[Jesse's POV]
Soren: "I don't know what day it was, but I still clearly remember what happened on that day. Back then, we were nobodies, just a group of friends who could only dream of becoming what we are today. We were out mining together because, back then, we barely had good enough weapons to ward off the common mobs by ourselves. Our expectations going in were low; we didn't have the skills we have now, so when I saw a glimmering light at the bottom of an underground ravine we were in, I immediately went to check it out. It was a weird glowing block partially buried in the floor. It had a weird glow to it that we'd never seen before. Since it was the first rare thing we found, we decided to take it home. That is, until we couldn't figure out how to break it and obtain it. I decided to inspect the block closer, and then I figured out that it had a function where you could input stuff. It was hard to learn its language without any instructions, but we did eventually manage to figure out how to move it back home. We eventually named it 'The Command Block'. Of course, with such a discovery, we were curious to learn more about it, and so the more we used it, the more we started to depend on it. With that block, we were able to get all the materials we needed for better weapons and armor, and we were able to do much more and go to more places than we could ever go before. However, our skills could only become so much better, and eventually, the adventures we went on started to become out of our league, even for us. Ivor wanted us to stop relying on it, as it felt like we were cheating our way through life, spoiling us with things we weren't supposed to have, and even then, we still didn't know the true capabilities of that block. But it was the only thing keeping our lives afloat at that point, and no one wanted to turn back to the nobodies we were before. And so, we kept depending on the Command Block for everything, and then everything came to an end with our last adventure, the Ender Dragon. The second we entered that portal, it became very clear that the Ender Dragon was too powerful for us. The others had no idea what we were supposed to do at that moment, and so I concocted a plan. I used the Command Block to blink the Ender Dragon out of existence, something we weren't supposed to have accomplished but were able to with the help of that cheap block. And that... secured our status as legends... forever... We told the world we defeated the dragon, and the rest... is history."
(I and Reuben stood there in shock.)
(To find out that the people we've been looking up to... were liars the whole time.)
Jesse: "W-Why would you do that? You lied... to everyone... to the whole world!"
(Soren looked down.)
Soren: "All I can say is... I was a fool."
Ivor: "So you finally admit it."
(We jump when we suddenly hear a voice behind us.)
(To our surprise, we see Ivor, Olivia, Lukas, and Gabriel standing by the doorway, looking at us.)
Soren: "Ivor!?"
Jesse: "Uh... how long have you guys been standing there?"
Ivor: "Long enough that they heard the whole thing."
Olivia: "Soren... how could you?"
Gabriel: "So we're liars? All of us?"
Lukas: "Yeah, I think you are..."
(Gabriel sighs and proceeds to look down.)
Soren: "But Ivor... why?"
Ivor: "You didn't think you could keep it secret forever, did you, Soren? The truth hurts, doesn't it?!"
Jesse: "Is this why you left the Order? Because Soren lied?"
Ivor: "Because they all did! Soren, Gabriel, Magnus, Ellegaard. They agreed to keep this a secret!"
Soren: "And you!? You agreed to stay quiet, too! In exchange for all of our treasures!"
(Olivia gasps.)
Ivor: "I've technically never told anybody. Jesse discovered the truth on his own."
Lukas: "So this whole thing -- this Wither you unleashed has -- all been to teach the Order a lesson?!"
Ivor: "To teach the world a lesson! To show you who the Order really are!"
(Ivor points at Soren.)
Ivor: "Liars! Cowards! And now they know!"
Jesse: "How is that any better? In all your scheming to expose the Order, you've nearly destroyed the known world!"
Ivor: "Look, my Wither plan obviously backfired!"
Olivia: "Ya THINK?"
Ivor: "I didn't know we'd end up with three of those things tearing the world apart!"
Jesse: "Which brings us back to why we're here. Can we get the enchantment book? We still need to destroy the Command Block!"
(Soren sighs.)
Soren: "Jesse's right. Destroying the Command Block is all that matters anymore."
(Ivor hesitated for a second to agree with Soren.)
(but eventually decided to put his emotions aside to work together one last time.)
Ivor: "Fine... Let's go and enchant that super weapon."
Jesse: "The what?"
Ivor: "Follow me; there's another room you need to see."
(Ivor grabs the book and escorts us through another hidden door.)
Ivor: "How ironic that the best thing the Command Block gave us was the very means to destroy it."
Soren: "Spare us the poetry. It's not your strong suit."
