Chapter 28: Mischief Made


After spending longer than he wanted to on brainstorming something to fill his journal with, Steve decided on simply drawing, ending up with a few crude sketches of the divine beings that he'd come into contact with on his journey so far. Though he found himself staring at his drawings with growing frustration, he, nevertheless, continued to work on the drawings carefully, providing brief information besides each individual figure.

So far, he had the images of Minos, Caraway, Claymore, Agnes, Julian, Maxwell, and Herobrine laid out before him. All were distinct in appearance, and all were rather interesting figures. Though the only things in common between them were their divine status and vibrant eyes, he found their presence within his world feeling somewhat similar. Each one displayed some sort of powerful stature, whether or not their actual appearances suggested such a thing.

Minos and Claymore appeared to be mystical, but completely docile. Caraway, Maxwell, and Agnes were all somewhat neutral, and Julian was outright malicious. Though it may have entirely been his first encounters with the Aethren beings that were driving his current opinions about them, he nevertheless depicted them as he knew them on the page, with either smiles or serious expressions upon their faces depending on who they were.

The only individual he was generally unsure of was Herobrine.

It was strange, essentially drawing himself on the paper, but with extra features. Longer, shoulder-length hair instead of his typical shorter cut, black clothes accessorized with a long black cape, and blank, white eyes found themselves on the page soon enough, though, his current artistic abilities didn't necessarily capture the true detail of the other's physical appearance all too well. He drew somewhat of a neutral expression on the other's face, but found himself freezing upon looking at the other's eyes.

Should he fill them in with the eyes he was now fighting to see more often? Should he detail those mysterious irises, that hazy silver-grey? Did he earn the other's respect enough to even be able to depict his true gaze on paper?

Finding his inner debate growing to be somewhat time-consuming, Steve settled on leaving them as they were, moving to focus more on describing the divine beings as they were.

For everybody except Herobrine, he chose to list the abilities that they seemed to carry. For Minos, there was erasure via Void magic, for Claymore, there was the manipulation of clay, for Caraway, there was chance and luck manipulation, and so on. Agnes controlled fire, Julian used the sword dubbed Awakening, and Maxwell was currently a mystery.

Herobrine was another case entirely.

He had fire. He apparently could form water as well. He had immense strength. He could control mobs. He was, entirely, a threat to really behold. According to information that the miner gathered as well, Herobrine apparently had even more abilities hidden away. Though he suspected that the other's injury was now what was primarily getting in the way of truly realizing that power, Steve hoped that the potion he'd given the other would at least get him healthy enough to demonstrate something he hadn't seen before.

What would he be met with at that point? Something to find awe in, or something to fear?

Not wanting to think about it further, Steve came to the realization that his hand had been absentmindedly doodling on the page in front of him, coming to the image of another figure that genuinely shocked him once he saw it.

He'd drawn Joules.

Staring at the paper in front of him, Steve began to tap the feathered end of his quill against the side of his face as he focused on the image. He didn't even know why he'd drawn the other, but he found him there on the page regardless, whether he was ready to address his concerns or not. Legitimately, the only physical thing that had thrown him off about the man was his eyes. The only thing he had in common with the other divine beings were the strange eyes. Maybe it was because he couldn't pick apart the other's pupils? He'd never met an individual before with as dark of an eye color as he had, so maybe his suspicions were entirely baseless?

Steve shook his head.

No. It wasn't just the other's eyes that were bugging him. Joules was suspicious. His personality was too cheerful when it came to interacting directly with him, and he caught the other slipping when it came to telling him about certain information. That door in the alleyway broke him and his confidence in his own mental state, and he was beginning to believe that he was slipping slowly into true madness. If he wasn't crazy, then did Joules have something to do with it? Did he imagine the situation with the lady telling him about the local apothecaries?

Was it that Joules actually knew about his quest, and genuinely wanted to help in his own way? Was he completely oblivious about the whole thing, and just was a normal human being who was being nice? What was the truth here? Who is Joules, truly? Was he really human? Was he a divine being?

Letting out a frustrated sigh, Steve moved aside his journal for a moment before allowing his head to fall against the surface of the desk with a small thud, a quiet groan leaving his lips soon afterward as the momentary pain that resulted from his action came to him in a harsh wave. He didn't exactly know how long he remained in that position, only coming back to reality once the sound of bare knuckles against a wooden door came to his ears, leading to him moving to place the journal out of sight on the ground beside him before bracing himself for the conversation ahead.

"Come in!" He said, watching somewhat impatiently as the door slowly opened to reveal a noticeably excited Joules.

As the man stepped into the room, Steve found his eyes slightly widening at the sight of the other's hair, which had been re-tied into a proper bun near the top of his head. Some stray hairs were still desperately trying to escape, but the other man seemed neater, somehow, despite his clothes remaining the same.

