Revenge 2:Serpentine Ch.21

Sky had just explained his battle with Jordan the previous night. As expected, Lewis didn't take it lightly.

"You could have been killed, Sky! What were you thinking?!" Lewis continued, raising his voice.

As he was scolded, Sky pressed on, trying to block Lewis and his life lessons out. As they proceeded through the thick forest and shrubbery, Sky couldn't help but think about the upcoming war. 

How many would parish risking their lives? Would they outmatched by the Serpent King and his army? And what about Jordan? He couldn't be dormant in his own mind. Not now. Unless, his insanity somehow managed to keep him sedated and unable to fight.

Lost in his thoughts, it was Lewis drawing his sword that snapped him out of them. Sky quickly drew his golden blade just as rustling came from the forest.

"Dan..." Lewis uttered and stared at the shrubbery intently, waiting for something to leap out at them.

As soon as something emerged from the forest, Sky leaped at it and pinned it, putting his sword to its throat.

"Sky! Sky, it's me!" out of breath from their collision with the ground, Ant struggled under the grip of the butter king.

Realizing it was a friend, Sky scrambled to his feet and helped Ant back up. "Sorry, dude, I didn't know it was you," he mumbled and sheathed his sword, slightly embarrassed by his paranoid behavior.

Lewis put his sword away and stared at Ant. "What are you doing out here?" he asked.

Ant smiled. "Nothing much. Just wandering, I guess," he looked at the brothers. "How about you two?"

"We're on our way to Jordan's kingdom." Sky answered. "We came to recruit his army and pals for the war."

Ant nodded wisely. "Ty told me a bit about it, and I agreed to join in. Dan's messed with you three far too much now, especially with what he's done to Jordan." he said, anger visible in his dark eyes.

Sky and Lewis knew about Jordan and Ant's relationship together. They were almost like brothers that had a never-ending rivalry between each other. In fact, Jordan had once considered him a step-brother, since they were such great friends. 

"Want to come with us, then? I mean, if you're not busy or anything," Lewis offered to the lone Ant.

"Why not?" Ant replied. 

Lewis and Sky took the lead, and Ant tagged behind. "So, any news about what's going on in Jordan's kingdom?" Sky asked.

Ant shrugged and looked up at the sky. "His subjects are furious! A few are grieving over the loss, but other than that I believe his kingdom will be more than likely to be willing to fight in your side of the war." he said. "I've been talking with some close friends of Jordan, and we're working something out for the war."

"Like what?" Lewis asked.

"Nanners has a militia he will be able to recruit, Ryan has his mad hunger game skills from all that practice he's been doing, not to mention mine as well, and a few other guys have some guilds they can bring in," Ant was rethinking over the men that agreed to go to war, and he went on about how many of Jordan's guards were ordering a shipment of weapons for the fight. "All in all, Jordan's got an army going against him," the statement was chilling.

Sky looked back at him. "Jordan's not himself anymore...there's no telling what he can be able to do." he warned.

Lewis nodded in agreement. "He's not the same step-brother you'll remember, Ant."

"He was Ryan's real step-brother. Jordan got adopted into his family around the time you guys came to the Overworld however long ago," Ant lectured them, his expression darkening. "I've seen Jordan mad before, and I'm guessing this is worse than what I've witnessed, right?"

Lewis nodded his head in reply.

---

Arriving at Jordan's kingdom, the boys were greeted with the anxious faces of the townsfolk. A few went up to them personally and asked what had become of their king. Their responses only seemed to make the civilians worry more.

Ant went off to gather the villagers in townsquare while Lewis and Sky met up with Mark and Nick.

"We've gotten all the guards to fight, dozens of men in the kingdom, and we have a few pals bringing in enforcements." Nick told the brothers as they made their way to the townsquare. 

"Do you think it'll be enough?" Mark asked.

Lewis nodded. "We have our armies and the realm warriors. Either Dan will surrender, or we'll demolish him and his army."

Once all the townspeople were gathered within the center of the kingdom, Lewis and Sky began to lecture them about their history with Dan and the problem he is. They told them about Jordan and his insanity, which wasn't all to new to them except that it was no longer in Jordan's authority. They explained Herobrine's betrayal and how they had to work with him in order to save their brother, which seemed to rile up the villagers.

"Dan and his army won't be merciful in this war," Lewis said,"Risking your lives for Jordan and for the freedom of the realms is courageous of all of you who decide to fight. Sky and I swear we will come out of this war as victors with Jordan." he announced.

A few of the townsfolk stirred.

"And what if we don't win?" a man in the front asked.

Sky grimaced. "Then we lose. We die. The realms collapse. Jordan spirals into a mad darkness." he stated grimly.

Lewis jumped in to keep Sky from scaring the villagers. "But we'll make sure that won't happen." he said quickly, casting a mean glare at Sky.

The brothers excused the townsfolk, then said goodbye to Ant, Mark, and Nick. They then left for the Nether, greeting the Ruler's of the realms for another meeting for the war.