(Ivor gives a 'whatever' look to Soren before going back to walking.)
(We reach one final room of the lab.)
(In front of us were a few armor stands on display.)
(On each of them was a unique set of armor, each with its own set of colors.)
(The only other things in the room were a small chest, a crafting table, and an anvil.)
Ivor: "Grab some ingredients from the chest and craft a weapon. Then I'll show you how to enchant it."
Jesse: "Sweet."
(I walk over to the chest to find a bunch of sticks and... diamonds?!)
Jesse: "Wait, you're actually letting me craft a diamond weapon?!"
Ivor: "I mean, aren't you currently weaponless?"
Jesse: "Oh, yeah... right..."
(I grab the items out of the chest and place them on the crafting table.)
Jesse: "Uh... which weapon would be the best for this job?"
Olivia: "Uh... don't you break blocks with a pickaxe? Isn't a diamond pickaxe typically the first diamond tool you normally make?"
Jesse: "Oh right, that makes sense..."
(I crafted the diamond pickaxe.)
Jesse: "Awesome! I've never owned a diamond weapon!"
(I swung the pickaxe as a test.)
(Man, this thing is heavier than I thought, probably because I only used to own wooden tools...)
Ivor: "Save the test swings for later."
(Ivor gestures me towards the anvil.)
Ivor: "Now just wait until you enchant it!"
(Ivor hands me the book.)
(I've never used an anvil before, so I was kinda nervous.)
Jesse: "Um... how do you use this thing?"
Ivor: "Oh for the love of-"
(Ivor facepalms.)
Ivor: "Just place the darn thing on the anvil; it's not that hard!"
Jesse: "Okay, okay! Jeez..."
(I place the pickaxe and the book on the anvil, and just like magic, they suddenly start combining into one item.)
(After being engulfed in smoke, the item emerging from the anvil turns into a beautifully glittering pickaxe.)
(with the sides of it covered in some sort of transparent, colorful layer that glows.)
Jesse: "Woah... I've never seen a weapon like this before..."
(Reuben oinks excitedly.)
Ivor: "Yes, that should do the job nicely. But if you're fighting those Wither Monsters head on... you'll need better armor, too."
Jesse: "But... this armor was Magnus's last gift; I can't just replace it..."
Ivor: "If you really want to cherish that armor, then I would put it in your inventory; it could break if you used it for too long, and besides, these ones behind me are a lot stronger anyway."
Jesse: "*sigh* Fine..."
(I put Magnus' armor away.)
(Even if I don't use it anymore, at least I can thank it for the times it saved me on this journey.)
(While Ivor takes me to the armor stands, he gestures for Lukas and Olivia to come towards us as well.)
Lukas: "You're giving us armor too???"
Ivor: "Would you rather aid Jesse without one?"
Olivia: "Well, not really."
Ivor: "Just take any one of them. I enchanted these for the Order. They're
about as strong as it comes. They're even able to withstand TNT!"
Lukas: "Sweet!"
(I had never owned armor before, so I was stuck on what to choose for a while.)
(Lukas and Olivia seemed to have already eyed down their preferred set, so now it was just me who had to choose.)
Jesse: "Uh... how about this one?"
Ivor: "Ah, I call this one the Star Shield! No object in the universe can penetrate it!"
Jesse: "Yeah, yeah, just give me that one."
(Slowly but surely, we put on our new set of armors.)
Jesse: "Okay, how do I look?"
Ivor: "Ready for action!"
Jesse: "Welp, that's good enough for me."
(I turn to Olivia and Lukas.)
(Olivia wore armor similar to Ellegaard's, mostly red-black, completed with gold linings, and a brown aviator helmet with golden goggles.)
(Lukas, meanwhile, had a gray-black one with an orange shirt underneath; he was also wearing his own goggles on his head.)
Olivia: "Nice armor, guys!"
Jesse: "Ehh... I just chose the one that looked the least depressing."
Olivia: "Wow. You know you're gonna have to rely on these to defeat the wither storm, right?"
Jesse: "Okay, fine... I'll promise to never hurt their feelings again, alright?"
Olivia: "Fine..."
(While I and Olivia were chatting, I noticed that, despite Lukas being right next to us, he's been awfully quiet lately.)
Jesse: "Hey Lukas, you're alright?"
Lukas: "Huh?"
(Lukas seemed to snap out of a trance when I said that.)
Lukas: "Oh, I was just thinking about something. I'm fine, Jesse; you don't have to worry about me."
