[Jesse's POV]
Jesse: "Hey, have you noticed?"
Soren: "Huh? What do you mean?"
Jesse: "Inspect these pillars with the items more closely, see? These items aren't just sitting on top of it; they're sitting on this pressure plate on top of the pillar!"
Soren: "So you're telling me something gets triggered once we remove them?"
Jesse: "Well, let's find out."
(We remove the 5 items from their respective podiums.)
(Some of these items I've never seen before.)
(Soren had to tell me what some of those were.)
(The 5 items were: a ghast tear, 1 block of packed ice, 1 prismarine shard, 1 sea lantern, and... the ender dragon's egg???)
Jesse: "Soren, is this the actual ender dragon's egg?!"
Soren: "Alas... yes. The only thing that remains of our final adventure together..."
Jesse: "Shiny!"
(As soon as all of the items were removed, a part of one of the walls suddenly came down.)
(Revealed behind that wall were 5 numbered hoppers.)
(If I knew how puzzles worked, we're supposed to put these in a specific order?)
Jesse: "What do you think the order of these should be?"
Soren: "Well, all these items were ones that we as the Order collected over the years. I'm guessing it'll be in the order in which we found them first."
Jesse: "Okay then, well, can you remember when you collected all of them?"
Soren: "Uh, let me think... okay, I think I got it. Will you put them in order as I say so?"
Jesse: "Just start telling, okay?"
Soren: "Fine... Okay... I remember that our first official mission as the Order of the Stone was to get these ghast tears. We fought those ghasts for hours... and these tears were our reward."
Jesse: "Wow, are they really that hard to get?"
Soren: "You wouldn't understand if you hadn't fought a ghast before. These things don't always drop, you know."
Jesse: "Wow... and I thought my encounters with ghasts were impressive..."
(*plop Ghast tear in the first hopper.)
Soren: "Okay... one of the next missions was to a Ocean Monument... I assume? Ah yes! The Prismarine Shards! We nearly ran out of oxygen getting these! Ellegaard had to use a spare bucket just to grab a few extra breaths!"
Jesse: "Huh, Prismarine... Prismarine is such a cool word. Prizzzzzmarine!"
(Soren chuckles.)
Soren: "But we used most of these to craft a sea lantern, so this is the only shard that remained... oh, yeah! The sea lantern! The very same one the Order built, all those years ago! We were so green back then... It looks just as bright as on the day we crafted it..."
Jesse: "Must've been a chaotic adventure."
Soren: "Yeah... I still remember when we planned that day for so long... what time those must've been..."
Jesse: "Yeah, I can imagine that..."
(*plop plop Prismarine Shard in the second hopper, and Sea Lantern in the third hopper.)
Soren: "Oh, the packed ice! We brought it back from the Ice Plains Spikes biome. It was colder there than anywhere we'd ever been -- but Magnus slipped so many times, our laughter kept us warm... After that, we knew we were ready to face the Ender Dragon!"
Jesse: "Yeah... Magnus..."
(We turn silent for a moment.)
Jesse: "Welp, by process of elimination, the dragon egg goes into the last hopper, I guess..."
(*plop plop* Packed ice in the fourth hopper. Dragon Egg in the fifth hopper.)
(Not long after, some pistons could be heard nearby, and Reuben notifies us that another part of the wall has opened.)
Jesse: "Nice! Let's not waste time!"
(We head into the secret-er room. Upon entering, we're greeted by another sight.)
(The lighting of the room was purple, and everything here had that End Dimension vibe, and a scaled- down replica of the Ender Dragon was hanging from the ceiling.)
(It was like Ivor tried to recreate the End but a scaled-down version of it.)
(One side of the room had a purple stained-glass window.)
(Looking through, you could see replicas of the large obsidian pillars in the real End.)
(In the middle of the room were 4 more tall pillars, but those weren't made of obsidian.)
(They had banners on them and a button underneath them.)
(Each pillar had a different-colored banner with an item on it.)
(The first was blue with a diamond sword on it.)
(The second was red with redstone on it.)
(The third was green one with TNT on it.)
(and the fourth was yellow with a bow on it.)
Jesse: "Don't tell me... it's... another...puzzle...?"
(I waited for Soren to respond, but he was weirdly gazing at the room.)
Soren: "Woah... I know I often gave Ivor a hard time... but for all his complaining, his time with the Order clearly meant a great deal to him..."