---

"We're going to need stronger forces..." Notch uttered as he stared down at the plans upon the table.

The heavenly god had explained how very few angels he could send to the Nether without their power draining. Herobrine had put a curse to destroy energy on his realm to protect it. Unfortunately, he was unable to cast it off to weaken Dan's army, and Notch's angels would be greatly affected by the spell.

To make matters worse, Herobrine had discussed that his creatures of the realm were too weak to fight off Dan and his men. The End's ambassador briefly explained that the warriors in the realm were also weak, and some could damage the Nether just by touching any area.

"We have armies on the surface," Sky threw in,"Enforcements and militias. We even have some immortals and hybrids."

Herobrine stared at Sky. "It might not be enough, Sky. Dan has imprisoned some of the most powerful, legendary immortals out there. Mortals don't stand a chance." he said sullenly.

"Don't forget that he has Jordan." the End's ambassador cut in. "Your forces may show mercy towards the Nether Prince, and his madness will use that to its advantage."

"Well, what can we do?" Lewis asked as he leaned on the table.

There was silence amongst the beings in the room as the question settled in. What could they do? If the war is lost, the realms would fall, Katharine and Jordan would probably be killed by Dan's cruel ways, and there was no telling what Dan would do to the characters gathered around the table.

"...The Beacons of the realms is our only choice," the End's ambassador suddenly broke the silence.

Notch stared at him. "Are they even ready?"

"It doesn't matter. They're our only chance."

Sky cut into their conversation. "Beacons?" he asked.

"They're the protectors of the three realms Aether, Nether, and End." Herobrine lectured. "Their powers are like no other."

"Joined together, they shield the surface from chaos." Notch continued. 

"However, if one falls," the End's ambassador said,"The realm they correspond to weakens." he held out a familiar looking, black material. It was a jagged rock, and the substance seemed to be used for the blade to kill immortals. "This corrupts the realm. It destroys life."

Sky stared at the stone. "Where can we find these beacons?"

Notch stared at him gravely. "You and your brother's are the beacons."

Lewis and Sky stared at each other, then back at the men at the table. "What?!" they exclaimed at once.

Herobrine formed a crystal ball and placed it in the middle of the table. Inside the ball, a scene was projected of the gray-black rock creeping from lavapits in the Nether.

"Jordan is the protector of the Nether, but now that his insanity has taken over, he is unable to radiate the energy needed to keep the rock away." Herobrine explained grimly, making the ball vanish afterwards.

"Why us?" Lewis asked. "Why are we the protectors?"

"Herobrine was the only one to bear children with his wife." the End's ambassador informed him. "We decided to have you three be the guardians for the realms. We granted you with powers pertaining to your realms to help you protect it."

"What about Jordan's insanity?" Sky asked suddenly. "Katharine told us it was supposed to be a blessing, and now it's ended up being his most hated flaw."

The End's representative looked away. 

Sky looked at Lewis, then asked once more. "...How did Jordan get his insanity?"

The Enderman was silent for a long while. "...How do you think the End got its name?"

"Huh?"

"The End is a place of death." he proceeded, ignoring Sky's questionable expression.

"I thought that was the Nether," Lewis said.

"The Nether is a place of punishment and suffering," Herobrine corrected him. "Everything in the End is dead–at its end."

The End's ambassador nodded wisely. "Since death roamed the realm, entities sprung to life. These beings were corrupted, deadly...they destroyed everything they touched."

As Sky listened, he tried to piece everything together, though it didn't make much sense.

"One particular entity was too dangerous to keep in the realm." the Enderman proceeded. "We tried banishing it, taming it, even destroying it, but nothing succeeded."

"Was it Jordan's insanity?" Sky asked.

The ambassador nodded. "We later found out that it was in need for a host to survive. It tried the Endermen in the realm, but they died from it corrupting them too much." he sighed heavily. "Then, we discovered that Herobrine had recently neared three sons."

Herobrine stared at the table, and Notch seemed uneasy.

"Your father agreed to have one of you be its host, of course, if you lived." the End's ambassador explained. "The entity, however, just went for which one of you he wanted. And...he chose Jordan."

Lewis grimaced. Sky tensed a bit, staring at the Enderman across the table.

"Miraculously, Jordan survived. The End's ruler put a spell on the entity to have it lie dormant until he was old enough to use it, but Dan forced it to awaken. Upon doing this, the entity turned against Jordan and everything. It fed off his feeling of hatred and anger, which strengthened its power."

"...And it craved freedom, right?" Sky asked in a choked voice.

The Enderman nodded. "Forgive us, Sky. We understand how upset you are with Jordan's insanity."

Sky didn't reply.

Notch gave him a pat on the back. "Come on, Adam, I believe now is a good time to show you your capabilities." he ushered Sky to a portal to the Aether.

The End's ambassador looked at Lewis. "Do you need a moment before we trek to the End, Prince?" he asked.

Lewis shook his head, and they disappeared into a portal that warped them to an island in the middle of a void.