"Finding everything okay, Steve?" Joules asked in a somewhat gentle manner.

The miner nodded.

"Yup. I've just been relaxing a bit here. What have you been doing?"

Joules shrugged as he moved to stand in front of the nearby window, staring out into the world beyond with his hands in his pockets.

"I've just been organizing things a bit better so that you don't step in anything important or have anything fall on you. Cobwebs are a beast to deal with, you know that?"

Steve let out a small laugh.

"Cobwebs? Try coal stains on the floor. You'd think it'd be easy to get rid of, but nah."

Joules looked back at him with intrigue.

"...Coal? You have a fireplace back at home?"

Somewhat surprised that the other had thought of a fireplace before anything else, Steve nevertheless nodded his head.

"Yeah, but actually, I'm a miner, back in my home village."

Joules fully turned around to face him, approaching him with a small smile on his face as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Wait, for real? Man, that's honestly pretty cool!" Joules exclaimed.

Looking into the other's eyes, Steve found nothing but legitimate intrigue and happiness within his gaze. Joules was being genuine.

"Y'know, with you being a miner and all, I'm sure you know your fair share about ores, but just so you know, if you want to clean up coal dust, I'd advise against adding water to the equation. Do you use water when you clean it up?"

Steve nodded, finding himself now rather interested in the other's words.

"Uh, yeah. It always makes a mess, though, but I figured that it was better than just using something dry."

Joules shook his head with a small laugh.

"I thought that too, but...well, whenever you come downstairs to look at the main floor, take notice how the kitchen floor is an entirely different shade of color than the shop floor. They're made from the same type of wood, too." The man laughed a bit more. "Water spreads it rather well, and I've found that simply using a rag or sponge does the job much better. If you value your floors, I'd recommend using those methods, alright?"

Taking the advice to heart, Steve nodded with a small smile of appreciation.

"Oh, really? Thanks for the info!"

Joules gave a brief nod in response.

"From one floor-appreciater to another, Steve."

Laughing at the other's words, Steve took a moment to think to himself before his expression fell back into a somewhat neutral state.

"So uh...did you want to ask me something?"

Looking somewhat surprised at his question, Joules stared at him with a confused gaze for a moment before realization flashed across his face.

"Oh yeah! I uh...I actually did want to ask you something."

Appearing somewhat embarrassed, the man took a moment to collect himself before speaking again.

"So...I looked around my place, and I just found a box of potions that I needed to deliver."

Steve raised a brow at him, attempting to read his current body language in slight vain.

"...Didn't you say that you took care of your orders?"

Joules let out an embarrassed laugh.

"I-I thought I did! I can be pretty scatterbrained at times, heh…" Joules let out another small chuckle. "That's whatever, though. I was gonna leave to go and deal with that in just a few. My question is, uh...you wanna join me in delivering it?"

Steve couldn't tell if the other's words were genuine or not as he stared at him, eyes watching for any signs that might've indicated a lie of some sort.

Standing up from his current spot, Steve began to make his way outside of the room, causing the other to follow him as they continued their conversation.

"...Is it too much to ask what you're delivering? I've always wondered how potion-makers do business."

Joules's expression lit up as he went in front of the other to lead him down the stairs.

"Not at all! I have to deliver six potions exactly. Two of them are for serious zombification symptoms; the patient who needs the treatment took way too long to search for help and managed to get quite bad in their current condition. It's a last resort sort of treatment option, right before the pre-neurological-decay delirium begins to set in. The only good thing about the situation is, of course, that these two potions are the last that the patient needs in order to properly begin a full recovery. The other four potions are for dealing with the post-infection, pre-stabilization period of treatment, mainly for eliminating all large traces of the zombification-causing virus within the patient's system. Potions of weakness and healing, and such. Did you get that?"

As the other explained himself, Steve found his head beginning to spin a bit. Though nothing about Joules's body language indicated any sort of falsehoods, the biggest truth that he managed to pull from the other was that it was probably beneficial for everybody in Minecraftia that he decided to go down a mining career path more than anything else. Nearly everything that the man said went in one ear and out the other, save for the parts he was more familiar with, concerning the potions of healing and weakness.

Seeing the confusion on his face, Joules let out a quick laugh as he began to search around the kitchen for something, eventually coming across a leather bag with a strap.

"I'm delivering potions made to save people from becoming zombies. The specifics of the patient's condition aren't that important for you to know, just that me forgetting these potions isn't too big of an issue. Well, potentially. That's beside the case, though."

Nodding as he found himself thankful that the other dumbed it down for him, Steve found that his curiosity was only growing with the situation.

