Prelude Of The Interlude

Two months before Toni arrives at Valaither

Jax paced back and forth, back and forth. He stopped and scowled at Null, or Nessa, as she preferred to be called.

Currently Jax was asleep, but he was still fully conscious within his dream. And this was in Nessa's 'mind palace', as she referred to it. It was a large dark oak mansion with stone brick walls and fancy silver chandeliers and candle sticks hanging from the walls. Intricate patterns and designs were carved into certain sections of the walls. They were indiscernible—only Nessa herself fully knew what they meant.

But they never really used the interior of the 'mind palace'. Usually, they went upstairs to talk about things. As in on the roof.

Nessa sat on the edge of the roof. She swung her legs idly with no concern for the long drop.

"A month," Jax finally snapped. "That's how long you've gone without appearing in my dreams. Why show up now?"

"Margarita?" Nessa said carelessly, waving her hand. A cocktail glass appeared in Jax's hand, and then in Nessa's. Nessa took a sip and then frowned. "No, wait. You're fourteen. I'll make that into a Coca-Cola." The cocktail glass in Jax's hand turned into a can of pop.

"You used to love that stuff when you were little," Nessa sighed as she took another sip from her margarita. "You liked how it made your mouth feel all tingly and stuff."

"With all due respect, Null, I'm not here to reminisce about the past." Jax said, holding back his temper and setting down the can. "You know how time goes faster in the dream world than real life."

"You only call me Null when you're angry," Nessa snickered. "What's the big deal?"

Jax gritted his teeth. "I don't get how I'm the reborn soul of you. We're nothing alike."

"Hey, you were just like me when you were little." Nessa said casually.

"You promised not to talk about that time," Jax said coldly, and turned away.

There was a silence,

"…sorry," Nessa said, and she sounded genuine for once. "I didn't mean to bring up some bad memories."

"It's fine," Jax grumbled. "Just tell me what you're doing here. Or rather, what you've been doing while you haven't been here."

"Keeping the void from eating away at the Earth from the inside out is tough work, you know." Nessa said dryly.

"That hasn't stopped you before."

Nessa paused before speaking. "The void has a mind of it's own. It hates me, you know. It tries it's hardest to dissolve me every time I'm in the void, but you can't kill someone that's already dead."

"I thought it gave you those powers," Jax said.

"Not willingly," Nessa said. "It was an accident—but a fortunate accident for us. If it weren't for me, the void would be eating through the bedrock at ten times the rate it's going now. Eventually you'll be the void's guardian too, Jax."

"Oh, joy." Jax said sarcastically. "Floating around in the dark with a malevolent being trying to turn me to dust while also maintaining a layer of bedrock hundreds of square feet wide."

"Hey, it ain't that bad. It's not really hard or scary. Just real boring. And…sorry for leaving you in the dark." Nessa snickered at the pun. "The void tends to slow down your recharge speed, so you can't appear in dreams as much. And, well, I'm dead."

There was a silence as Nessa finished off her martini and chucked it off the roof.

"That's bad for the environment." Jax said.

"Who cares?" Nessa shrugged. "Not like there's any animals in your dreams."

"And another thing," Jax said.

Nessa sighed. "What's with all these questions? Can't we just chill for once?"

"The reborn soul of Herobrine. The reborn soul of Notch. Why can't I find any of them?" Jax snapped.

Nessa frowned and turned to look at Jax. She studied Jax, and then said, "I haven't had a lot of time to go looking around, but I can tell you you're on the right path."

"I haven't even decided on a path in the first place," Jax snapped. "There's like seventeen."

"Don't take my metaphor so literally," Nessa sighed. "The region you've been searching in…there's definitely one there."

"Notch or Herobrine?"

"What, you think I'm omnipotent?"

Jax scowled. "So one of them's near Greenmoore? The country I searched in most recently?"

"Yup," Nessa said. "Can't really say anything else. Oh, wait. They're both in Greenmoore. That might help."

Somewhere in the past

A child runs through the forest, tears running down their cheeks.

"No," they gasp. "No, no."

They needed to run. Their father. The last thing he said…had been for the child to run. So they were running, with nothing but a backpack much too big for their size.

The child debated just throwing away the bag to run faster when they saw a glint of red out of the corner of their eye.

"No!" The child screamed, and then a bright red spear struck the child squarely in the chest.

The child's eyes widened, and they flew backwards into a tree.

A man in a white hoodie stepped out of the forest, towards the bleeding child. Life seeped from the child quickly, and the light in their eyes began to dim.

"I wonder…" Klith said to himself. "You could be useful. I intended to kill you, but now…"

Klith stepped close to the child and knelt down. He snapped his fingers, and the spear vanished. Blood flowed freely now. Klith leaned in and touched the child's wound. The wound slowly sealed until there was no proof of any injury, except for the blood covering the child's body.

Klith gripped his chest, and shut his eyes. He grimaced in pain. Bright red light burned underneath Klith's hoodie. He groaned, and the light grew brighter.

Klith screamed, and there was a flash of light as he withdrew a sort of red aura from his chest, and all at once, he hurled it at the child. The aura swirled into the child's mouth, and they thrashed as the aura entered their system.

Then, it was gone, and the child's breathing grew slower, more steadier.

"You will be an useful slave," the child heard Klith say. And then the child blacked out.

When the child woke up again, they saw a concerned looking man standing over them.

"Hey, kid, you okay?" The man said worriedly. "Damn…you look horrible. Don't worry, I'll get you somewhere safe. I'll get you to the Aether…"

"Who are you?" The child said, confused. "Where am I? Why…is there blood on me?"

Somewhere in the present

The city burned white hot. Bodies were strewn about the streets. Screams of horror echoed throughout the city, and skyscrapers collapsed to the ground.

Deep underground, a man in a white hoodie tore through several guards with no remorse.

They dropped to the ground, impaled by bright red weapons.

Klith stepped over them and walked towards the vault door, where a single man stood, blood seeping from a wound in his side.

"Move aside," Klith said. "You know you will die regardless of whether you fight me or not."

"Then I will die doing what is right," the man gasped as he lunged towards him, raising his sword.

Klith cut him down before he could take any more than a few steps. "Honorable," Klith said as he stepped over the guard's body. "But ultimately pointless."

He stood in front of a large vault door made of obsidian. Klith raised his scythe, which began to glow red. He slashed at the obsidian, and in three swift strikes the vault door shattered apart like glass.

He stepped into the vault. Various riches were strewn about the vault, but Klith couldn't see what he was searching for. He looked around, and then his eyes rested upon a pile of gold.

Klith blasted the gold with a stream of flames, and it all melted into a puddle of gold that oozed towards Klith's feet. Behind the puddle of gold, a thin outline of a square had been etched in the wall, barely visible. Klith stepped through the gold and lifted his scythe.

He easily tore the obsidian wall apart, revealing a small safe embedded in the wall. He tore away the metal frame like it was paper, and slowly grabbed what looked to be a shard of rock from the safe, almost the size of a dagger. The shard pulsed under his grip. Power came off it in waves that only he could sense.

"Yes," Klith murmured. "With this…a new era will begin."

Part Two

The Bedrock Key