Jesse: "Yeah... I guess so?"
Soren: "Jesse, this isn't just a replica of the end; this is a replica of the battle we had! With replica Ender Crystals and all!"
Jesse: "Whoa, wait, how did the battle even go? I've heard of it, but never, like, in detail?"
Soren: "Well, if you'd only been there... It was a fight for the ages! We'd spent weeks preparing for our greatest battle ever. The 5 of us all hopped into the portal with all of our weapons. But even so, the Ender Dragon was stronger than even I had imagined. I realized it was drawing strength from the Ender Crystals -- and that the crystals had to be destroyed. And with that, we devised a plan to destroy all of them. I drank several potions from Ivor for extra strength, and then hit the first with a perfectly placed arrow. Then, by launching myself on the shockwave of Magnus' TNT, landed on the pillar of the second crystal and destroyed it with no resistance! Of course, I knew from the first crystal I destroyed that these things blow up when you hit them, so I used that to my advantage and blew myself even higher into the air with the second crystal. As I flew back to earth, I managed to perfectly land on the dragon's back, who was foolishly flying right beside me. Using only my strength and my wiles, I steered the foul beast towards the third crystal. Ellegaard, who was on the ground, used that time to build a dispenser wall and shot right when I glided the Dragon in front of it. The barrage of arrows and my crashing the dragon into the third crystal caused it to lose a large portion of its health.
Wasting no time, I flew the injured beast directly towards the final crystal! And just before It flew into the last crystal, blowing up, I manage to jump down from the dragon in a fashion I would describe as the most spectacular thing I've ever done! As I fell down, I watched the dragon get obliterated over my head before landing on the ground below with a timed water bucket. The Ender Dragon, now fatally injured, falls down from the explosion, landing on the ground below like all of the puppet strings that were holding it in the air have suddenly been cut. And then... only then, did Gabriel deliver his famous final blow. With a small poke from his diamond sword, the dragon completely obliterated it, leaving no trace of it behind other than its egg.
And the rest is history. We became heroes, and eventually, legends..."
Jesse: "Whoa, you DID all that?!"
Soren: "They didn't call us the Order of the Stone for nothing, you know?"
Jesse: "Okay, fine. I'll promise not to doubt you again."
(Soren glares at me suspiciously.)
Jesse: "Anyway. I think it's obvious we're supposed to press these buttons in order of the battle, and the banners represent the Order members, right?"
Soren: "Yeah, I had a feeling that would be the case too. Well, then, the first one would be my banner, the yellow one with the bow. Next would be Magnus's, the green one with the TNT. Then Ellegaard, the red one with the redstone. And lastly, Gabriels, the blue one with the sword."
Jesse: "Okay, then..."
(I push the buttons in order, and in response to that, a lot of piston sounds can be heard through the walls.)
(however, it didn't open up any new hidden doors or anything of the kind.)
Jesse: "Great, now what? Did we miss something?"
Soren: "Hmm... that's weird. We did press it in the right order, didn't we?"
(We looked around the room in search of something that we might have missed
when we first entered the room.)
(When we couldn't find anything, I decided to deploy Reuben to search as well.)
(If we can't find anything with our eyes, then maybe Reuben can with his nose.)
(Eventually, Reuben narrowed his search down to one thing: the dragon statue that's hanging from the ceiling.)
(Now that we're inspecting it, not every
part of the dragon is hanging out of reach.)
(The tail section of the statue curls down, coming down to just 4 blocks above ground at the end of it.)
Jesse: "Hm, I think I might be able to get onto the thing if I climb up there."
Soren: "That might work, but how will it help with our search?"
Jesse: "We've practically searched the entire room already, except for the top of the dragon. How will we know if there isn't some hidden switch at the top of it?"
Soren: "Hm... well, now that you mention it, I DID ride the dragon in the end battle. Perhaps it could have some relevance to the puzzle."
(And just like that, we decided. We need to see what's up there.)
Jesse: "Hey Reuben... give me a boost, will ya?"
(Reuben nods and gets into position.)
(I swiftly climbed onto Reuben's back.)
(I make a small hop off of Reuben and catch the edge of the tail.)
(My arms weren't in best shape, so the task of pulling myself up was way harder than it was supposed to be.)
(But nevertheless, I finally managed to do so after a few tries.)