"...Where are you heading, then? If it's not that big a deal that you forgot to deliver the potions, I mean?" He asked, raising a brow.

"I need to drop these off at the main city. We'll go by wagon, of course, but it won't take that long, we'll be back before you know it!" Joules answered, briskly moving around the space as he gradually packed his bag full of things that could only barely be described as food.

Watching the other move, Steve nodded, only half paying attention to the other's words.

Given that the festival would be occurring in only a few days, he was more interested in how things may potentially play out if he were to leave with the man. Would he be late to the festival as a whole, or would he be late to the part where he was to confront a champion or two?

"Uh...would it take so long that we'd miss the festival, here?"

Joules shook his head.

"Miss it? We couldn't even do that if we tried."

Somewhat confused by the other's answer, Steve tilted his head a bit.

"Where's the festival gonna be specifically, anyways? Here? In the plaza?"

Joules made a so-so gesture with his hand.

"Give or take. Each village is a sort of checkpoint, y'know? I believe for uh...the festival and the whole champion selection part of it."

Steve looked at the other with intrigue.

"What's that about, anyway?"

Joules smiled at him as he began to elaborate, closing his bag rather tightly.

"The high council decided that the 'mob problem' around these parts was getting too much for regular folks to handle, so they formed a plan to make a small patrol group to send out in order to deal with the mobs. There are only so many eligible candidates to choose from, but they found out that they were a couple champions short, so this festival is the answer to that. Whoever survives the champion's gauntlet will win the honor of becoming a champion of Lunarus. They're looking for two more additions at minimum."

Finding that the miner wasn't responding due to his awe influencing him, Joules found himself becoming quite embarrassed.

"A-ah! I forgot, but...the villages here are all decorating because champions have to cross through here for their challenge. I-I believe that each village will give them a specific task to complete, or something along those lines, and they have to pass through certain points in order to confirm either their losses or successes."

Taking note of the information, Steve nodded slowly.

"...And in the main city?"

"That's where the festival begins. The champions who were already selected to be a part of the main group will perform the opening ceremony along with the high council, and they'll send their participants off from there. It's where the festival ends, too."

Though he wanted to witness the event for himself, Steve found himself somewhat hesitant in deciding whether or not he actually wanted to stay for the main event himself, let alone if he'd actually be able to do so due to his future tasks.

Was there any harm in watching the champions participate? Should he simply tag along with the other and get things done as soon as possible so he could retreat and leave before anything could possibly go wrong?

What harm was there in a little detour? He wanted to learn more about Joules anyways, maybe a short little journey was the way to do that.

"I...I'll go. I kinda wanna see how the main city looks."

Joules smiled at him, excitement clear in his expression.

"Well, come on, then! We have to get a move on sometime soon, yeah?"

Moving out of the kitchen toward the main potion room, Joules led Steve to a small counter where a box laid. Within that box were six, vibrantly-colored potions, all of which appeared very interesting to Steve.

Moving to cover the potions up with a small sheet of fabric, Joules gave the miner an eager grin.

"This won't take anything but your patience, Steve. I promise."

Picking up the box, the man made his way toward the back door of the apothecary as Steve, quite briskly, moved to open the door for him.

Briefly, Steve thought about his belongings up on the second floor of the house, though he ultimately shook his head at the idea of bringing them along for the journey.

He'd be back soon enough.


Sitting in the back of a horse-pulled wagon was rather relaxing, all things considered, but his current thoughts were tormenting him to the point of wanting to jump off the platform and lie face-first on the grass and dirt-covered ground below.

His thoughts had been unfortunately consumed by the prospect of his inevitable encounter with the champions of Lunarus. Even thinking about ending another human's life nearly made him want to vomit right there and then, but actually mustering up the courage to do it? Quickly and possibly in front of people, no less? He'd have little time to confront the champion he was to slay, but what if they managed to get away? Though he knew he had no room for hesitation, he was entirely certain that he'd end up hesitating regardless of how many times he tried to mentally prepare himself to not hesitate.

Feeling a gentle tap against his shoulder, Steve turned to meet with the concerned expression of Joules, who looked at him with a sympathetic smile.

"What...whatever's ailing you, I hope that you'll sort it out. It must be something big, yes?"

Steve rubbed his face a bit as he came back out of his thoughts, nodding hesitantly.

"Y-you...you could say that, yes."

Joules nodded in understanding.

"...Don't let it eat you up inside, okay? Whatever it is, you'll get through it. For now, just…" Joules took a small breath as he glanced around the area for a moment, taking in the scenery around the two as they rode within the wooden wagon on the slightly bumpy dirt road beneath them.

