He's not dead. HE'S NOT DEAD.

My brain denied the truth of the message, repeating the phrase over and over again. It wasn't true. FWhip wasn't dead. He couldn't be.

How had it happened?

Gem and I were both completely silent.

Then the next message came.

Wait, never mind he's alive, false alarm

Jimmy wouldn't be, when I was done with him. I gripped the hilt of my sword so tightly that my hand hurt.

"We need to get home," Gem said, her voice panicked.

We glided out of the hole in the wall that Rege had used. Iskall and Ren were nowhere in sight. We figured they had started climbing the tower after us, so we went back inside and went down.

We found them about to ascend the central tower. "Iskall, sorry, we need to go," Gem said.

"What?" he asked.

"Something happened," I said. "Back at home. We need to go now."

Before they really knew what was going on, we had dumped the shulker shells, Scar's items, and the chest loot onto them, placed the Ender chest and put our stuff inside, and jumped out of a tower.

Bluemoon Tay fell from a high place
Gemini Tay fell from a high place

We woke up at Spawn.

"What do we need for an Ender chest?" I asked.

Gem thought for a minute. "Obsidian. Eye of Ender."

We looked around for a base, any base, that we could use to get what we needed. Zedaph's boulder was close to Spawn. We headed there.

After spending a minute looking for an entrance, we realized that it was at the very bottom of the rock, and you had to crawl to get inside. Sighing, I took off my green and gold cloak to keep it from getting dirty and got down on my hands and knees. Gem was right behind me, her hat off as well.

We entered the boulder and peeked around, but since Zedaph was not home (probably making the farm), we left, put our clothes back on, and headed toward Beef's base, which was also nearby. He didn't really have a house, instead, he had a sheep farm.

"Beeeeef!" Gem called desperately.

He wasn't home either.

"Where's Ren's base?" I asked. "If we have to steal, I want to steal from there."

"You know what?" Gem said. "Forget our gear. We can get it back in Gateway. Let's just find Scar."

"You just don't want to steal," I said.

Gem glared at me. "You're not helping!"

"We don't know where Scar is," I said. "And to find him, we need elytra. And you put the crystal in the Ender chest anyway."

Gem grumbled but agreed to go rob the pie shop with me.

We dug through Ren's chests and eventually managed to find a little bit of obsidian, just barely enough to make an Ender chest. We also found a bit of blaze powder and an Ender pearl to make an Eye of Ender. We crafted them together to make an Ender chest.

Once we did, we immediately placed it and grabbed all of our stuff.

"We don't have time to find Scar," Gem said. "I need to know what happened."

"We have a freaking locator crystal," I said. I didn't know how I was so calm. But I knew I would let it out later, probably either on Jimmy or at the worst time possible.

Gem looked at the orange gem with new interest.

I grabbed her hand as she said, "Scar Goodtimes."

The teleportation was much shorter this time, probably because Scar was in the same world as us.

We landed several feet above the ground, although not as high as we had been the last time. We took a little damage from the fall but not enough to die. Far from it.

"Ooo-hoooh!" Scar yelped from next to us.

"Scar, we need to go," I said.

"But what about the other Hermits?"

Gem shook her head. "She means we need to go. Me and Blue. Something happened at home, FWhip almost died, we have to find out what happened."

Scar's eyes widened. "Go ahead," he said.

"We'll be back," I replied.

"FWhip Tay," Gem muttered.

Then we were off.

When we landed even farther up than we had at the Ninth World, I started to get a theory that how high we went depended on the distance we traveled.

We spread our elytra and glided down to utter destruction.

Huge boulders and chunks of debris littered the Spawn jungle. From our aerial view, we could see smoking craters. The remains of an explosion.

All of the Emperors (except Pix, he had left while Scott had the Grand Crown) were gathered at Spawn.

We touched down. I immediately yelled, "WHERE ARE FWHIP AND JIMMY? I WANT TO PUNCH THEM!"

"Uh-oh," Scott laughed.

Jimmy paled.

I walked right over to him and stayed true to my statement.

"Don't kill him," Joel said. "If we die, we're gone."

I felt a sinking feeling deep in my stomach when I couldn't find FWhip. "If he's dead-"

"I'm right here," FWhip said.

He was standing at the edge of the crowd, looking guilty. Some of his hair was singed off, and the white streak was gone. His clothes had holes in them, and his beloved red scarf was nowhere to be seen. Gem and I ran over and wrapped him in a fierce hug. Then, so he wouldn't feel left out, I punched him as well.

