I ran quickly to the place where we placed our ender pearls and saw that Merry's was broken which was a good sign.
The contraption was simpler than what it was in the game since the only requirement for the ender pearl to register you was for you to touch it, we only had to gently place the magic sphere on the ground with a trapdoor right beside it.
At the flip of a lever, the trapdoor was closed and the ender pearl was broken.
That's what I saw on Merry's side, but no hero in sight.
"Merry! Are you here?"
But only silence answers back.
I did not like this, was she killed right as she was teleported?
But then her corpse would still be here.
I took my pearl back so no accidents would happen and walked at a fast pace towards the castle.
After a few hundred blocks I saw some soldiers with fully enchanted iron armor running towards me, who stopped once I was in their sight.
They saw me holding Bobby in my hands and had a look of fear and admiration in their eyes.
Two people managed to do what an army couldn't.
Kill the Zombie Lord.
Or at least I hope he's dead, otherwise I don't know how to kill him anymore.
"I don't know where the hero is, sent a search party to look all around the forest and find her. This is the most important mission right now!"
They nodded their heads and went to search for my student, hopefully everything would be alright in the end.
My muscles slowly realized that the danger was over, and the adrenaline rush that kept me going left me like it came.
Suddenly Bobby was like a boulder in my hands, but I didn't let him down because if I did I would not be able to continue walking.
So I made the wasteful decision of eating a golden apple.
It was meant for Bobby, but since it didn't work I now had three of them in my inventory.
After I ate one, I felt power once again, but I decided to run back before the effects would wear off.
Finally, I arrived at the castle, I passed the huge gate with nobody stopping me and I saw the Royal Family waiting for me.
"Welcome back hero, did you manage to defeat the Zombie Lord?"
I stopped and looked at the king, who seemed to be paying a lot of attention to my response.
"He should be dead, but I didn't see Merry so I don't know what truly happened. Here, take care of Bobby while I'm going to take some rest, don't wake me up unless something urgent happens."
I carefully put Bobby down and walked past the king who didn't seem happy about my response.
But I didn't care, I've done my part, Bobby is back and whatever comes next, future me can deal with it.
So I went back to my room without looking back.
Just to be sure I blocked the door in case anyone would have some bad thoughts against me.
With that over, I just sat down in my bed and went to sleep.
----
I woke up feeling fully rested and the room was exactly as I left it which was good.
I broke the barricade off my door and went to see if everyone was alright.
Unfortunately, I didn't know where the Infirmary was so I had to ask one of the passing servants if they saw my friends.
Luckily, everyone knew about the battle, and after a few hours, they managed to get all the information from the battle.
The Zombie Lord was dead since there was no sight of him after the battle. The place where the explosion was is now only a huge crater with only a few obsidian blocks to show that something existed there.
Bobby was awake and well, but he was still resting in his room until he felt ready to join back with us.
Finally, Merry was found but only recently and nobody knew where she was, and she didn't say any details except to the Royal Family.
"Thanks, I won't distract you from work anymore, bye."
The servant made a small bow and I continued to walk towards Bobby's room.
*boom
"Good morning Bobby! How does it feel to be back with the living?"
Bobby got up from his bead with a sword ready In his hands, only to see that the intruder was me and gave a sigh of relief.
"Wait, what are you doing here Trader? I thought you were with Froggy and the witches."
"I was until I heard that my friend was infected and needed to be rescued like a damsel in distress."
He started to laugh, before slowly stopping and realizing that I was serious.
"You came here at the risk of getting yourself found out?"
"I didn't choose to be here, more like teleported by our dear hero since she didn't know what to do."
Bobby sat in silence and looked at his hands for a few minutes.
"The last thing I remember was a huge shadow taking over me, I tried to fight it back but I was too weak to be even considered as a threat. I knew that my body was taken over but I didn't know what it was used for. That was until suddenly I felt like I was a God, I don't know where I got that power, but the shadow was much weaker than I expected. And now I'm here, too afraid to ask how much damage I've done."
He looked back at me, expecting something but nothing at the same time.
I could only sigh.
"You weren't out for too long, the Void took control over you and ordered the iron golems to attack the others, that's why they had to retreat. The Zombie Lord was weakened so he decided to attack the capital with the golems he got, from what I know he didn't stop for any villages. When the fight started he went after Merry and I fought you and the reason you felt so powerful is because I fed you a God apple."
"God apple?"
"Yeah, it's an enchanted golden apple that can make you temporarily invincible, I don't know how to craft it, and the only reason I had it, was because I robbed Royal Vault."
"You did what?! How are you not dead?"
Bobby looked with suck at me.