Just as the "village" had assaulted Steve with its various sights and smells, the area they were currently in did so as well, but in a more pleasant sort of way. As far as the eye could see, the two were surrounded by grassy plains filled with various types of blooming flowers, all of which gave off pleasant, gentle smells that blended together in a sort of natural melody that threatened to lull them both to sleep. Various blues, purples, yellows, and pinks filled their gazes as the flowers broke the endless pattern of grass and dirt, occasionally breaking into a small pond of water that reflected the hazy blue sky up above.

With another smile, Joules gazed back at the miner.

"...Just take in the world around you, instead of focusing on the world within you. If that makes any sense, of course." The man finished with a laugh, turning to look back at their surroundings once again.

Turning his attention to the surrounding area as well, Steve found himself almost mesmerized, though he wasn't entirely sure that he could fully attribute that to their lovely winter setting.

Once again, he found that the other's voice, his tone, was completely soothing and calming to his very core. As the spell was once again cast, his worries fell away to dust, and his body relaxed to a point where he wasn't sure if he was dreaming or awake. If the other was a god, was this his power? The power to soothe souls? Was this truly what being a healer was? Were his potions not the only things that helped people get better?

Joules could say anything he wanted about being "scatterbrained" and whatever. The man knew how to heal, that's for sure. Broken bones or brains, the man had the talent to deal with it, and Steve found himself a tad bit jealous that it was so easy for the other to speak to the soul without really thinking about it.

Leaning back to lay against the wagon seat he was sitting on, Steve cast his gaze upward, watching the clouds up overhead as he took in a deep, appreciative breath of the flowery meadow scent around him.

Right now, he had no worries. He had no champions to worry about, no tasks to fulfill, nothing. Just peace.

Eventually, before he knew it, the wagon came to a stop, causing him to break away from his state of calmness as he turned his head to catch a glimpse of a large wall in front of them, much to his general sense of amazement. A large, arched entryway was right before them where several, well-armed guards stood with serious expressions upon their faces. For some reason he couldn't explain, his spirit felt generally disturbed as he waited for their wagon to start moving again, which only occurred after a minute or so. Once the sound of creaking wheels replaced the silence that had formed, he let out a small sigh of relief. Watching as the guards eyed them as they entered, Steve waited until they were way out of view for him to sit back up again, turning his attention to the massive city that now surrounded them at all angles.

Again, he felt rather appreciative of the relatively small size of his village as he found himself in the presence of many, massive buildings, all of which towered over him and his companion easily as they both found themselves captivated by the city. Every inch of the place was decorated in banners, flowers, and everything in between, all presumably for the upcoming festival that was only just around the corner. While people were rushing from place to place here as well, the streets were noticeably less busy than the ones in the outer village that they'd come from. Suspecting that this was due to the general importance of the main city in terms of its involvement in the festival, Steve didn't really find himself that shocked at the sight of the city compared to his general amazement at the fact that the citizens even managed to get almost every inch of the place covered in some sort of decoration, no matter how low or how high the placement was.

As the wagon began to slow down once again, Steve came to focus on the sound of snapping fingers in front of his face, leading his attention to find itself placed upon the man he'd traveled to the city with. Joules gave him a small, knowing chuckle at the sight of his expression.

"I know. It's always breathtaking the first time you come in. Welcome to Lunarus, Steve, where the moon turns the streets into rivers full of stars, and the sun itself finds itself eclipsed by the beauty of it all."

The wagon stopped at a relatively large stable, where the two hopped off and gathered their precious cargo in order to leave, but not before they gave their appreciation to both the wagon driver and the horse that had carried them all there.

The streets of Lunarus were as massive and eye-catching as the rest of the place, with Steve noticing how the ground beneath their feet was made of what appeared to be absurdly clean, white concrete. Despite being constantly beneath the feet of the population within a massive city, the streets were practically spotless. The buildings around them were no different, all rather clean and decorated, presumably for appearance's sake during the festival.

A small nudge gathered Steve's attention as he turned toward a smiling Joules.

"The place we need to go to isn't that far from here. But uh...we'll have to take a...how do I say this...alternative route?" Joules said, a bit hesitant with his words.

Steve raised a brow at the other.

"...What do you mean by alternative?"

Joules shrugged.

"It's...uh...the patient doesn't really want people to know about their condition. They instructed me to uh...make sure nobody follows along to find them in their current state."

Steve looked at the man with deep concern on his face.

"Is it even appropriate for me to even be here? Should I-"

"-You can stay! It's totally fine. Just don't come into the room with me when we get there, and it'll be just peachy."

Stopping by a small alleyway, Joules looked around for a moment as Steve found himself growing very concerned with their current plan of action.

"Joules, I-I don't think I should be tagging along if the patient or whatever doesn't want extra visitors. I-"

"-There! C'mon Steve!"

