The rest of the night flew by. Jimmy, Xisuma, FWhip, Bigb, and I joined the line of people asking questions to the new Grand Emperor. Several people looked disappointed as they left, a few looked panicked, and some looked comforted. When it was finally our turn, Xisuma was the first to step up.

"We can't leave if teleportation is banned," Xisuma said. "And Pearl can't come back."

Joel shook his head. "A lot of people said this already," he said. "But they have to stay until my reign ends."

Then he added, "It won't any time soon," glaring at us.

Xisuma, despite us not being able to see his face, seemed to radiate anger. "You're not letting-" he sputtered. "You're not letting your friend come home. And you're not letting Bigb and me go home either." He stormed into a clear area, took off, and flew away.

"You of all people should understand this," Bigb said coldly. "You were there, in Last Life." Then with an icy glare at the Grand Emperor, he followed Xisuma.

Joel watched them go. Lizzie, who sat next to him, laid a hand on his shoulder. "You should let them leave. And Pearl needs to come back."

Joel put his head in his hands. "I thought this would help. I really did."

I was starting to hear that a lot. Martyn. Scott. FWhip. Now Joel.

Lizzy glanced up at us apologetically. Joel realized he still had an audience and straightened up.

Jimmy wrung his hands nervously. "Can you do an ally bonus? 'Cause the cod... I need to talk to them... they're my subjects."

Joel hesitated before nodding. "Fine, but not because you're my ally. It's because you need to be able to communicate with your subjects."

Lizzy and Jimmy both looked immensely relieved.

FWhip and I walked up to Joel together. "Gem doesn't know," I said. "Can you at least pardon her until she comes out of hiding? We can't tell her about the new law because you took away communication."

Joel shook his head. "I can't make exceptions."

FWhip blinked, his eyes burning with fury. "So you're just going to sit back and watch as our sister gets killed off on your orders?"

Joel winced. "I wouldn't put it that way."

Lizzy didn't say anything. She knew this was her husband's argument.

"Then how would you put it?" I challenged.

Joel didn't answer.

"I've been here for a little over a day," I said slowly. "And I've already seen what that crown has caused. You want to bring us together? Then stop separating us. That crown forces people to go into hiding for disobeying unjust laws."

I glanced at my brother. "I don't care if all of the Empires are against me," I growled. "I declare war."

FWhip's eyes brightened. "I stand with her."

"Treason!" Joel roared.

"This isn't treason," I shot back. "This is fighting for what is right. For what the people want."

Well, it was sort of treason.

I leaned in. "You may not be a red name in title anymore, but you are in spirit. That sparkly innocent thing you wear on your royal head is just another Red Crown."

Lizzy, Jimmy, and Joel gasped. They knew what it meant.

I strode away without another word.

FWhip ran up next to me as I got out a rocket and started to light it. "You and Gem have been on a roll lately! Oh yeah!" He did a weird, FWhip-ish dance move.

I gave him a distressed look. "What did I just do, FWhip? I don't know if I can deal with another war."

"I can. I've been in two."

I sighed.

We flew to the Dripleaf Grove in silence. Well, I did. FWhip wouldn't stop talking about how he was proud of me for starting a war.

"We need allies," I said once I was there. "We need to get to people before Joel does. I think our best bet will be Sausage and Jimmy, since they're pretty close by and they've been at war before."

"Jimmy's allied with Joel," FWhip reminded me.

"Dang it, I forgot about that," I cursed.

"Most of the Wither Rose Alliance aren't allied with him," he suggested. "And Joey definitely isn't, but I don't want to team up with him."

"The Either Rose Alliance is you, Gem, and Sausage," I said.

"I know!"

I thought for a minute. "What if we looked at the people who would be the most strongly affected by this?" I asked. "Scott is an elf. He depends on magic and magical items."

FWhip nodded. "Katherine deals a lot in alchemy and potions. She would be affected by this."

"We should go ask them," I said.

We took off, stopping at the Cod Empire first to talk to Jimmy.

We found him near one of his cod pools. He appeared to be talking to it, even stopping to listen to its reply. It took me a second to realize he was talking to the fish that inhabited the pool, not the water itself.

We landed next to him.

