Ender Origins [Ch. 6]

Mountain Biome, OverWorld

Resistance Base

King Miraz and his soldiers had vanished thanks to Mileena's quick actions. The threat of him attacking the base was no more. Outside the wall surrounding the base, were many patrolling guardsmen. All armed with crossbows, and armored from head-to-toe in chain armor. They had all witnessed what she had done to protect the Resistance Base. Having their back facing them, she raised her hands above her head to indicate to them that she meant no harm.

"I mean no harm," she said, "I come in peace."

"You're the King's deadly, shapeshifting falcon. Why betray him like that?" One guard, who's name is Joey, responded as he took one step forward. He made sure to keep his crossbow's aim fixated on her. For all any of them knew, she could be tricking them into thinking she was good. But perhaps she was telling the truth?

She turned around to where she was facing the guardsmen. She lowered her arms and took a step forward towards them. There was a sense of aggression from the guards towards Mileena. But just as she was to explain herself further, the sounds of horses neighing and trotting were heard from behind Mileena. She turned around to see who it was.

"We've arrived," John said as he gently pulled back on the ropes to bring the horses to a stop. The wagon started swaying back and forth as the other blockheads inside the wagon began moving around. Inside the wagon, Merlin was looking for his glasses but couldn't seem to find them.

"Lucile, have you seen my glasses?" Merlin asked as he began searching through chests, and his inventory for his glasses.

Lucile walked over to him. He stopped looking for his glasses and looked up at her. She covered her mouth and giggled briefly. She reached up to grab his glasses off the top of his head. He had forgotten that he put them up before sitting down to read a book earlier after hitching a ride with them.

"Maybe lay off the swiftness potion for a while?" Lucile suggested to Merlin as he put his glasses back on. He looked over at her and nodded his head in agreement.

"I think that'd be a good idea, yeah?" Merlin responded with a question.

As for John, he jumped down from the bench at the front of the wagon. He walked over to his two horses and began gently petting them to calm them down. They were huffing and puffing, catching their breath.

"There's a small pond nearby for them if they're thirsty," Kurt, another Guardsman stationed outside the wall, said. For someone who was supposed to intimidate others, he surely wasn't acting like one that did that. Instead he was acting more friendly and warm-welcoming.

"Thanks," John said.

Lucile, Merlin, and Melinda had all jumped down from the wagon and onto the ground. Merlin jumped down first, assisting Melinda and Lucile thereafter.

Alongside the main gates was a side door. Fitted to allow access for everyone if the gates were damaged or destroyed. It would also act as an emergency exit if any such attack were to occur. The side door was opened, and out came three blockheads.

The first blockhead to walk out was the leader of the Resistance himself; John. He wasn't wearing any armor or carrying any weapons or arrows. He was defenseless against anything and everything. An arrow, a TNT explosion. He's entirely vulnerable.

"John?" Mileena said as she looked over at him. When he turned and looked over at her, he froze. He was completely taken away by seeing her again. He greeted her with open arms.

"Golly, is it really you?" John asked as he approached her.

To confirm his skepticism about if Mileena was really who she said she was, or if she was an imposter posing at Mileena. Many attempts to infiltrate the Resistance base and gain intel on battle plans, troop movements, and where they were going to attack next have all failed. Blockheads who randomly appeared at the front gates weren't immediately granted access until their true identity was confirmed by John himself.

Before he held his arms out to welcome Mileena in for a hug, he had to ask one simple question; one question that the real Mileena would know the answer to.

"Forgive me in advance," John said, "answer me this: who were the founding members of the Resistance? And when was the Resistance movement created?"

Mileena smiled faintly and scoffed. She was amazed to find out that John, after leaving the Resistance shortly after it was created, was still following protocol. A protocol put into effect after King Miraz's forces attacked the base, leaving dozens of members injured and taken hostage. Those who were taken were used as the collateral; meaning that if the Resistance wanted their members back they'd have to give Miraz something in exchange.

But to this very day, those taken are still prisoners. Both sides agreed that it was time to negotiate a peace treaty. But what Miraz was asking for in return was for the Resistance to cease all efforts in opposing him. Sure both sides wanted to negotiate a deal, but neither side could agree on the terms of this treaty. Hence while the Great OverWorld War is still ongoing.