FWhip groaned. "What did you punch me for? I'm the one who almost died!"

"Exactly," I growled. Then I turned around. "What happened?"

Jimmy looked at his feet.

"We'd like to know that as well," Lizzie said, crossing her arms and looking at her brother.

Jimmy glanced up nervously. "Well, FWhip had this idea to get my cod mask back, so we went to his forge-"

"We tried to combine cod and salmon," FWhip continued. "I realized I had made a mistake. I told Jimmy to get out, and-" he couldn't continue.

"The Grimlands are gone," Jimmy continued. "I thought FWhip was too, Blue and Gem. But now he's here."

"The prophecy," Lizzie gasped.

"So it was your fault that my empire is completely destroyed?" Joey said angrily, taking out his bow.

"What?" Everyone said.

"Thanks to the explosion, the Lost Empire is gone. Months of work out the window."

"I need to check on the wolves," Shubble gasped, and ran into the jungle.

"Rivendell," Scott agreed, and headed off on the path.

"My flowers!" Katherine left as well.

"Do you think the ocean was affected?" Lizzie took off.

"I'm watching you, fish boy," Joey said darkly. Jimmy took a step backward.

"Joey, don't threaten the cod," Gem said.

"Stop being so neutral, Gem." Joey rolled his eyes.

"Do you want to get punched, too?" I threatened.

Joey glared at me and flew off as well.

Jimmy turned to FWhip. "I'm sorry about the Grimlands. This is really my fault."

"It was my idea," FWhip protested.

"Whoever's idea it was, it was a terrible one," Joel said, and flew away as well.

"If they die, they're gone for good," FWhip realized.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

FWhip held up his arm, and it took me a second to see that his Admin wristband was missing. "It was destroyed in the explosion," he explained.

"No wristband means no Admin," I realized. "No Admin means no Spawn. And no Spawn means no respawn."

FWhip nodded grimly. "We're all in danger. We need to get registered for a world, fast."

"Gateway," I said. "The Hermits and Evolutioners are already there. Why not join them?"

"As long as I'm not Admin anymore," FWhip said. "I officially know that I am the worst one in existence."

Gem and I did not deny it.

"How did you survive?" Gem said instead.

FWhip shrugged. "I don't know," he said. "But I hope it's okay that I took a healing potion from your apothecary."

"It's always okay," Gem said, hugging him again.

"You're cured, too," I said.

He grinned and nodded. "I was wondering when you were going to mention that. Scott came back with some new control of his powers. He couldn't cure me at first, but then we found a spell that would keep me warm that someone at Rivendell knew how to cast, but instead of just keeping me warm it cured me. So, yay!"

I smiled tightly. "We probably should go check on our empires, Gem."

She and FWhip nodded.

Then Gem and I took off in different directions.

The Dripleaf Marsh wasn't very big, because I hadn't been there much between Last Life, Gateway, and the Downside-Up. But its size had not protected it from the explosion.

I landed and stared, open-mouthed, at the destruction around me.

Rubble and debris littered the ground, the wooden parts in flames. The fires had spread to the plants, causing them to wither and die. All of the water had drained away from the landscape, leaving patches of marsh grass and mangroves to dry out. The soft clay at the bottom of the pools of water had dried out and cracked.

It was ugly.

Of course, it had been ugly before. I was best at adventuring, parkour, combat, and overall survival skills, not building. But it was still a sad sight.

The other half of the swamp was probably like this as well.

I was still angry at Jimmy. But he needed water to stay in his cod form, and I still had the hydration crystal from Gem. If anyone needed it, he did.

When I flew over to the Cod Empire, I was met with a sight possibly even more horrible than the Dripleaf Marsh.

There were still the craters, and there was still no water, but the thing was, my subjects had probably escaped (I really hoped they had). Jimmy's subjects were mostly fish.

And no water... means no fish.

I found the Codfather kneeling at the edge of one of his cod pools where the red tendrils used to sprout. But now, the water was drained away, the seagrass was brown and dead, and the poor fish were at the bottom of the pool.

I landed next to Jimmy. "I'm sorry."

He looked up. "It's not your fault."

"It's not yours, either," I said, even though it kind of was.

Jimmy looked down at the empty pool again. "We all know that's not true."

"It was the Cod Council's fault," I suggested.

He wiped his eyes. "Sure."