"I know it's bad, but we can always just disobey the-"

"Hi, Jimmy," I interrupted. "Is this a bad time?"

Jimmy looked at the cod he was talking to and listened for a minute, nodding at whatever the fish was saying.

"You're good," he said, looking up at us.

"We wondered if you wanted to get involved in a war," I said with forced cheerfulness.

Jimmy glared at FWhip. "Not on the same side as him."

"Oh, come on!" FWhip said. "It's not my war. Why do you hate me so much?"

"You support salmon," Jimmy said.

"Yeah, but I don't kill cod every time I see them!" FWhip protested.

Jimmy didn't have much to say to that.

"Jimmy, do you want magic back or not?" I asked.

He hesitated. "Well, I don't want it to be illegal to talk to the Listener. And I want enchanting and potions and communication back. So... yes."

"See?" FWhip said triumphantly.

Jimmy pouted. "Joel's my ally, though."

I winced. "You don't have to if you don't want to."

"Yes he does!" FWhip whispered to me.

"I'll be neutral," Jimmy said decisively. "I want to keep my Mezalea alliance, because I don't want to make Lizzie choose between us if we're enemies."

"Awww..." FWhip mocked. "You're actually thinking about someone else?"

"FWhip," I warned, gritting my teeth.

"Fine!" he said, rolling his eyes. "I'll go." He took off in the direction of Rivendell.

"Sorry, he doesn't know what he's saying," I apologized to Jimmy, before following FWhip.

"Why did you say that to him?" I yelled at FWhip as soon as we were out of earshot, not bothering to hide my anger.

FWhip hovered in midair, and I joined him. "Because he was being a jerk."

"You're calling the guy who backed out of a war, because he considered his sister, a jerk? If any of us were jerks back there, you were!"

FWhip had the nerve to look ashamed. "Sorry."

"Don't say sorry to me. Say sorry to Jimmy next time you see him."

FWhip nodded.

I glared at him the entire way to Rivendell.

The elven kingdom was usually pretty chilly, but now it was worse. The waterfalls that ran down the cliffs were frozen. The ponds and streams were solid enough to walk on. Frost coated the ground. My breath escaped my lips in puffs of white fog. Shivering, I drew my cloak tighter around myself. What had happened? I didn't remember it being like this.

When we landed in front of the throne room, I said, "Let me do the talking this time." My voice wavered from the cold.

My older brother winced. "Okay."

I didn't let myself feel bad about it. I pushed the door open.

Scott was not inside, so we searched his empire. Finding nothing, we returned to his throne room.

We went inside in one last attempt to find the elf.

We were just about to give up when I peered behind the throne and saw a trapdoor, half hidden by the ice inside the throne room. I opened it and called down. "Hello? Scott?"

The trapdoor led to a long ladder going down. FWhip came up next to me.

We exchanged glances. He shrugged.

We started to climb down the ladder.

We descended into a large room. Icicles hung from the ceiling, sometimes reaching all the way to the floor like dripstone. Frost crept up the walls like vines or moss. Snow lined the ground, interrupted only by our footprints. Warm torchlight glowed through the ice, but none of it was melting.

"Whoa," FWhip said.

I had to agree.

I was used to the warm, humid swamp. This room was a meat locker.

I pulled my cloak even tighter around myself despite my long sleeves. Even climbing Monopoly Mountain in the blazing heat of the Red Desert in Third Life was better than this.

We lit torches to keep us somewhat warm and walked deeper into the icy cavern.

"Scott?" FWhip called, his voice bouncing off the walls of the cavern.

We continued, leaving footprints in the snow. The snow that shouldn't have existed down here. There were no clouds.

Something was wrong.

I hoped Scott was okay.

We got to the back of the room.

"Scott?" I asked, one last time.

There was no answer, but a shadow behind an ice pillar caught my attention.

I nudged FWhip and pointed.

He gave me a confused look.

I facepalmed.

I walked toward the shadow, which the closer I got, the more it started to look like a person. "Scott, I know you're there. Why are you hiding?"

"Oh! He's back there?" FWhip said.

I rolled my eyes.

Scott came out from behind the pillar.

