Quintin, preparing himself to become the new King of the OverWorld, was in his mother's secret room in the Castle. Shelves were mounted on the walls, with bottles of potions resting on them. Signs with the names of the potions were mounted on the wall directly under the shelves.
A single lantern, hanging from the ceiling above, was the only source of light. In the center of the room was a giant cauldron, with a liquid brewing inside of it. Red and orange and yellow bubbles were rising up out of the cauldron, popping in midair a short distance above the cauldron.
The iron door was locked and shut; the lever on the wall pointing downward towards the floor. Quintin walked up to the cauldron and looked down at the brewing mysterious liquid inside. Under the cauldron, a small flame was burning. It was clear that someone was recently here. Someone had to be maintaining the flame in order to cook the liquid inside. He looked over to his left, and then over to his right again. He was double checking to make sure he was alone in the room.
In the past, he was forbidden from entering the room. It was only his mother, Mileena, who was allowed to enter. He had always wondered, growing up, what went on behind this closed door. What was once called a secret room, was no secret anymore. Not to him at least. When he was only five, he almost got into the room, but was stopped by his mother suddenly appearing in front of him and in front of the door.
"Mama, can I just see what's in there?" He said as he looked up at her, "I promise I won't touch anything, I swear," he said, promising his mom that he wouldn't get into anything he wasn't supposed to.
"You know the rules sweetheart," Mileena said as she leaned over, holding her arms out. She picked him up and looked him right in the eyes.
"One day," she responded, "when you're old enough, I will show you."
Quintin, back when he was just a young blockhead, was disappointed by the statement his mother had told him. When he was older? Why did he have to wait that long? He's old enough to understand, and he's far more smarter than the other young blockheads.
"But mom," he pleaded, "I'm old enough."
Mileena set him back down. As she was looking down at him, he was looking up at her. She could sense that he was anxious and impatient. But what lies behind that door was a secret. A secret the King didn't even know about. This is how he was unaware.
Quintin peaked around her to look over at the iron door. There it was, only a couple blocks away from where he was standing. He looked back up at his mom.
"What do you do in there, mama?" Quintin asked.
She put her hands behind her back. Looking down at him, she smiled faintly. She understood how curious he was, but to protect him from the truth and to keep him safe, she couldn't let him in there. It would devastate her. Who knows what King Miraz would do to her if he found out. Thank goodness she was a witch. That certainly came in handy in times like these.
"You're very persistent," Mileena said, "just like your father. You have his eyes."
Quintin ignored that and peaked around her at the location where the door was. But somehow, the door had vanished. All he could see now was the cobblestone wall. Hanging on the wall was a large family portrait. King Miraz stood on the right, while Queen Mileena stood on the left. In front of them, stood Quintin. His father was wearing his signature golden armor, holding his staff in his right hand, while his mother had her hand resting on Quintin's left shoulder. They were all smiling happily. In the background, was the Kingdom, with the Castle being the main eye-catcher to the background.
"Where'd the door go?" Quintin asked as he pointed over at the painting where the door used to be, "it was just–."
Mileena turned around, gasping and covering her mouth in the process. She was confused too. Where did the door go?
"That's strange," she said as she looked down at Quintin, "it was just there."
"It just–it just disappeared," Quintin said.
"You're right sweetheart," she responded, "tell you what. When I return from giving your father his medicine, we'll find the door, okay?"
A sudden burst of energy erupted in Quintin. He smiled and hopped around a couple of times, then stopped. He smiled happily.
"Hurry up mama," he said.
Mileena giggled. "What if there's treasure behind the door?"
"You really think there's treasure behind that door?" Quintin asked, "is that why I'm not allowed to go in there?"
Without saying anything verbally, she smiled and nodded her head. In reality though, she knew what was behind that door. No, it was not treasure or anything valuable. It was something far more secretive and dangerous. Long story short, if the room were to be discovered by anyone, it would severely damage her reputation within the Kingdom.
