AN

So I did leave a few hints to Miesall's death here and there. The first hint was the chapter "Feeling" in XR, in which Miesall was stabbed with a dagger made out of a Listener's horn, which proved that the Watchers weren't invincible. A more blatant and more direct hint is in the cover of this book, which has an arrow; Allec's, in fact.

Also, uh... I forgot to do this last chapter:

Vexes

Description: Vexes are very mischievous creatures. They lust for diamonds and will do anything to obtain them as they use it (along with other blue objects). They are also unable to reach their full potential unless they use a player as a vessel. Only 50% are able to handle one, and even then the Vex has to be careful not to hurt its host. In exchange for power, players allow Vexes to fully take over their body every now and then. In extremely rare cases, a player may be 100% compatible, allowing them to have hundreds of Vexes and seemingly limitless power. Those who are able to do this are referred to as a part of a system called the Convex. The Convex acts as a savior, going around 'healing' people and solving problems in exchange for a small sum of diamonds. Those who adore Vexes, known as Friends of Vexes, are seen as a cult to the rest of the universe. Little do the Friends of Vexes know that Vex magic is mostly illusionary...

Powers: illusion, possession, enchanting items

Colors: blue (especially light blue)

Lifespan: 10 years (1:10)

Location: The worlds; often in woodland mansions

Leader: N/A

Hybrids: Fairies are more human-like. Overall, they look like humans with wings as fragile as Vexes if not even more so. While Vexes have a bit of muscle/tissue/etc. on the top of their wings, fairies do not. They are naturally the size of a player, but can shrink down to the size of a Vex (they cannot chose other sizes). They are able to do small illusions. Their lifespan is 50 years (1:2).

Faeries are another hybrid Vex species. They are more Vex-like, having blue skin. Their natural size is Vex size, though they can turn player size. They can create stronger illusions than fairies, but they only live to 25 (1:4). Their wings are very much like Vexes.

Extra: The color blue literally is Vex magic, it doesn't represent it.

~🌤~

The True End was much like The Ends in the worlds, but very different at the same time. The fake ones had a mainland, towers surrounding its dragon. From there, fractured islands spread out with nothing but an occasional city. Endermen wandered about freely, and chorus trees grew to bring contrast to the yellowish ground. Though not inside the Void, they were visibly surrounded by it; neither day nor night.

The True End, however, had a mainland at least a million blocks wide. Large obsidian pillars surrounded the outskirts, making a sort of forest. In the very center was a bedrock sculpture in the shape of four full sized dragons. On top of such a sculpture was a floating platform. It was the nest of Enderllion, mother of all dragons, where she had spent most of her time tending to her young.

Outside of the island were an infinite amount of mainlands just like the fake Ends had. No endermen or shulkers lived here, either; only dragons.

The Great Ones were the first to arrive, their robes sweeping across the ground. It was a strange sight— seeing them walk. Even they didn't know how long it had been since they last left the Sanctum of Seers. As much as they wanted to stay, they did not want rumors to start among their subjects if they heard or saw anything; another place would have to do for the meeting.

Next was the group of royal Wardens. They buried up from underground, shimmering in their charcoal and golden glory, a faint glow radiating off of them. Unlike the other two groups present, they weren't massive. Instead, they were roughly ten feet each, the tallest being twelve.

The following group were the Guardians. They had sent out a single representative, having too many heads to count to send them all.

The Vexes had a different approach. They sent a good hundred of their members, an entire nest.

When all the higher species had gathered with exception to the Listener King, the group began to speak.

"Why'd you call us here?" A Warden asked, his voice was low and gravely, a tone so low that it even shook the ground.

"Yeah, why?" A Vex asked.

"We've never done this before!" Another chittered.

"Are we getting paid for our time here?" Another asked.

"Our time is valuable to us, you know. We deserve to be paid."

The Great Lord pushed his wings, a sign of annoyance. He cleared his throat, having not used his voice in full volume in a very long time. "A reminder that our time is valuable to us, too. We are not supposed to leave our temple. Without us, our people will slowly fall into ruin and disarray."

"Just ignore them. They won't be interested in anything unless it's monetary." The Elder Guardian said, flipping around against the ground.

Enderllion had curled herself up on her perch, her wing covering her side to hide her young. She lifted her head, sending a glare over at them all. "Stop squabbling like children, all of you!" She rebuked. "I did not invite you here just so I have more kids to watch!" The fighting immediately ceased at the insult.

The Great Ones waited for a few moments, waiting for tensions to cease. "It seems that the Listener King may be delayed." Hopefully The Void would be willing to move him here soon. The Void had its own way of thinking though, seemingly unconcerned by anything. The others could only hoped that it cared about a threat like this. "It is alright, seeing as he hears us now."