(I slowly make my way up the dragon, and what do you know? I find a lever sticking out of the back of the dragon's head.)
Jesse: "Well, what do you know?"
(I flick the switch, and after another round of loud piston sounds, a part of the wall finally opens up.)
Soren: "Bravo! You did it!"
(Huff. But now I have to climb down this thing too... I won't say I'm THAT scared of heights, but this thing was higher than expected! I carefully make my way back down.)
(After a few dozen seconds, I finally reach the end of the tail again, where I'm able to jump down safely.)
Soren: "That could've been done faster."
Jesse: "Shush, you weren't the one who went up there."
Soren: "I already told you, I'm not a fan of heights!"
Jesse: "I thought you were afraid of flying?"
Soren: "Same thing! Let's just move on!"
(We head through the last hidden corridor.)
Jesse: "Please don't say there are more puzzles."
(Contrary to what I said, the hallway leads to a dimly lit room, and in the center of it was a small table... with the enchantment book on top.)
Jesse: "Oh my god... There's the book! I can't believe it. This journey is finally coming to an end!"
(I was expecting Soren to explode in joy, but for some reason, he turned quiet the moment we entered the room.)
(Not only Soren, but Reuben too. What is going on?)
Soren: "No... it can't be..."
(Soren was staring at something behind the book.)
(I was so concentrated on the book that I didn't notice it beforehand.)
(At the back of the room... were 4 crystals of some sort.)
Jesse: "Wait a second... those crystals... look exactly like the replica ones from the other room!"
(But they didn't look like they were recreated with other blocks.)
(These ones looked real.)
Jesse: "Are those... the real ones...?"
(It turned uncomfortably silent as we all just stood there staring at this contradiction.)
[Meanwhile - Lukas's POV]
Gabriel: "Urgh... how does this mechanism work...? Can't we just find a way around the lava?"
Lukas: "Destruction of private property?"
Gabriel: "Oh, c'mon! Soren already destroyed that shelf; surely Ivor wouldn't mind if we broke his secret passage, right?"
Olivia: "I dunno, just keep working on the redstone circuit; it has to open at some point, right?"
(We've been stuck here trying to get this lava curtain to open for a few minutes already, and it's starting to get tiring.)
(And so when we heard a noise coming from behind us, we immediately shifted our focus to that.)
Olivia: "WHO'S THERE?!"
(Olivia and Gabriel draw their swords as we look at the person trying to sneak up behind us.)
(And to our surprise, a man wearing a yellow-olive robe reveals himself from behind a bookshelf, clutching his shoulder.)
Gabriel: "Ivor! You made it back!"
Ivor: " 'Almost' would be a better word to describe it."
(Ivor removes his hand from his shoulder to reveal that there was a red stain soaking his robe there, with a small hole ripped open where his shoulder was.)
Lukas: "Woah, what happened?!"
Ivor: "Stupid mobs managed to land a shot when I was luring them away from you. It hurt like hell to get the flint out."
Lukas: "Is it still bleeding? Do you need medical help?"
Ivor: "Do I look like I'm dying?! I can take care of myself, you know!"
Lukas: "Well, sorry I asked."
Ivor: "And can anyone tell me why I came back to MY house looking like it was trashed?!"
Gabriel: "Sorry, that was Soren's fault."
(Ivor facepalms.)
Ivor: "I should've seen this coming..."
Olivia: "We can always just clean it later. What's important right now is that we need to get through your unreliable passageway that won't open!"
(Ivor makes quick glances between us and the lever before facepalming again.)
Ivor: "I thought you were smarter than this."
Olivia: "Not my fault your contraptions are a mess!"
(Ivor ignores Olivia's comment and proceeds to break open a hole in the wall to reveal another lever.)
(After Ivor flicks it, the lava starts falling down again, opening the passageway.)
Lukas: "T-That was here the WHOLE TIME???"
Ivor: "Ever heard of a failsafe? You know what, nevermind; let's just keep going."
(And just like that, we make our way down.)
(It was a long way down, so it seemed like it would take a while to reach our destination.)
Olivia: "Heeeeeyyyyy Lukas!"
(Olivia suddenly approaches me out of nowhere.)
Lukas: "Uhh... hey! What's up?"
Olivia: "Nothing; I just wanted to talk since I hadn't had the chance to get to know you yet."
Lukas: "Okay? Then what do you want to talk about?"