"I leave that up to you to theorize, my love," she said, "but run along now sweetheart. I'll be quick, don't you worry. I'll have a guard come to fetch you once I'm done with your father, okay?"
"Okay mama," he said with a big smile on his face. He turned around and began running down the hallway. She watched him run down the hallway, bumping into a guard in the process.
"Prince Quintin," a guard said as he lifted his helmet face cover up, revealing his face to Quintin.
Quintin shook his head a couple of times as he got back up onto his feet. The guard he had run into was on his routine rounds throughout the Castle.
"Are you alright, my Prince?" the guard asked.
"Watch where you're going, melonhead!" He said as he shook his head once more, "that hurt!"
"My apologies Prince Quintin," the guard said, "It won't happen again. Have you seen your mother?"
He turned his head over to his left, raising his arm and pointing down the hallway at his mother. "She's going to meet my father," he answered, "so she can give him medicine."
"Thank you Prince Quintin," the guard thanked.
"Yeah, whatever," he responded as he quickly ran down to the end of the hallway, turning left to go down a different hallway.
Mileena walked up to the guard, lending him a helping hand. He grabbed her hand. She gently pulled him back up onto his feet.
"Are you alright Nick?" She asked.
Nick adjusted his armor to where he felt comfortable wearing it again. After he finished doing that, he looked up at Mileena and nodded his head.
"I'm fine, yes," Nick answered.
"I apologize about his attitude," Mileena said, "he got that from his father."
"Oh no worries," he responded.
When Quintin opened his eyes, he was back in his mother's secret room. No wonder she didn't show him this room years ago. It all began making sense to him now. The level of secrecy was to protect herself and no one else. He wondered why there were so many potions on the shelves. On each shelf, there were four potions each. But one shelf in the corner of the room only had three. That's strange, isn't it?
"Drink it," a faint, female blockheads' voice whispered into his right ear. "Drink it."
Quintin looked over to his left and then to his right. He looked back over his right shoulder to check to see if someone was standing behind him. But there was no one there except for himself. Shrugging his shoulders and disregarding the female voice's command, he walked over to the corner of the room. Looking up at the shelf, he could see the names of what the potion was called.
"Transformation? Weakness? Invisibility?" Quintin mumbled to himself. "What was she going to do with these?" He continued.
After debating possible theories mentally about what she could've done with these potions, he had finally struck him. But before he could give it much more thought, the female blockhead's voice returned; this time whispering a bit louder.
"Drink it. Drink the liquid from the cauldron," the voice demanded.
Quintin shook his head and covered his ears. He turned around to look back at the cauldron. When he did, he yelped loudly. Standing behind the cauldron and staring over at him was a mysterious hooded blockhead. Her black hood was covering her upper face, therefore preventing Quintin from discovering her true identity. He uncovered his ears.
"Where'd you come from?" He asked the hooded blockhead. "How'd you get in here?"
"Drink the liquid," the blockhead told him, "it's your destiny. Drink it!"
Quintin tilted his head slightly. "It's my destiny? What does that mean?"
"I see things that no one else can and I can travel to places where you can't. Just call me the 'Fortune Teller," she explained to Quintin.
"You want to win the war don't you?" She asked.
"I do," Quintin answered.
"Then drink the potion," she said, pointing over at the cauldron with the reddish orange liquid inside it. "If you want to be more like your father, this is the solution."
"What does it do?" Quintin asked.
"It'll give you the power you need to win the war. You and your father, together, will be unstoppable. That is, however, if you choose to drink it."
He rolled his eyes dramatically and sighed. "Fine, I'll drink it," he finally concluded.
"Good," the fortune teller responded. Quintin walked up to the cauldron, looking down at the liquid inside. He gulped once and hesitated at first.
Dipping his hand into the liquid, it was hot. It had a thick density feel to it. When he pulled his hand up out of the cauldron, he lifted his hand up to where his mouth was. He tilted his head back and held his hand over his mouth. Three drops dripped off of his hand.
"See? Was that so hard?" the Fortune Teller asked as Quintin tilted his head forward. He wiped his hand on his armor, then looked over at her.
