What would it be like, for those little children, stuck inside of the Ender chest, all alone? Surely they would be lonely... but not being able to get out, for who knows how long, how awful that would be! They would most certainly starve... but what before that? Would they feel the burning of the void in there? No, probably not because of the Ender magic. Still, it is a terrible way to end...

Dan returned without the flower. It is strange that he wears a cloak, just like Jonas. Except his cloak is a smooth grey, and Jonas' is brown and stained from heavy labor on the farm. They seem they would be fitting cousins if it weren't for the fact that one is human, and the other an Ender-born.

"Now then," Dan begins, "Why don't we discuss what is troubling you? Follow me."

Dan leads us through the bookshelves, up to the left wall on the side farthest from the staircase. There is a wall with a landscape painting and no shelves beneath it, and a bookshelf to the left.

"Wait here," he says.

He walks over a little to the left, and reaches with his arm between some of the books. A shift of his arm makes a clicking sound. Then he walks over a little more to the left and reaches further down, making the same clicking sound. He walks over just a little more, and a third click prompts a grinding and shifting which causes the stone beneath the painting to withdraw back into the wall. A staircase is revealed, leading down into a tunnel with a faint yellow glow emanating near the bottom, where it seems to flatten into a hallway. Dan walks into it and steps down.

"Come on in. I'm sorry it's so narrow."

Jonas and I walk down the staircase, mindful of our heads on the shallow ceiling perhaps only a few centimeters away. A pocket of cool, damp air envelopes us. As we descend below the lower level ceiling, the entrance to a large room comes into view. There is a wide table with vials and bones placed upon it, next to an open book and a quill in its ink stand. A chair facing the book is slid out from the table. A glowing grate on the ceiling emits yellow light. As we near the edge of this room, three hallways can be seen, one on each wall, with bookshelves between them.

Dan leads us through the hallway on the right. It leads to what seems to be a kitchen, with the left wall occupied by wooden cabinets, a counter, a furnace, and a sink. On the far wall is a large table with ornate chairs. In the center of the table are a bouquet of flowers, seemingly thriving despite the lack of light underground, and behind them is a shelf indented into the wall, stocked with drinks of various sorts and stacked glasses. The kitchen seems so out of place amidst the rooms of occult bookshelves and obscure passageways, and yet it is comfortingly inviting.

"Your kitchen is very nice," I say.

"I appreciate that. It would be quite a shame if it wasn't." Dan slides out each of the three chairs from the table, then walks over to sit in the one on the left. "Please have a seat."

I walk over to the chair on the right and sit in it. Jonas takes a seat in the chair in the middle.

"Would either of you care for some thin? Or perhaps some water?"

"I'm fine, thank you," I reply.

"No, thanks," says Jonas.

"Alright then." Dan lifts his hands to pinch the hood of his cloak. He lifts it and pushes it back, revealing short, wiry, silver hair. Then he reaches one arm inside of his cloak and pinches the outer flap of his cloak, opening it and pulling the sides back over his shoulders and onto the chair. He pulls his arms through, revealing the long, white sleeves of his shirt. It has a formal collar around the neckline and sleeves, and dark grey buttons. The very act of Dan taking off his cloak surprises me, as I've never seen Jonas so openly reveal himself. What once was the secretive cloak of a mysterious magician becomes the collared shirt of a lively gentleman. His blue eyes seem to reflect confidence rather than contemplation. He clasps his hands together on the table. "So, Fristad, please tell me, as best you can, the nature of your troubles."

The inquiry represents a pivotal shift of events. My relationship with the Book will be altered by this encounter, based on the perceptions that Dan develops as a result of my explanation of the events between me and the Book up to this point. I must be cautious of what I say, or Dan may assume my experiences warrant the permanent destruction of the Book. I certainly want to maintain sovereign control over my own thoughts, but destroying the Book is simply too risky. Our mental connection has deepened to the point that complete reversal is no longer possible. In addition, I must ensure that Dan puts enough trust in my capacity for free will that he does not become suspicious when I ask for my armor to be enchanted. The best course to take is frank but unrevealing.

I reach into my back pocket, and place the Book upon the table. "It is this book. It communicates with me through its pages, my thoughts and my dreams."

Dan's eyebrows lifted. "Ah, that is a trouble far stranger than I anticipated." He picks up the Book and opens it to the first page. He scratches his head, his eyes jumping from side to side as he reads it carefully. He squints for a moment, unnerved as he loses focus of the line he was reading on. "The contents of it seem to change. Very odd indeed!" He looked up at me. "Where did you acquire this strange book?"

"I didn't really intend to obtain it. I began reading it while in a dream, and somehow, when I woke up, it was in my back pocket."

"What sort of dream?"

"It was some sort of nightmare. I was surrounded by monsters, and somehow I was reading it and they just stood there, watching me."

"So, it didn't come to you in a physical form, initially?"

"No," I reply.

"Hm. That hints at a spirit of some sort." Dan looked down at the page again. "What are you, and what is your name?"

The female voice of the Book responds. "I do not have a name of any kind, nor do I require one. I am a book, an inanimate object, inviolate, unchanging, and finite."

Dan does not seem to be surprised by the female voice. He seems to still be reading over the page with his eyes, as if he never heard the voice. Perhaps it is only inside of my head. Dan speaks again, "Where do you come from?"

"I come from the void. In the first several thousand years of my existence, I have been trapped inside of it, in unimaginable pain and anguish."

"That sounds terrible," Dan says. He lifts his head. "The book seems, surprisingly, to identify itself as an inanimate object, and yet it recalls terrible pain from being trapped in the void for thousands of years. Were you aware of this?"

Jonas and I nod our heads.

Dan looks down at the page again. "Why are you here?"

"As for existing in the first place, I came into being of my own volition. After having burned in the void for innumerable years, I saw Fristad's consciousness as a means to escape it. His consciousness served as an anchor, allowing me to achieve physical form. In return for my dependence on him for my physical existence, I pledged to him my wealth of knowledge, which I impart to him as he sleeps."

Dan looks up. "It says that it is responsible for its existence, and used your consciousness as a means to escape the void and manifest itself in physical form. It also says that it brings you knowledge as you sleep. Would you say this is what you have experienced, Fristad?"

I nod my head. It is not an exact description, but it is close enough in a broader sense.

Jonas shakes his head in disbelief. "That is not at all what Fristad told me. He said the book was giving him terrible nightmares. He said that the book was trying to control his thoughts, and that it was trying to convince him to craft the skeleton armor, which he is now wearing as you see him before you."

I look into his purple eyes, trying to reassure him. "The book certainly exerts more influence over me than I would like, which is a problem. However, I was hasty to portray the dreams that the Book gave me as simply nightmares. They were much more than that."

A slight sadness comes into Jonas' brows. "Fristad, the book is trying to control you. It is changing the way you perceive the world. I can see it in the way you look at me."

I look deep into Jonas' purple eyes, seeing them surrounded in his black face covered in runes, framed in the brown hood of his cloak. I can no longer deny the instinctive sense of repugnance I feel. An irreconcilable part of me sees him as a monster. I feel a heartfelt jealousy for his immunity to the void's malicious flame. The very thought of despising him goes against my deepest, long-held beliefs, but I feel as if it will inevitably persuade me, and the protest of my past self become meaningless. Jonas is right. The book is changing my beliefs. But how can it be stopped, without destroying what has become a part of who I am?

"I am inclined to believe Jonas." Dan closes the Book. "Fristad, you know you wouldn't be here unless you felt that something was very wrong."