I held out the hydration crystal. "Here. This will hydrate you and get your fins back. It works for Lizzie."

Jimmy pushed it away. "Lizzie's memories will go away if she gets rid of hers," he said. "My fins depend on having the cod mask. And that's gone."

"Go check your church," I said.

Jimmy looked up the hill at the Cod Chapel. "I'm done," he said. "I'm done waiting. I can live without fins. I have until they gave me the head when I first settled here."

"Yeah, but you won't be able to own your past if you don't accept it," I said. "Go check. Maybe it's there. If not, fine. If it is, great."

Jimmy reluctantly stood up and started up the hill, casting one last glance at the cod pools. "Norman, get out of the bushes."

I hadn't realized his cat was there until it meowed, walked over to him, and then walked away, in typical cat fashion.

I waited as Jimmy approached the Cod Chapel alone.

Then he came out.

At first I thought he hadn't found it. But then he held it up.

"This is what caused the end of the world," Jimmy said angrily.

Before he could snap it over his knee, I stopped him. "We could put its power into a crystal or something."

Jimmy looked at the mask with distaste. "Fine. I'll keep it. For now."

I thought about what Scar had said, about magic being common in the Empires.

Soon, it would be common in Gateway instead. Maybe Gem could build her wizard academy there and teach them magic.

But magic can cause problems, a tiny voice that sounded suspiciously like Joel said in my head.

"We've found most of the missing Hermits," I said. "Only four are left."

Jimmy's eyes brightened. "Really? Are they in Gateway?"

I shook my head. "We were going to bring them there from the world they had gone to, but when you sent the message we left in a hurry. Scar's still over there. If he can't make a crystal, then he's stuck for a while, until we get this figured out."

"At least you found them," Jimmy said.

At least something went how it was supposed to.

"I'm going to go check on Gem," I said. "Then, hopefully we can get out of here, if the transport crystal is destroyed, we can use the locator."

Jimmy nodded. "I need to find Lizzie," he said.

I took off and flew for the Crystal Cliffs.

----

Joey's empire was in flames, and it was all Jimmy and FWhip's fault.

The beautiful temples (even though one was just a facade), the raptors (that were actually transformed horses) and, most importantly, the eerie but beautiful corruption from Xornoth was gone.

And Joey had nowhere to go.

He hadn't been a part of Third Life or Last Life. He hadn't hosted any Last Lifers when they came to the Empires. So he didn't have any friends among them. Wherever they were, he couldn't rely on them for protection.

He could go back to X Life, but he was pretty sure the people there had moved on. He had no idea what was going on there.

Joey wandered through his destroyed empire miserably. The fires had all burnt out, leaving the Lost Empire a husk of what it was before. He missed X Life. He missed his palace here. But most of all, he missed Xornoth.

As he wandered, something caught his eye. A bit of red in the charred black of the ruins.

Joey walked over to it, and his heart leaped.

A tiny red tendril, growing quickly out of the cracks in between the cobblestones.

Corruption. But not any old ordinary corruption from several months ago.

New corruption.

Xornoth is back!

----

Sausage had stolen his staff back right after Gem, Blue, FWhip, and Jimmy had left.

He couldn't help it. His hunger for magic kept growing, and without the academy Gem had promised, it was bottomless.

So right after they left, late at night so the former pillager guards didn't see him (they might have remembered how to use their crossbows!), Sausage snuck into Gem's tower and took what was rightfully his.

Oh, and also the Red Crown. It looked cool, and Sausage couldn't resist. Hey, it wasn't his fault Gem had just left it lying out in the open!

But even with both his staff and the Red Crown in his possession, Sausage wanted more.

A part of him was still missing.

His bad side, the part that had been corrupted by Xornoth, had been locked away with the demon.

Sausage clenched his fists. He had always felt like a third wheel. First, in the Wither Rose Alliance, he had been put aside by Gem and FWhip. But he knew they were capable of including him, because they included Blue. Second, when he had allied with Jimmy, Lizzie was also there. Pearl was the only real ally he had here, and even she had gone off to hang out with her other friends.

She thought they were dead, part of him protested weakly.

Sausage remembered why he had helped Xornoth now: he wanted to be recognized. Not necessarily feared, but at least recognized. He wanted to be treated like someone who mattered, not just the go-to guy for prank ideas.

This was their fault. Not his.

Sausage needed to free the part of him that was missing, so he went to Rivendell, where it was trapped.