"Now tell me," Quintin said, "what's my destiny?"
"I can only reveal so much," she responded, "but I can tell you this: your Kingdom will fall, and your title as King of the OverWorld stripped away."
Quintin tilted his head and frowned. "Well, what does that mean?" He asked.
"You'll see soon enough," she answered.
Elsewhere, in the Woodlands Biome, Jacob was still lost. He had no map, no help from someone like a wandering trader, or traveling villager. It was the middle of the night. Chilly. Spooky. Dark. The only thing he had to defend himself was a stick. What could he possibly use a stick for? It wouldn't do him much good if he came into contact with a zombie or a large spider, or worse…a skeleton. He'd be nothing but a lost cause if that were to happen. But somehow, he's made it this far without seeing anything abnormal.
Suddenly, a bright white beam of light shined down onto the ground in front of him. He gasped and took a few steps back from the beaming white light. When he did that, he looked up into the cloudy night sky. There was something descending down towards him from the clouds above. As the figure got closer to the ground, he began to see that it was a blockhead.
He wiped his eyes with his hands to make sure he wasn't dreaming of this and that it was actually real and happening. Turns out, it wasn't a dream. This was real. What the heck is going on? Once the blockhead's feet touched the ground, the beam of light flickered and then disappeared. It was a female blockhead.
"Woah!" Jacob said as he stared at the beautiful female blockhead before him. "Who are you?"
The female blockhead smiled, looking down at him. She had long blonde hair and blue eyes. Wearing a white dress, and had a golden ring floating over her head. She had an angelic glow all around her body.
"Victoria," she answered. "A Goddess of the OverWorld."
"You're a–a goddess?" Jacob asked, "like the Goddess Edina and God Bennett?"
Victoria smiled and nodded her head a few times. She covered her mouth and giggled at the fact that he was amazed by her being a goddess. But in retrospect, the Gods and Goddesses of the OverWorld never frequently visited the lands below the heavens. Sure, they'd come down to check every couple of years or so, but never really stayed below for very long unless absolutely necessary.
"I've come down because I noticed you seem to be in a bit of a pickle, am I right?" Victoria asked. Jacob nodded his head.
"That's why I've come. I'm going to help you get somewhere safe. Somewhere where King Miraz won't be able to find you."
"He's not the King he used to be," Jacob mentioned, "he's changed. He's more sinister, more ruthless. He took my mother from me."
Victoria frowned when he told her that his mother was stripped away from him. No child should ever have to witness their parents' death. It was heartbreaking to hear that he had to witness that. She felt bad for him, guilty in a way. She had no words on how to express her sadness towards him. But then Victoria thought about the comment Jacob had made about King Miraz being different and not the same blockhead he once was.
"Jacob, darling," Victoria said, "you said King Miraz has changed. How?"
Jacob shrugged his shoulders and briefly looked away from her. He lowered his head and looked down at the ground.
"I'm not sure," he responded, "he doesn't look like he used to. He's different."
"How so?"
"His eyes are purple, his skin is black and has pulsating purple veins. He has a deeper voice than he used to," Jacob answered.
Victoria looked away from him, covering her mouth as she gasped. She didn't see this one coming. What are the others going to say when they find out what she just did? How are they going to react? Their creator, Massiah the Great, gave them clear instructions not to intervene with any blockhead conflicts or anything that didn't have to do with keeping the OverWorld safe. But this, this was something that was threatening the very safety of the OverWorld. The Crystal of Life was in danger of being stolen. If that were to occur, the OverWorld would come to a devastating end; also known as Mineaggedon. This wasn't good at all.
"I know a place," she said as she looked back down at Jacob, "a place where you'll be safe and out of harm's way."
"You do?" Jacob asked, "where?"
"It's a place far above the biomes of the OverWorld. A place in the sky. Inaccessible by foot."
"Really? You're going to help me? Where? What's this place called?" Jacob asked.
"Some blockheads call it the floating islands, but we Gods and Goddesses call it…SkyWorld."