Jesse: "Oh... okay, then..."
(After saying that, Lukas gave us a smile and walked away. I swiftly turned to Olivia.)
Jesse: "Uh... you don't think anything happened to him, right?"
Olivia: "Well..."
(Olivia fidgets with her fingers.)
Olivia: "I think we should let him figure it out himself for the moment."
(I didn't really understand what she meant, but if Lukas needs time to think alone, then I guess I can't do anything about it.)
Gabriel: "Hey everyone! We found food!"
(Gabriel and Ivor suddenly come barging in from another hidden door we didn't notice till now, carrying a load of different kinds of food.)
Jesse: "Wait, how many more rooms are hidden in this place?"
Ivor: "Oh, you really thought that was all of my Lab? I should give you a tour of this place sometime. But it was just a small storage room -- nothing really special. Since we already know how long one trip from here to back home takes, we can correctly calculate how much food we need to bring so that not another situation like last time will happen."
Jesse: "Oh, no... I completely forgot we'd need to take the ENTIRE trip back too. ARGH... this is gonna take so long."
Lukas: "Well, at least we don't have to take the trip back with our stomachs almost empty."
(I sigh.)
Jesse: "I guess..."
(We head over to secure our portion.)
Olivia: "Umm... not to point fingers, but that's a suspiciously large amount of meat you have there... especially chicken. What are you? A butcher?"
(Reuben squeals in fear.)
Ivor: "What?! No! All of my farms are 100% vegan! I can explain-"
Jesse: "Okay, I think we can all agree that once we leave, we're never visiting this place again."
(Ivor scoffs.)
Ivor: "You're missing out on so many efficient inventions I could've shown you."
Lukas: "Let's just get back to Soren's Fortress and see how the Wither Storms are doing against those Enderman."
(Everyone sighs.)
Jesse: "Let's just get this over with..."
(As we start heading out of the room, Soren suddenly stops Ivor in his tracks.)
Soren: "Wait, Ivor!"
(Ivor sighs in an annoyed manner.)
Ivor: "What is it?"
(Soren stutters for a second. I guess he must've been building up the courage to try and say it for a while now.)
Soren: "Ivor... I'm sorry. About everything."
(Ivor turns silent for a moment. I guess he didn't expect Soren to even apologize.)
Ivor: "Yes, well... it doesn't matter now."
(Ivor turns away with a dejected look. Soren proceeded to look down sadly. It was a complicated situation to barge into, so no one intervened.)
(Without saying another word, we continued walking, making that tedious journey back.)
[Around a week later - Lukas's POV]
Olivia: "Hey Axel!"
(Axel jumps up before looking over to us in shock.)
Axel: "H-How did you find my cave!?"
Jesse: "Umm... you placed torches all around your base; it was pretty obvious you were here."
(Axel facepalms.)
(While we were closing in on Soren's Fortress at night, we spotted a forest that was shining brighter than a city.)
(so we went to check out who it was.)
(The cave wasn't big; actually, it looked like Axel boarded up the rest of the cave and just turned the entrance of it into a
base.)
(The entrance wasn't even big enough for our horses, so we had to park them outside.)
Axel: "Woah, where did you guys get such cool armor?"
Lukas: "We got it from Ivor's Lab. He was kind enough to give us these sets. We bought an extra pair if you want one."
Axel: "Thanks! That's awesome! But I don't think I can join you guys in the fight against the Weather Storm."
(We all looked over to Petra, who's bedridden on a makeshift bed inside the cave.)
Jesse: " *sigh* So much for a happy reunion..."
Olivia: "Is she... doing okay?"
Axel: "Far from it. We ran out of potions, so I had to start brewing my own. Problem is, you need ghast tears for regen potions, and I've almost died several times just getting these. I'm sorry, but I don't think I can keep doing this. I'm trying my hardest to take care of her, but it's too much!"
(The room turned silent as everyone crowded themselves around Petra's bed.)
(Reuben oinked at Petra, trying to wake her up.)
(Then she was finally able to open her heavy eyelids.)
Petra: "Guys..."
Olivia: "Petra..."
Petra: "I'm sorry... I can't combat it... cough cough"..."
Lukas: "Don't say that! You'll make it through! Just hang in there for a little longer, okay? We'll hurry and defeat that monster, then everything will go away, okay?!"
(Petra tilts her head to the other side of the bed.)
Petra: "...You... really think so...?"