"Goddesses of the OverWorld and myself," Mileena responded, "founded to end the King's reign and to build a brighter future for those to come hundreds of years from now. Does that answer your questions?"

"It does," John said as he began quivering his lips. He walked up to her and wrapped his arms around her, giving her a brief tight hug. Now that he knew it was really her, he instantly filled with joy. Seeing her again made him become emotional and happy all at the same time. "You don't know how happy I am to see you. I'd assumed you'd never return."

"But I did," Mileena said, "I may have been absent, but that didn't mean I wasn't still lending a hand. Who do you think leaked highly secretive information to you? Me. If it weren't for my careful and cautious actions, we wouldn't be where we are today. The probabilities of me being caught were great. The only way to divert attention away from me was to marry King Miraz. It worked better than I'd anticipated it would. I never thought it'd last this long. But thankfully it did."

After explaining everything to John, he now had a better understanding of what she's been up to these past ten years. She was right after all. Attention was turned away from her, allowing her to get away with her treasonous acts against King Miraz and the Kingdom.

"Open the gates," John said as he turned around. The guards walked over to two big wooden wheels and began turning them to their left. Faint rumbling sounds were heard as the gates slowly opened. "We have much to discuss. Come with me."

Meanwhile, back at King Miraz's Castle, something catastrophic was about to happen to their beloved King. While planning their next attack on the Resistance. The attack that was supposed to happen earlier today, never went through thanks to Queen Mileena.

"My King," one of his Commanders, who's name is Tobie, said as he looked over to his left at him. "Are you alright?"

King Miraz looked up away from the map of the OverWorld and looked over at his Commander. He nodded his head and faintly smiled, reassuring him that he was fine. But what Commander Tobie didn't know was that Miraz was in extreme pain. Feeling lightheaded, throbbing pain in his arms and stomach areas, and was running a fever.

"I'm fine," he said as he looked back down at the map. He pointed to the Jungle Biome, which was about a two day trip from the Kingdom. "There's more than one base, I'm sure of it."

"We can't be certain," another Commander said, expressing his concerns about moving soldiers to that biome with no concrete evidence of a resistance outpost ever being there. "You're asking us to risk more soldiers; young male blockheads. These gentle blocks have families you know."

"Families that won't exist if we don't win!" Miraz responded as he briefly looked down at the map. He had both hands resting on the table. He suddenly began breathing heavily. He lifted his head up so fast, it startled his four present Commanders. But that wasn't the thing that startled them.

In the blink of an eye, Miraz's facial appearances changed. Both of his eyes turned all purple, his face transformed from skin into black obsidian with pulsating purple veins. His hands began emitting black smoke. Purple particles began floating in the air around his body.

"My King," Commander Tobie said as he took a step back from the table. "What's happened to you?"

King Miraz sharply turned his head, looking directly over at Tobie. He tilted his head slightly as he stared into Tobie's eyes.

"I feel—I feel—stronger," King Miraz said as he began examining his hands, admiring the beauty of the black smoke emitting from them.

"Where's the nurse? He needs help!" Commander Gregory said, beginning to shout for someone to come help. Their King was clearly not himself. Something had happened to him; something catastrophically terrifying. "NURSE!"

"NO!" King Miraz shouted as he looked over at Commander Gregory, "no need for the nurses, no need to raise alarms. I'm fine. See?" He continued as he raised his left hand. But when he did, a purple orb shot out of his hand. The purple orb hit Commander Tobie in the face, splattering like a paintball.

He began screaming and shouting out. The purple liquid-like substance on his face began eating away at his gold armor, and golden helmet. As the substance spread across his face, it began transforming him into something out of this world. His screams turned into deafening screeches. His head grew bigger, and he grew in height. His arms and legs grew longer and slimmer.

Once the substance evaporated into his body, what was left of Commander Tobie was a creature not of this World. Tall, obsidian like skin, purple eyes, and pulsating veins. The remaining three commanders were frightened beyond comparison. Without saying anything further, they vacated the room in such a hurry, that only seconds later King Miraz and this creature remained.

Miraz tilted his head as he examined the otherworldly creature from head to toe.

"What—are you?" He questioned as he tilted his head to his right. The creature faintly squealed and followed his every motion. He lifted an arm, the creature lifted his arm. He tilted his head, the creature tilted its head.

