else. Who the fuck is Seto?

~Nova~

My eye was twitching still. I hate them. THAT STUPID MARRIED COUPLE! I couldn't sleep! My god, they're loud as fucking hell! I don't know what they're doing but HEY! I don't think they're naked or anything, so that's a plus! HINT THE SARCAISM! I sat up, rubbing my temples. For once I wish I didn't need sleep. I got up, going to my desk and grabbed my quill, papers flying everywhere until the ink jar uncapped itself and papers laid in front of me, in the neatest pile ever. Not to brag or anything, but having magic that allows you to organize stuff without any effort is kind of helpful.

I began to write, my head flashing with visions. I'm special; I see things that others don't. And right now I see a red sky of blood and gore, RAINING DOWN UPON THE HATRED OF THE WORLD! I mean… The sky turned red, yay…! I cleared my throat, continuing to write at what normal people would call an inhuman speed. Well, I mean, when you've got magic it makes it pretty easy to write out an entire history book in the course of a week, so...

I hear echoing scream, the vicious snarling of animal against man, THE FLASHES OF WHITE FROM MAGE TO MAGE COMABT- I'm doing it again, stop it Nova! Anytime I finished another page of the visions I'm seeing, the page would be flung off the desk by the force of my magic, getting it out of the way as I continued writing. I haven't felt this passion in so long! Such a glorious passion!

My tail was tightly gripping the back of the chair, my wings outstretched wide, like a dragon trapping its prey! In this case I'm the dragon and my work is the prey, though it goes right through my wing and onto the floor, or in the air more likely, I don't know anymore. My vision seemed to spark as I began to see my visions before my eyes, as if I were there on the very soil of the Overworld! There, again after SO VERY LONG! WHY SUCH A BEAUTY IN THE LAND OF DARKNESS MUST IT BE DESTROYED, RUINED WITH HAVOC AND CHAOS?!

The tip of my quill broke suddenly, snapping me from my previous state as I stared down at my desk. Where did all my paper go?! I looked behind me, then rubbed the back of my head with a nervous laugh.

"Oops…" Yeah… My room's a fucking disaster area… I burst into laughter, the papers organizing themselves as I stood, tossing the quill in the trash and leaving the room. I flew around the castle until getting to the storage area, over by the dungeon, which I'm surprised we even have still. It was just a separate area unattached from everything. It was built above ground, yes, but all the cells are underground, and it isn't very big, mainly because any prisoners we usually get are either forced into joining us or killed. IT'S A SAD LIFE INDEED! I got another stack of paper, as well as another quill. Now, you'd think I'd have a spare quill and extra paper, but I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer. I went ahead and got some more ink as well, considering I didn't know how much I had left. I mean; I did just blow through about 300 pieces of paper front and back like it was nothing, so…

When I got back to my room, I set the paper down with a thud, taking the other papers that had, by now, dried and finished organizing, clipping them together and putting the stack away into a drawer for later. I should probably get some rest…