He didn't mean to free the demon. He really didn't.

But some things are inevitable.

Sausage realized that his bad side was no longer his. As it raced back to him, he felt something different: a presence that had fused with it.

The last thought of his own that he had was, What have I done?

Then Xornoth took control.

----

Lizzie approached her empire, her breaths panicked.

The prophecy had come true.

The resolution of a neverending feud brings unimaginable chaos that will destroy the world.

The salmon had driven Lizzie out of her home once, and now they would do it again.

With the help of the cod.

Lizzie glanced at Mythland. Bloodsheep swarmed the streets.

A prosperous land shall be laid to waste. Streets will run red before the spires are toppled.

Lizzie should never have stolen that book.

She arrived at the ocean to find the water gone.

Completely drained, except for puddles.

Lizzie landed on the staircase of the Prisma-Palace, gaping at the terrifying sight.

The Ocean Empire was gone.

Lizzie sank to the ground and reached her hand into her pocket, drawing out the Ocean Orb.

It had given her her fins. It had let her remember, and she had used those memories to tell Jimmy.

But even as she looked at the Orb, it crumbled in her hands.

No.

Lizzie watched in horror as blue scales turned to tan skin, as gills became lungs, as fins melted away to give way to ordinary features.

Human features.

It can't end like this.

But... where was she? What was she wearing?

Lizzie threw off the strange shimmery armor she had on.

The last thing she remembered was the end of Last Life. Then she had come home, and...

And nothing. It was blank.

Everything was blank.

----

Another tremor shook the ground as the aftermath of the explosion took its toll.

Joel wobbled in midair, feeling as if the earthquakes affected his flight as he watched the ground shake below him.

He passed near the ocean and was alarmed to see it drained away. If Lizzie was hurt, then he would be the cause of these earthquakes soon.

Joel arrived at Mezalea and was relieved to see that it looked fine. The towers were still standing. The palace was as strong as ever.

Joel landed in the town to check on his people. There were none out in the streets, probably all hiding under tables in their houses, but Joel had built the place well. It held against the shaking.

Another earthquake shook the ground. With it came a large cracking sound.

Joel didn't turn around. The palace was fine. It was the strongest building in the Empires, now that the Grimlands Forge was gone.

It served FWhip right.

He and Blue had promised that they would solve the problems that magic caused. They said that the Empires would be safe.

And then right after that, they had destroyed the crown and left.

And then came back. But STILL.

Joel huffed as something else cracked. With a feeling of dread, he turned to look at the strongest building in the Empires.

Cracked.

One of the towers was toppling with crashes that reached Joel seconds later.

Toppling. The strongest, tallest building EVER, toppling.

"WHAT THE F-"

----

FWhip saw the message from Scott and immediately panicked.

everyone get to spawn and run, use one of gems crystals to leave. xornoth is back

"WHAT?" Gem gasped, putting a hand over her mouth.

"We just got rid of him, like, two weeks ago," FWhip complained.

"We need to get everyone out," Gem said.

FWhip nodded and worried the entire way to the jungle.

People probably wanted to leave anyway, if their homes were gone. But would they abandon the magic that resided here?

To escape Xornoth, FWhip was pretty sure they would.

The only place he could think to go was Gateway, or maybe X Life. But he was pretty sure the X Lifers had moved on. Maybe to some other world where they had ten lives and went into a coma at the end.

The twins arrived at Spawn and did a quick head count. Katherine was crying. Joel looked extremely angry. Shrub had a crimson vine caught in her hair.

And that was it.

Pix had left the world a while ago. Pearl was still helping in the search for the missing Hermits.

Blue, Scott, Joey, Sausage, Jimmy, and Lizzie had still not arrived.

Blue landed with a depressed look on her face.

"Is it gone?" Gem asked her.

Blue nodded. "And now everything we fought for, the Empires, is gone too. And the guy we, or I guess you, fought against is back."

FWhip put his left hand around his right wrist. It still felt so weird that the wristband was gone. Hopefully, they could get registered at Gateway until they got a new wristband, and by extension, a new world.

Although, it would mean a new Realm as well... so they wouldn't be able to go back to X Life to see their old friends again without Gem's transport crystal.

But that couldn't be helped.

Joel stomped over to the three siblings. "You said you'd solve the problems," he demanded. "And now Xornoth is back."