The man completely ignored his words of protest as he went forward, box of potions in hand, straight into the alleyway, much to Steve's general dismay. Finding no other choice but to follow the other if he wished to not get lost, Steve took a deep breath before breaking into a slight sprint to catch up with the man as he briskly went forward.

The alleyway was much, much more complex than he'd ever expected an alleyway to be. He counted as they took roughly five or six turns through the compact space, moving in between several buildings in a speedwalking sort of pace. Before he could question just how long the alleyway would stretch out for, the narrow path broke back out into the streets once again, though Steve found himself standing in place as the two now found themselves within a massive plaza.

Fabric banners led the way down toward another well-decorated stage, though this one in particular was larger and more eye-catching. Large, staggeringly white pillars fortified the stage, and the elevated platform that mainly made up the structure was lined with the same material that the pillars were made of, though, the majority of the stage was made out of dark oakwood. Dark, maroon-red curtains were placed at the back of the stage. White banners had been hung against each of the pillars that were on the stage, all depicting an equally as red symbol upon them. To Steve's eyes, the symbol appeared to display the various phases of the moon, all surrounding what appeared to be a four-pointed star in the middle.

Though the general air of the place seemed to be jubilant enough despite the current lack of activities, Steve felt nothing but general discomfort as he stood in the plaza, surrounded by various different reminders of his current, unpleasant situation.

To the people of Lunarus, it all may have seemed like a game. A game where you dressed everything all pretty in terms of physical appearance and titles, and then when the game got boring, you'd move on. To everybody, being a champion was something to celebrate and uphold, to praise and encourage. Nobody seemed to truly consider the dangers of going through such dangerous tasks for the sake of making a name for yourself and your hometown. Everything was sacrificed for the sake of appearances, and if they were not met, those who failed would simply be replaced, as if they were discardable toys rather than their own, unique human beings. This was all just a game where the players would be rotated at will.

Lunarus was decorated to the nines to give off the impression that they and their champions were truly above the rest, but as Steve breathed in the air around him, allowing his senses to fully take in the truth of his current location, he was certain that, like all other places, should their current champions fall, they too would simply continue searching for their newest replacements like it was nothing. They were no different than smaller, simpler villages, in that regard. They were no different than his home village. They themselves were just another threat to the world as they sent off unsuspecting individuals to their deaths, all in the name of attempting to slay the only creature that was keeping their current existences a reality.

Maybe that's why he was finding Joules to be so odd. The general feeling of something being off simply translated into persisting suspicion of everybody that he came into contact with, including the kind man that had helped him since he arrived in the kingdom.

Before his thoughts could completely overwhelm him, Steve forced himself back into reality as he, in a slightly worried fashion, glanced rapidly around as he searched for Joules, fully expecting the other to have already disappeared as he'd gotten caught up in his brain's inner workings. Instead, he was surprised to find Joules still remaining right beside him, staring up toward the well-decorated stage as he had just been. However, something slightly made him feel disturbed by the sight of the other.

Joule's expression was lacking in his usual joyous and upbeat nature. His gaze was shockingly cold as he examined the sight before him, his face reflecting the hidden feelings that rested upon the other's tongue with a small frown. Those solid black eyes were as harsh and unforgiving as the endless void itself, and as Steve continued to examine the other's expression, he was willing to bet that it was entirely possible for the other's irises to suck in the stage before them if he continued to glare at it for long enough.

"...They'll announce them, right there."

Joules had spoken without him even initially realizing it, but once the other's voice had reached him, he nearly flinched at the repressed rage that each word held, biting at the world around them despite the kind man they had originated from.

"...The champions?" Steve asked quietly, not particularly wishing to provoke the other.

Joules nodded slowly.

"...It's sick. I'm not one for judging humanity on such a large scale, since it's impossible to say that a solid few represent the whole definitively, but…" The man took a long breath. "...It makes me want to vomit, you know? These guys...they're so...so desperate to prove their status, to...uphold what they believe is their superiority over others by moving pawns as proof. They want to prove that they have all the power in the world by ordering people to do as they say, without even stopping to realize that the pawns they move in their hands are alive. They breathe, they laugh, they hurt, they...they live. They never will acknowledge the truth if it threatens to strip them of their power. Of their belief that they are untouchable."

"...Acknowledge what, exactly? The fact that the champions are the ones actually doing all the work for them?"

Joules remained silent for a moment, keeping his gaze fixated on the stage.

"...That all it takes for their power and world to crumble is a pawn realizing their humanity. All it takes is a single pawn realizing that it's not a pawn. You can build your ideal world as intricately and carefully as you desire, micromanaging everything to the fullest extent, but, no matter the soul, nor the species, everybody, everybody makes a miscalculation. One that may cost them everything, even."