"Because I'm mainly the reason that the Zombie Lord is dead? I don't think they want to pick up a fight with me anytime soon."
Bobby started to hold his head in his arms from what I could guess was worry. But what is done is done, there's nothing I can do about it.
It's not like I could've abandoned my friend just because I wanted to stay hidden. I'm not weak like at the Sandstone palace, I can get myself out of any situation, no matter the size of your army.
I was ready.
"So what-"
*boom
The door was slammed open once again by none other than the hero.
"Oh Trader, you were here as well. Glad to see Bobby is doing alright."
"Merry, congrats on defeating the Zombie Lord. How do you feel after accomplishing your mission?"
She looked at Bobby one more time before looking relieved that he was ok.
"I felt amazing the first time I realized that I'm alive and completed my mission, and then I was teleported into a white plane where the System greeted me."
This took us both by surprise, I didn't expect this development.
"It looked like an angel with golden eyes, and told me that I killed the monster but not for good, it told me that he has a spawner somewhere in the world where he will come back from, unfortunately, the System didn't know it's location, but put in me a tracker to know where he is once he's going to get back."
He'll be back? A spawner? The System doesn't know about its location.
So much new information that doesn't make me too happy.
"Do you have a way to track down the spawner Trader? The System seems displeased that we had to use crystals to kill him, so maybe you know some other forbidden knowledge?"
Was she trying to warn me or get me into more trouble, doesn't she know how dangerous the System is if I piss it off?
I don't want to be struck by lightning and get an unknown curse.
"I didn't know the System doesn't like my methods of killing its enemies. As for a way to track a spawner I don't know, unless we get our hands on a command block. But if we somehow did, we wouldn't need to track him since we can just kill him for good."
"Wait, wait, wait! Why are glossing over the fact that you met the System? Also, do you realize how much in danger is Trader if the System is warning you? I know that you have some dangerous knowledge, but I didn't expect it to be this dangerous!"
Bobby broke the conversation between us, reminding me that he is someone who lived in this world from birth, so he sees the System akin of a god.
Of course, he would be concerned for me, since he probably read somewhere what happens when the System gets involved.
"The System didn't seem to order us not to use the Crystals, just suggested against it. I don't think will get in trouble if we use it in case of emergency. Plus, only Trader knows the recipe for this."
Bobby was on his feet looking worried at us but couldn't say anything since he didn't see the System himself.
"So Trader you were talking something about a command block? Can we craft it, or do we have to enchant it, how can we get it?"
"Oh you can't craft something like that, and even if I did, the System would kill me immediately since it's too powerful to be left alone. When I say I can control everything with that, I mean everything, I can make myself immortal, fly, break any blocks with only one punch, and have access to all the blocks in the world only at a hand's reach. And that's one of the easier stuff you can make with it, some people got creative with it and managed to do some amazing stuff with it."
Merry looked impressed while Bobby looked horrified.
"How advanced was your civilization if you had access to such tools? Are you a God Trader?"
Oh boy, I didn't expect to break Bobby so much with this new information.
"No Bobby my friend, I'm not a God, otherwise I wouldn't be here. What I'm describing wasn't happening in the real world, but instead was made on a computer."
"A computer?"
"How do I explain this? Some people in my world were so good at enchanting that they managed to create illusions of other worlds and we could interact with them. That's where I got all of my forbidden knowledge."
Bobby didn't seem confused or curious only more horrified.
"Im-im I an illusion for you Trader?"
"Nonono, you are a real person for me, you are truly my friend, my people are not that good at enchanting. If everything I see is an illusion I'll be angry, to say the least. Merry, did technology advance so much in your time?"
"VR is still in its infancy in my time, so I don't think we have that problem."
"When I was talking about illusions, I was referring to a story, a pre-determined path with the most intelligent illusion of life being at the level of an Iron Golem. You Bobby, can think for yourself, not only you, everyone in this world, so this world is real. You are real."
This seemed to calm him down a little, but he kept whispering to himself that he was real. I didn't realize this would be such a heavy blow for him, but I could understand him, and slowly some thoughts started to creep towards me asking if this truly was real.
But I just shoved those thoughts back into my mind, there's no need to have two people breaking down now.
"Unfortunately I can't help with finding the Spawner, but I came to tell you that the Spawner's job is to create an unlimited amount of a specific monsters. And since the Zombie Lord is a zombie, I can already guess what the Spawner is. What im trying to tell you, is that you'll have to find him quickly once he's back, otherwise it would take days for him to get an army."
Merry nodded in understanding and left the room, I stayed and tried to talk with Bobby to calm him down.
I think he still suffers from the Void and needs more rest. But all the problems were dealt with, so he could take all the time necessary to get back on his feet.
Unless something bad happens.