"Don't blame people," Gem said. "This was partly my fault, for apparently not making the spell that contained him strong enough. It was partly FWhip and Jimmy's, because they caused the end of the world. It was partly Sausage's, for summoning Xornoth in the first place. It was partly Blue's, for making a promise she couldn't keep. And it was partly yours, for helping to fight the Ender Dragon at first. We're all to blame for this."

"I could keep that promise, though," Blue protested. "We just needed to help some other people, too."

FWhip looked at the sky. Nobody else was on their way.

As another earthquake - an earthquake he had caused - shook the ground, Jimmy came out of the forest, leading Lizzie and carrying Norman. His expression was panicked.

It took FWhip a minute to figure out why.

Lizzie was human again.

Joel cried out and ran over to her. She hugged him back, tears running down her face.

"I can't remember anything after Scott and I made the deal," Lizzie said.

"The feast? The Grand Crown?" Joel asked. "The Tays randomly disappearing?"

"It was not random," Blue said, crossing her arms. "We were helping people. More than you were."

Oooh, busted!

Lizzie shook her head, her face pale.

Jimmy looked at his webbed hands. The cod mask, the original one, was strapped to his belt, which made FWhip a little mad. "She doesn't remember the truth. About me and her and the salmon."

"That's not good," Blue said.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Lizzie said. "I remember that Gem defeated Xornoth. And I remember that Blue was missing. But now Blue is back, and Xornoth is back, and Scott is telling everyone to leave."

Right on cue, a new message came from Scott. If everyone's there, get out. I'll be fine. But Joey and Sausage are working with Xornoth again.

"Sausage!" Jimmy yelled in anger.

"And Joey, too," Shubble said, entering the conversation.

Gem did another head count and saw that everyone except Sausage, Joey, Pearl, Pixl, and Scott was present. "I don't want to leave them..." she said.

"We have to," Blue said flatly. "I don't want to either, but we have to."

Gem pulled an orange crystal out of her pocket. FWhip had never seen it before, but Blue seemed to know what it was.

"Where's the transport crystal?" Gem asked.

FWhip laughed nervously. "I may have had it in my pocket during the explosion."

Gem looked angry. "Fine. I have this, and we can use it, but we'll probably scare Pearl out of her wits."

"Pearl?" Joel said. "Since when is she a part of this?"

"Everybody grab on," Gem said.

FWhip, Jimmy, Katherine, Lizzie, Joel, Blue, and Shubble all grabbed on to each other in some way or another. Then Blue grabbed Gem's hand.

"Pearlescent Moon," Gem said.

Then the world dissolved into lights.

----

"How did you escape?" Scott asked, holding his sword.

A prophecy echoed in his head, but he pushed it away.

Xornoth snorted. "That pathetic excuse for a wizard has a lot to learn if she thinks that's magic," he said. "But it's your fault her powers are weakened, anyway. She's not going to learn anything but botany any time soon, especially if she succeeds in her mission and her power source is cut off. I think I'll kill her first, and then I'll move on to that fish boy you adore so much."

Scott didn't know exactly what his demon brother was talking about. He didn't want to know. All he did know was that his demon brother was after Jimmy. "You won't last long against me."

"What are you going to do?" Xornoth laughed. "Throw snowballs at me? You couldn't even cure the people you froze."

Twin souls trapped in an endless battle since the beginning of time.

"Because it's not in range of my powers," Scott said. "Only you can thaw the people I freeze. And only I can heal the people you burn. We're supposed to work together. We used to. We still can."

Chaos and order.

"We can't," Xornoth growled.

Light and dark.

"We can," Scott said. "We balance each other out."

Hot and cold.

"No."

Scott threw his sword to the side and pulled out the other one.

"You wouldn't," Xornoth said angrily, but there was fear in his glowing red eyes.

"So you know what this is," Scott said. "You know what it can do."

"You wouldn't!" Xornoth repeated.

One cannot exist without the other...

Fire and ice lived in a delicate balance. Fire melted ice, and ice put out fire. But without the cold, heat wouldn't exist, and the other way around as well.

"I would," Scott said. "I can't kill you, and I know that. You're much more powerful than I am. But I don't have to kill you... when I'm right here."

... for if one soul dies, the other is sure to follow.

Goodbye, Xornoth. Goodbye, me.

Scott didn't want to die. He had so much left to live for. But as Jimmy always said, it was for the greater good.

With that, Scott leveled the blade - at his own heart.

----

This made me cry to write, the end of Empires was so sad

-Indigo