Every word that left Joules's mouth was said with such conviction that made it impossible to say that they came from anywhere but the man's heart. Looking at the other's body language and hateful gaze, Steve was certain that his thoughts and words were genuine.

After staring at the stage for a couple of minutes longer, Joules's eyes widened as realization flashed across his expression. With a grin that heavily contrasted his previous, extremely serious demeanor, Joules turned to look at the miner.

"The patient lives close by here! Just a couple more minutes until we arrive, alright?"

The other's harsh tone had dropped completely, leaving a joyfully chipper voice that gave Steve some rather severe whiplash.

"A-alright." He replied, entirely jarred by the event that had just occurred and the glimpse of a completely different man than the one he was more used to.

After a couple of minutes of more walking and brief sightseeing, the two soon found themselves within an alleyway once again, though, this time they stumbled upon large, wooden doors that stood out amongst the greys and blues of the buildings around them. Pressing his ear to the door, Joules listened around for a moment before opening one of the doors with a single hand, using the other to secure the box within his grasp carefully as the two of them entered the large building from the back entrance.

Stepping into the space, they were met with fancy, upstate surroundings that heavily contrasted the dull, cheaper nature of the world outside. Various paintings were hung against the bright green walls of the massive hallway they were currently in, white doors sparsely leading the way into a space that consisted of several, obviously expensive couches surrounding a bigger-than-average low-rising wooden table.

Stunned, Steve found himself unable to focus on one thing in the room at a time, looking toward Joules for some sort of guidance.

The man simply laughed at his expression.

"Steve, just chill out here, alright? I promise that I'll be quick so that we can get back before it's pitch black outside."

Nodding in a somewhat dazed manner, Steve moved to sit upon one of the expensive little couches, somewhat startled by their general softness. Seeing that he was situated, Joules went off toward the hallway that laid opposite of where they currently were.

Finding himself alone, Steve sat quietly as he took in his surroundings, entirely confused about where they were, and what kind of person the other was currently helping. The building didn't exactly look this massive from the outside, so he found himself mostly wishing that he'd get the chance to look at it from the front side sometime soon. Though, he heavily doubted that he'd be able to properly navigate himself through the building on his own to get to the front door, given that he was even starting to find himself lost in the current room he was in.

A few minutes passed before Joules returned, the box that was previously in his hands now absent.

"...You wanna do some indoor sightseeing? I promise that these guys won't mind!" He offered as he approached.

Though the miner's inner curiosity screamed yes at the offer, his mind interfered as concern took over his expression.

"A-are you sure? I mean…" His words trailed off, leaving him stagnant as he tried to think of an excuse in order to get out of his current situation.

Finding nothing, he found himself rather upset at his own brain for making him stand up with a sigh, moving over toward Joules with an expression of defeat.

"...I...we better not get caught."

With a quick nod, Joules began to lead the miner away from where they'd been talking, moving out into the hallway as the various paintings that were placed there guided them throughout the building.

The hallways soon expanded into massive spaces, stretching out into tall passageways with high ceilings and equally as massive windows. Finding his gaze captivated by the intricate beauty of the space around them, Steve didn't even notice it when Joules began to drag him off toward another separate, smaller hallway.

"This way, Steve. I thought I heard somebody getting close, y'know?"

With a hesitant nod, Steve allowed the other to drag him off without resistance, finding themselves disappearing off into a darker section of the building.

The sound of muffled voices soon came within earshot as the darkness continued to surround them, gaining the attention of the two rather quickly as they began searching for the source of the noise. Their search soon ended when they passed by a closed wooden door, where they found the source of the voices hidden just behind it.

Joules turned to give him a small, mischievous grin.

"Do you have any issues about eavesdropping? Could be interesting, right here." He whispered, his voice only barely audible.

Steve's curiosity took control of his thought processes.

"...Not particularly. But..." He whispered back with a shrug, his words trailing off.

"Thought so. Just...this will stay in between us, okay?"

Steve nodded hesitantly at the other's words, earning a smile in return. Getting closer to the door, the two remained as quiet as humanly possible as they attempted to listen in, straining their ears to get the most out of the conversation from within.

"You can't be serious. Everybody in the current selection hasn't even faced an Ender beast, let alone somebody like us. Sending them after him is practically suicide. Or homicide, if you take our involvement into consideration." Came a muffled female voice.

"Yes, sure. But might I remind you of what exactly the plan is? Our goal is to send off the champions with our weapons so that if they were to encounter that brat, they'd be able to deal with him easily, possibly not well enough to kill him, but enough to take him out of the equation. They can kill the dragon even easier with those things, as well. As long as they're satisfied with the results, everything will work out." Replied a muffled male voice.