"He called this meeting too, didn't he?" The Elder asked. "If it wasn't the both of you who asked us to meet, we wouldn't have taken you seriously." It swatted at the ground, creating a hole. It then used water from its inventory to fill the hole, submerging itself in the water it was used to.

"Us neither!" A Vex exclaimed.

"Surely any of us calling a meeting would've been weird."

"The weirdest!"

"Even if Enderllion and the Guardians would've, that would've been weird, too!"

"Or Enderllion and the royal Wardens."

The Vexes continued chittering away, listing every possible combination of higher species all at once, with the exception to the one pair that actually had come forward.

"Our interrelationships with each other are mostly strained, but you two are always fighting." The great dragon agreed, moving her wings a bit. "I thought I'd never see the day where you two came to an agreement."

"For a cause as great as the universe itself, we are willing to tolerate his inoselent and utterly foolish demeanors." The Great Lady agreed.

"Let's get on with it, then!" A Vex cried, causing all the others to join on in, saying similar but different things than that.

"Oh shut up already!" One of the Wardens shrieked, his super sonic blast just barely missing a few of the Vexes. Even though it had, it was enough to stir up the wind around them, knocking them around.

"They are right." The Great Lord agreed, giving the Vexes credit this time. Annoying, but right all the same. "We have much more important things on hand. We are afraid that the very destruction of the higher species, maybe even the entire universe, is eminent. Before we know it, we all could become like the Sniffers." Extinct, hardly even a memory. Myths.

The Elder narrowed its eye as it stared up at the Great Ones. "Our extinction? How is that possible?" It asked. The question especially related to The Void; even if everyone here perished, The Void would surely live on. It was an eternal being, after all. It didn't make sense for it to die, seeing as it existed outside of the scope of time.

The Great Ones only shook their heads. "We do not know. It is just what we saw in our foresight of the future. It comes to us in bits and pieces, as the future is still moldable."

"So that's your obsession with fate, then." The Elder noted, though they weren't particularly offended. As long as the Watchers stayed away from their affairs, they didn't really care what they did. In general, that was the general sentiment between all of them; it was just that the Watchers and Listeners were set in direct opposition to each other. "So what exactly do you know about this so-called destruction?"

"The First Sign of Destruction is a simple player, a human." The Great Lord explained. "When we first came to know this, we decided that the most logical answer to this was to identify the human and separate it from their fate. To bring them over on our side, which would allow them to realize what's truly at stake. In that way, they would know better and resist the urge to cause the Destruction in the first place."

Just then, the darkness above rippled, almost as if they were underwater, watching the ripples of the sea. From the center of these ripples emerged the Listener King, her long hair tied back, showcasing her ears. She was now wearing a green jacket to go with a matching pair of trousers. She fell from the sky, twirling in the air. She allowed her green magic to assemble below her feet acting as a platform to cushion her fall.

"Finally!" She exclaimed as she created for herself a sort of staircase to the stone of the island. "I have arrived!"

Her hair began to change, growing shorter as her frame began to grow a bit more muscular. "I would've been here sooner, but it seems The Void still doesn't seem to care in this matter." He frowned. He shook his head; there were more important things going on right now than to play the childish game of finger pointing, just as Enderllion said. "Continue." He ordered.

"We do not take orders from you." The Great Lady contested, but nonetheless, she continued where her other part left off. "And so, we concocted a plan. We created a Champion, one that would bind them to us. For yes, we could take them and store them away, but complacency is far superior than a hostage situation, for the second sign has been revealed to us now: that The First will flee."

"A Champion?" The Elder inquired. "You said they were to bound them to your people. Bound them how?"

"We want a Champion!" A Vex exclaimed.

"Why don't we get a Champion?" Another asked.

"Ours is Ryan! There, we have one!"

"What about Cub?"

"Well—"

"It's okay, we'll just have two!"

"Wait— what does a Champion do again?"

"Didn't you guys reject them?" Enderllion asked, cutting them off. She raised an eyebrow to mark her confusion.

"Well, that's a different generation that rejected them so that doesn't count!"

"I have my own Champion as well." The king spoke, ignoring the Vexes. "Though I do not condone control, it is a necessary action in this case. The human mind is a complex system, but at the very center, it is a very simple one. If a human has a closeness to another, they are unlikely to leave them. If this human happens to have no place to go otherwise, and no other companions, they will stay if they are content."

"It is a theory known as friendship." The Great Lady finished.