"I must be dreaming," Miraz mumbled to himself as he looked away and down at the map of the OverWorld. He was mentally trying to process everything that had just happened. It all happened so quickly that he couldn't keep up. His Commanders abandoned and doubted him.

"This must be my destiny," Miraz questioned as he examined his body again. "From the Gods and Goddesses of the OverWorld; a gift to me."

"A gift from the Gods and Goddesses, huh?" Quintin said as he stood in the doorway, staring at his transformed father. Unlike the Commanders, Quintin wasn't frightened by the creature. But he was upset. Upset that his father hid this from him.

Miraz looked over at his son and took one step towards him. He could see that his son was upset. But he had explanations for why he didn't tell him about this sooner.

"Theoretically speaking, yes," Miraz said.

"Why?" Quintin asked.

"I didn't want to scare you away. I wanted—."

"Needed may I correct," Quintin said, "you needed me. You didn't protect me by hiding this from me. You're always in it for yourself. Nothing but yourself, right?"

"There's no need to get mad at me," Miraz said, "I did nothing wrong, and nothing that would hurt you. I'm still your father, and you're still my heir."

Quintin looked away from him and scoffed. He shook his head a couple of times as he turned around to where his back was facing Miraz. Just before he walked out of the room, Quintin said one last thing to his father.

"I can see why mother betrayed you," Quintin said, "you let her walk away freely. It's all finally beginning to make sense. Your Kingdom is starting to turn on you. It won't be long before you're overthrown. That's only a matter of time."

After he said that, he walked out of the room. Once Quintin was gone, Miraz and the creature were all that remained in the room. Suddenly, the creature picked up an oakwood plank block from the floor. Holding it in both hands, it screeched. Miraz looked up into the creature's eyes, tilting his head back and forth a couple of times. Tapping his repeatedly, he was mentally thinking of a name for this creature of his.

"Hmm," he mumbled, "what should we call you?"

It screeched once as it set the oakwood plank block back down onto the floor. A few moments later, he thought of a name for it.

"Obsidian Nightmare?" Miraz suggested, but got no screech back from it. "You don't like that name?"

It screeched once more, this time being only slightly louder and more scary-sounding.

"Okay then," Miraz said as he briefly looked down at the floor to think of a different name. When he thought of another name, he looked back up. Slightly tilting his head to his right. "What about this one? Lord Enderman? Or Enderman for short? What do you think?"

Swamp Biome, OverWorld

Night

"You're grandfather would've been proud to see what you've become," Amelia said as Stanley was standing over in the corner by a bookshelf. No, he isn't reading any books. Instead he was examining the many paintings hanging on the wall. In some paintings, Jack, Amelia, and Linda were all together. But in other paintings,his grandfather was oddly absent. Why? The three of them were close to one another. Long time friends even.

"He's absent from those few because of the favor he asked of us," Linda said, "there's not a day that goes by where we're not thinking of the good ol' days. We miss him just as much."

Stanley turned his head slightly to look back over his shoulder at the two of them. He nodded his head as he listened to them explain the absence of Jack.

"When did he come to you guys again?" Stanley asked.

"A long time ago, before you were born," Amelia answered. "Why do you ask?" Amelia asked.

Stanley turned around to where he was facing them directly. He took a few steps forward.

"It's time I must leave," Stanley said, "I need to find him, I want to find him."

"You can't just find him and confront him. You have no idea how dangerous he could be. Furthermore, he's never met you. He doesn't even know who you are. I highly advise against going after him," Amelia suggested.

"I want answers," Stanley counter-argued, "And this is the only way I'll get them. Besides, how hard could it be?"

"Harder than you think," Linda responded.

As Stanley prepared to embark on a dangerous and risky quest, sleeping in a hollowed-out cave on the side of a mountain, a ferocious, ruthless beast was sleeping. Because it was slightly chilly where this creature was living, you could see the breath coming out of his nostrils as he breathed in and out.

What the OverWorld should fear the most, is a deadly dragon. A dragon so deadly and powerful, he could eradicate all life on the OverWorld in one night. But thankfully, that hasn't happened yet. And blockheads prefer to keep it that way for as long as possible.

In the calm of night, a peaceful night really, he awoke. He suddenly opened his eyes and exhaled. Uh oh, what's going to happen now?