"...I understand your optimism about things, but might I remind you that such a move will surely inspire him to act in ways we cannot predict, even further? Might I also add that should he recognize any of our signature devices, he'll make an attempt to steal it, and, given that the mortals will be armed and not us, there's a higher chance of him actually succeeding in taking them? What then do we do if we find ourselves in the situation of fighting against another god with a divine weapon, one who won't think twice of slaying us without mercy? Your plan requires everything to go smoothly. Your plan suggests that the champions can keep up with him in a fight when they've never fought such a beast before." The female voice spoke again.

"...You know damn well that things cannot keep going on like this, with that menace murdering innocent lives and parading about like a false king. Either we move aggressively and work diligently to make sure things turn out relatively fine, or we continue playing the defensive until the human population dwindles to zero. Pick your poison." The male voice spoke again.

"Pick yours. You're the one who decided to turn the humans more against him. Even with our combined strength, there's no guarantee that we'll be successful. They're motivated by the dragon, sure, but is motivation enough to dispose of Herobrine? We can give them our blessings, sure, but who's to say it'll be enough? Nothing so far ever was."

"Our blessings and our weapons will be enough. We can't risk him terminating us, and the champions won't think twice about it. As long as they see him as the villain that he is, they'll fight. They just need to become aware of his presence somehow, and as far as we know, perhaps sending them after that oversized lizard will do something to gain his attention. He loves those abominable mobs, doesn't he?"

Joules and Steve turned toward each other, disgust clear on their features.

Whoever it was behind that door, they were planning to sacrifice the champions for their own gain. They were disgusting in their reasoning, drawing frustration and anger from the two men who were standing just outside the closed-off space.

"...I kinda wanna open the door and punch them, y'know?" Joules mused quietly, nodding his head over toward the door with a weak smile as he turned toward Steve.

Steve shook his head.

"They sound like they're not human. You'll be killed." The miner whispered back.

"Good. Then maybe I'll get a second chance of beating them up as a soul heading to the afterlife."

Hearing shuffling behind the door, the two braced themselves, only to relax as it became apparent that neither of the two that were in the room was making their way toward the door that they were hiding behind.

"Do you think that there will be anybody good enough to add to our chosen few?" The male voice asked quietly.

They heard a small hum in response.

"We'll know soon enough. If there isn't, I suppose that we'll just have to send those few off as they are. They're strong enough on their own." The woman replied.

"I do hope so. Festival preparations are dragging on long enough to make me start feeling a bit anxious. I hope your selection methods are ready."

"As ready as they'll ever be. We only need the champions to go through them, at this point."

Finding that the conversation within was drawing to a rather boring state, the two outside of the room gave each other a quick glance before stepping a bit away from the door, expressions still holding some amounts of disgust and shock.

"That...they're willing to sacrifice innocent lives to get back at that guy or whatever?...R-really?" Steve asked with a small chuckle of disbelief that he didn't initially intend to release.

He found himself in silence. Turning to look at Joules in order to read his expression, he found that the other's silent rage had somewhat returned to him.

"I-Isn't that awful, Joules?" Steve asked again, getting a bit nervous.

Suddenly, Joules turned toward him with what appeared to be a forced smile, his eyes closed in what Steve assumed to be feigned calmness.

"Oh well. I guess that somebody's gonna have to deal with it, y'know?"

Finding the smile somewhat unnerving, Steve let out a quiet, nervous laugh.

"Y-yeah. Aren't you kinda disturbed by what they said, th-"

"-Maybe somebody will throw a wrench in their plans, y'know? Show them what it means when a single pawn realizes that it's no longer a simple pawn?"

Hearing the echo of the other's words from before, confusion, yet also suspicion found its way back into Steve's mind. Even as he looked back at the other for confirmation about what they heard, he sensed an air of forced obliviousness, yet purposeful distraction around him. Joules had laughed and joked about other matters, but was he actively trying to change the subject in the same way now? The subject that he was seemingly most passionately angry about, no less? What was his goal?

Did he bring him to the main city on purpose? Was their little eavesdropping session a purposeful occurrence? Or was this all incidental?

"J-Joules. What-"

"-I think things are gonna be alright though. I think that the champions will get through this, somehow."

Joules opened his eyes to glance back at the door, but as they found focus on the polished wood, Steve found himself growing slightly more worried about the other as he finally noticed a simple, yet telling trait of his.

The man's eyes were shaking. Despite all the possible implications, Steve found himself convinced that the man's shaking pupils indicated that he wasn't being quite genuine with his words.

Quietly, Joules abruptly turned back toward him, causing him to flinch at the other's suddenly concerned expression.