Enderllion lifted her head, blowing out air through her nostrils as she moved her head to look at the Great Ones, "So your idea to isolate and reason with this cursed player is friendship." She stated, amusement far from her voice.

The king found himself giving a nervous laugh. "Well... yeah." It sounded rather simplistic the way that Enderllion had our it.

"That's a stupid plan." She replied in her mothering voice. "Seriously, that's all you four could come up with?" She felt as though she were scolding one of her children who tattle-taled on their sibling for having their eyes open when they both were supposed to be sleeping.

The Great Ones shuffled their feathers a bit. It did not feel too great to be talked down to in such a way, as if they were children.

"You shouldn't have waited so long to include us." The Guardian said, letting its tail flap against the water.

"We thought we had it handled." One of the Watchers argued. They had gone through such sacrifice to get to this point. "Our own ones, destined to be born through our power, never came into being. Our Champion is the disparity; he was never supposed to exist. We gave him the eyes of Cades, the understanding of Muasis, the speed of Rosalynn and the tongue of Akuatha to honor those that should have lived in his stead."

"And what if your Champion?" The Elder asked, looking to the newcomer.

"He was doing splendidly." The king nodded. "I never had to manipulate nor create him; he naturally became close to The First. However, he got locked in the Void." He shot a glare at the Great Ones and at the vast Void around them.

"For safekeeping." The Great Lord explained. The king only scoffed.

"If this is such a dire of a situation as you two claim, shouldn't you release him?" Enderllion asked. The king was about to laugh in victory, but the Ender Dragon would have none of it. "Seriously, some of my children behave better than you."

"W-Wha—?!" The king exclaimed. "But I did not even—" one look from her shut him right up. 'It doesn't matter who started it.' The look said, a glare that could kill anything.

"Strange as this plan of yours is, we should release the Listener's Champion." The Elder asserted. The Wardens nodded silently, one grunting in agreement.

"I thought we agreed it was a stupid plan." One of the Vexes said, all the others agreeing vocally, creating an echo chamber as they often did.

"Yes, but it's a start." The Guardian explained. It was something build off of. They could pursue that while they formulate a better plan.

"What do you propose then?" The Great Lady asked. She used her eyes to study them all, for her question was not for anyone in particular.

"Well," Enderllion began, flicking her tail. "I propose that—"

Just then, a disturbance cut through the Great Ones like the slicing of an arrow. They cried out, not because they could not withstand it, but because they knew what it had meant. Having been connected to their creations, they could feel them through their magic. And now, one of those connections had flickered and left, as if it had never existed in the first place.

"You fool..." they both hissed, looking to the king, whose face was now covered in horror. He had heard it all. They both flicked their hands, giant obsidian spikes following right after them.

The king just barely dodged it, his quick movements the only thing that saved him. "He disobeyed orders!" He exclaimed, undoing his bandages. He felt the locked away power rush back to him, forcing him to grow in size. "I cannot believe that he did so! If I would have known—"

"You should have known!" The Great Ones boomed. "Can you not read minds?!"

"Can you not see the future?" He shot back. He continued to run, dodging attacks. The others were so stunned, it was all they could do to to just get out of the way. "Yes, I can read minds, but that doesn't mean I do at all times! I'm not some power hungry ruler that demands that my people have no privacy over the simplest of worries!"

"This was a matter much bigger than a simple worry." They snarled, shooting out more spikes from their fingers. "You have ruined everything!"

"Enough!" Enderllion shouted, pounding her feet on the ground, the sheer force shaking the ground right underneath their feet. It was enough that the water the Guardian had placed for itself to all splash out, leaving them flopping around again. The Wardens were swept right off their feet, thrown onto a big pile. Even the Vexes stuttered in the air, the vibrations even affecting them despite not being grounded. The king slipped on a spire he was jumping onto, and the Great Ones had to fight to maintain balance. "How many times do I have to tell you? Bickering like children is going to get you nowhere! You three ought to go and take care of the damage which has been done."

Getting up from the ground, the king brushed himself off. He had to take a few moments to recover, deciding his words carefully. "Allec will pay severely for what he has done, you can be assured of that." He promised. With no further words, he headed off back to the Main Hub, to the world in which Allec resided in victory.

"We do not take orders from you," the Great Lady began, turning away and beginning to walk alongside her other part of herself, "But it is not good for us to be outside of the Sanctum of Seers. We will leave the rest to you, then." And with that, they too left.

~🌤~

AN

Phew, this was difficult to write, mostly because it was going to be a big one with lots of new societies in it... admittedly, I avoided it for awhile. Thanks for sticking with me <3