Lukas: "Of course... you can't give up now..."
(Petra didn't respond; it didn't look like she had the energy left to talk, so we stopped trying to make her do so.)
(Axel stood up and looked directly at us with desperation.)
Axel: "You have to kill that thing fast. I don't know how many more days she has left..."
(We looked at each other.)
Jesse: "I guess we can't stay for longer. C'mon, let's go and eliminate that creature once and for all."
(We nodded our heads and started walking out of the cave.)
(Then, before exiting the cave, we looked back one final time.)
Lukas: "Take care... Axel."
Axel: "...Yeah..."
(Axel didn't even look at us. I knew how bad the situation had become, but I still wanted to give some sort of encouragement to him.)
(We left with those words.)
(Outside of the cave, we were met by Ivor, Soren, and Gabriel, who were waiting for us.)
Gabriel: "How is she doing?"
Jesse: "Not good, we have to hurry; how much longer to Soren's Fortress?"
Ivor: "Not long, around half a day."
Jesse: "Good, then let's not waste time."
(As everyone hopped on their horses, I, Jesse, and Reuben hopped onto ours.)
(Since Jesse was the one steering yesterday, it was my turn to be in the driver's seat again.)
(Before I knew it, we had departed from Axel's cave.)
(Reuben was sitting on my lap, and Jesse was holding onto me from behind.)
(I know it was routine at that point, but there was something at the back of my mind that's still occupying my mind.)
(I know it's not a good time for this, but the words Olivia told me had me questioning myself.)
(Jesse. He was the only one I could think of by process of elimination.)
(The fact that Olivia questioned me on that topic and that he's the person I talked to the most out of anyone here. It had to be him.)
(I could feel his body heat on my back. Did he already fall asleep?)
(*sigh*We've been riding for almost a week now, and even though we're right next to each other, I can't bring myself to bring up that topic.)
(I don't like how awkward it turned out between us, but I don't know what I should do.)
(I'm afraid if I make the wrong move, it might destroy our friendship, so I'm just pretending like I don't know for the time being.)
(I admit that he's a pleasant person to talk to, and I do like his company.)
(I'd even consider him my closest friend here.)
(Come to think of it, I always had the feeling that Jesse seemed hesitant to be close to me.)
(Back then, I didn't think much of it, but now I can see why.)
(Argh... what should I do? Time is passing by, and we're closer than ever before to Soren's Fortress.)
(Should I wait until after everything's done? *sigh* I can't decide.)
(The only thing I can do is just let time pass...)
[Jesse's POV]
(When I woke up, I didn't even notice that I'd fallen asleep.)
(I was leaning on Lukas's back again.)
(How many times has this happened already? I guess I shouldn't be the one complaining... The sky was bright again.)
(We left Axel's cave at night, so it must've been almost half a day already.)
Lukas: "Oh, sorry, did I wake you up?"
Jesse: "Huh? No, not really."
Lukas: "Oh, okay then... well, we're almost there anyway, so glad I didn't
have to forcefully wake you up later."
Jesse: "Haha, very funny..."
(I looked at the landscape.)
(The familiar terrain felt oddly nostalgic. The trees, the grass... it all looked so normal in comparison to the farlands.)
(Did we really do that trip in just two weeks? And now, we're about to arrive at Soren's Fortress again, where everything will eventually come to an end.)
Jesse: "Can you believe this journey is about to end?"
Lukas: "Yeah, I can't either, and I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing."
Jesse: "Same. But no matter what happens, everything comes to a close today. What will tomorrow even look like?"
Lukas: "I don't know. Honestly, I just want things to go back to how they were before. I kinda miss the old peaceful atmosphere."
Jesse: "Yeah... me too... me too..."
(Before we knew it, the sky around us had started to turn dark again.)
(Was it turning to nighttime again? No... it's too early.)
(Was it starting to rain? No... those aren't raindrops flying around us.)
(We started hearing loud sounds. Unfortunately, that wasn't thunder.)
(Those sounded more like terrifying roars you would hear in the Nether.)
(And then... Ivor made it clear where we'd arrived.)
Ivor: "Looks like we've reached our destination..."
(We stopped our horses.)
(From this distance, we could already see the beast we never wanted to see again.)
(The mountain that Soren's Fortress was located on didn't even look like a mountain anymore, but more like a giant crater.)
(And the Wither Storm was flying above that crater.)
(This is it... The Final Showdown...)
[To be continued...]