"I believe that we might need to make a quick getaway as soon as possible, don't you think? It seems like they're approaching the door."

Feeling somewhat disturbed by the other's sudden insistence, Steve began to back away from the door, not even choosing to wait for the other to join him. Before he even realized it, he was walking, then sprinting away from the place, though the echo of his own footsteps caused him to slow down considerably.

Had they even been spotted? Heard? How much danger were they currently in?

Rounding the corner, Steve took a moment to pause as he went to look back at the place he'd run from, finding Joules surprisingly nowhere to be seen. The other hadn't followed him either, so maybe he'd simply gone in the other direction? Hopefully?

Letting out a small breath as he realized how deafeningly quiet it had gotten, Steve turned to leave, only to find himself suddenly in the presence of a large, imposing figure.

The woman before him was standing in front of two armed soldiers, both carrying sharpened spears. Her clothes indicated something close to royal status, but not exactly quite. Her short black hair was cut into a neat bob, and her emerald green eyes looked down at him with silent criticism. After a few moments of nothing but more deafening silence, the woman finally broke it.

"...Your eyes are quite peculiar." Her voice came in a serious manner, its familiarity biting away at his brain before he quickly realized that it, unfortunately, belonged to one of the two voices that he just heard from behind the door.

This woman was a god.

Without even thinking, Steve responded.

"Y-yours too."

The woman continued to glare at him.

"What I meant was that yours are abnormally peculiar. In the sense that there's either magic or fate involved. Are you dense?"

Steve shook his head.

"N-no, I...I didn't know what you meant, sorry."

With a sigh, the woman looked to the guards beside her before looking back toward him.

"...You reek of potential. Why are you here?"

Steve shrugged, beginning to back away slowly from the other.

"I-I just...I was here with a friend to drop something off. I'll get out of your hair, now-"

"-You won't."

With a single snap of her fingers, the guards moved and placed themselves behind the miner, essentially trapping him right where he was. In an instant, Steve suddenly became very, very aware of the fact that his heart was beating hard enough to break right through his chest.

"Give it up. There's only one explanation for why your eyes look like that. You're a champion."

Steve shook his head excessively.

"No I'm not!"

"You're obviously a champion. Since you're here, why don't you compete?"

Steve shook his head furiously again.

"I-I'm not up for the job, really. My uh...my village-"

"-Which one?"

"Highland." He answered quickly before his brain could even catch up with his actions and make him reconsider his words.

"...You knew about the festival and the competition, so you came here. That much is obvious."

The woman before him looked over his body in silent judgment.

Suddenly, she snapped her fingers again, and before he could even blink, Steve found the two guards grabbing a tight hold of his arms, much to his distress.

"...I hope your current place of residence will not be revoked due to your absence. Guards, please show this handsome young man to his temporary new quarters. Make sure he's ready for the festival, and please, add his name to the list of competitors, whatever it is."

Steve felt utterly numb as he listened to her words, barely even registering the sensation of being led away from her presence.

Was everything destined to not go his way when he stepped away from Herobrine and the others? How were they going to react to his dilemma? How was Joules going to react once he realized that he was no longer there?

How was he going to deal with this in general?


I'm back with an actual computer now hehehehe-

Guess who got waaaaay too excited about future chapters so that they ended up finishing a new one earlier than expected? This nerd lmao-

A little bit more nonsense in this chapter! I kinda wanted to pace the whole Lunarus situation out a bit, but I'm really unsure of when I should do what lol. Sometimes I think I'm blindsiding with the whole thing, but other times I think I'm like, setting things up fine enough. Idk, I just feel this way bc last chapter was kinda iffy thanks to the document situation, so as I read back on it, I kinda thought about, like, taking it down and re-writing it a bit? I'm not gonna actually do that, but I kind of felt like doing it for the past couple of days lmao. Regardless, we're here now! I'm kinda excited about these few chapters here, so I've been working on the fic more closely between updates lol. I'm at a point where I can see my objective more clearly, and now I'm just writing as much as I can to get to the place that I desperately need to be in order to quell my excitement (which ain't happening, I'm really eager to keep working on this fic lol-)

Annnnnnnnnd boom, Steve's in trouble again lmao. Man can't catch a break XD He really needs somebody's presence to calm him down, whether that be Joules or Herobrine. He'll deal with things as they come, lol

Some fun facts!:

1.) A good chunk of medical cases that require the services of potion makers have like, something to do with zombification. It's almost crazy XD

2.) The woman who approached Steve near the end here is a festival officiant and a high-ranking individual on the high council! She's partially in charge of scouting out champions. Oh, and yeah, she's a divine being too lmao.

That's it for now! Leave a review if you have any thoughts!