Olivia: "Sooo... how are you doing? Found someone you like yet?"
Lukas: "Hah? That's a really sudden thing to ask someone out of nowhere."
Olivia: "I was just curious! You don't pay attention to such stuff?"
Lukas: "Well... I've never really had someone like this. I just never had the time for something like that... I always had to look out for the Ocelots."
Olivia: "Oh, right... but if you were to pursue someone, what team do you play for?"
(Olivia started to suddenly get really close and personal.)
(What is she trying to do at this point in time???)
Lukas: "W-What are you trying to say!?"
Olivia: "C'mon! I won't judge you!"
(Olivia is holding up an innocent smile, but for some reason, it feels like she's hiding ulterior motives.)
Lukas: "This is embarrassing to talk about... why are you asking?"
Olivia: "Sorry, but I need to know your answer! And the fact that you're reluctant to answer is often a sign of someone who has yet to come out of their closet-!"
Lukas: "Shut up! Why do you even need to know this?!"
Olivia: "I don't, but someone else wants to."
Lukas: "Eh?"
(That caught me off guard. Wait... who...?)
Olivia: "Sorry, I was trying not to be obvious. It's kinda embarrassing for me
too, since I didn't really know how to approach this myself."
Lukas: "W...What are you trying to say?"
(Olivia looks away for a moment.)
(Her voice shifts from a teasing tone to more of a worried one.)
Olivia: "I wasn't sure if I should tell you this, but I don't want them to be stuck in this situation forever. Lukas, someone has a crush on you."
(...Eh?)
(I stood there dumbfounded.)
(I've never been in this situation before, so I didn't know how to react.)
(A crush... on me...?)
Olivia: "I won't ask you to date them, but if you do, please take good care of them, okay?"
Lukas: "Wait! Who are you referring to-"
Ivor: "SHHH."
(Ivor interrupts the conversation and signals us to hide behind a wall.)
(We had been walking for a while, so I didn't notice that we were walking into a different room that I'd never seen before.)
(The room was decorated to look like a replica of the end, with a dragon statue hanging from the ceiling and everything.)
(We didn't know if Ivor meant danger, so we promptly did what he asked.)
Gabriel: "What's wrong? Are there mobs?!"
(We were hiding just next to a corridor that seemed to lead farther into this lab.)
Ivor: "Someone's in there! Listen!"
(We placed our ears on the walls and listened in.)
(It was a little hard to understand, but we could identify 2 voices.)
(Those were... Jesse and Soren.)
[Jesse's POV]
Soren: "He kept them... The fool actually kept them!"
Jesse: "But weren't those things destroyed in your big heroic battle with the Ender Dragon? The battle DID happen... right...?"
Soren: "Yeah- well... I..."
(For the first time, Soren visibly stumbled over his words.)
(It was becoming obvious.)
(Something wasn't matching up.)
(I was initially believing his story because it genuinely sounded like something he could accomplish, but for the first time, I started to doubt him.)
Jesse: "Soren... you WERE telling what really happened, right...?"
(I and Reuben started staring at Soren intensely.)
Soren: "J-Jesse, t-this isn't... this isn't what it looks like! Our story -- the story -- it's mostly true! I swear! I swear!"
Jesse: "Soren... you said that destroying the Ender Crystals was the key to defeating the Ender Dragon. But if they're here unharmed, then what did actually happen that day, Soren? You weren't lying to me, were you?"
(My gaze slowly turned into a death stare as my doubts grew bigger and bigger.)
(Soren, meanwhile, started trembling more and more.)
Soren: "I can't... we swore never to speak of it..."
Jesse: "Speak of what? What exactly are you hiding from us?"
(Soren fell short on words.)
(Tension filled the room as it grew silent once again. I know it'll continue to be like that if I don't do something, so after a while, I finally broke the silence.)
Jesse: "I think it's time to start talking."
(Soren tried to look me in the eyes, but I think he already understood that there was no opportunity to escape.)
(Eventually, Soren took a deep breath... and, after a quick glance at us, finally started to speak.)
Soren: "Fine... you caught me. I'm afraid I haven't been honest with you, Jesse. I guess nothing can be hidden away forever."
Jesse: "What do you mean?"
(Soren sighed deeply once again.)
Soren: "Let me tell you the real story of 'The Order of the Stone'."
[To be continued...]