He was extremely pale, as if he hadn't seen sunlight for a long time. Snow gathered on top of his head and shoulders, like Jimmy's slime but much colder. His hands were covered in frost.

I stumbled back in alarm. "What happened?"

Scott held out his hand. "In Lizzy's words, I bargained with fate."

"What do you... oh... it had something to do with that trade, huh?" FWhip said.

"What trade?" I asked.

"A while ago, Lizzy and I traded an item for an item," Scott explained. "Lizzy got the Ocean Orb, which I had no use for. I didn't even know what it was. But it turned Lizzy into an axolotl, or at least, that's what she told me. She's learned to accept her gills and fins now, but before then she hated it and considered it a curse."

"And what did you get?" FWhip asked.

Scott looked at his shoes. "Frostwalker boots."

I realized that not only was he looking at them, he was talking about them, too.

"But how did that cause all of... this?" I asked, waving a hand around us.

"It didn't give me powers," Scott said. "I thought it did at first, but now I know that it just activated the ones I had all along."

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

Instead of speaking, Scott held out his hand palm up. After something like suction pulling the air into his hand, a snowball appeared there.

Not only was Scott using magic, he was using ice magic. Elemental magic was hard to come by.

"I'm dangerous," Scott said. "You should probably leave."

"But..." I protested.

I had long forgotten the reason we had come in the first place.

"Go away," Scott said, turning away from us. "I don't want to hurt anyone else."

"Anyone else?" FWhip yelped. "Who did you..."

Scott hesitated, then winced when he realized who he was talking to. "Gem."

"You know where Gem is?" FWhip said hopefully.

"AND YOU HURT HER?" I hollered.

Scott flinched. "I didn't mean to! I can't control my powers."

"WHAT DID YOU DO?"

"I- she was trying to help me learn to unfreeze stuff, but then I got frustrated and then suddenly she was trapped in ice. I got her out, but... well, she has a white streak in her hair. I think she lives in the Nether now. And I'm getting ready to leave. So whatever you came for, no."

"But Joel will probably hunt you down," I said.

"Not if I go northward enough."

"But we need you to help cure Gem!" FWhip said.

Scott shook his head. "You can do that without me. I bet Katherine could help."

"But we can't use potions!" FWhip yelled. "Because you let Joel get the crown!"

"Stop arguing!" I told them. "We can figure this out."

"Oh, it was my fault?" Scott raised his voice. "I seem to remember you asking for it!"

"Stop it!" I panicked, as I felt the air get colder with Scott's rage.

"It's always your way, isn't it?" FWhip said. "You can't let anyone else have ideas. It's always about you!"

"I'M TRYING TO KEEP EVERYONE SAFE!" Scott roared. "FROM ME!"

This conversation sounded awfully familiar. But this time, I wasn't the one arguing.

Now I knew how Pearl felt.

"WILL YOU GUYS STOP?" I yelled. "YOU'RE NOT MAKING THINGS ANY BETTER!"

They both ignored me. "YOU NEVER HELP ANYONE! YOU NEVER END UP KEEPING ANYONE SAFE! YOU ALWAYS JUST END UP HIDING IN YOUR SAFE LITTLE HAVEN WHILE EVERYONE ELSE FIGHTS FOR YOU!" FWhip spat.

His eyes burning with fury, Scott instinctively raised his hands. The temperature dropped. Spikes of ice erupted from the ground. Snow rose off of the ground and swirled around us, obscuring everything in a haze of white and cold.

"SCOTT, NO!" I shrieked, tears coming to my eyes, running down my face, and freezing instantly.

And then silence.

I waited to appear back at my bed or at Spawn.

But I didn't.

Was I deleted? Would I join Bdubs and Keralis wherever people went after they died?

"No, no no no no no no no," a voice said. "Not again. Not again. Aeor, don't let this hurt them. Please..."

My vision returned. My feet were trapped in ice. I had lost all feeling in them. I wasn't dead.

FWhip had got the worst of it, though.

I let out a sharp cry of panic when I saw my brother almost completely encased in frozen water.

"Scott," I said, breathing heavily. "What..."

"I'm so sorry," Scott said, looking horrified. "I didn't mean-"

"Get me out," I said. "Then we can work together to rescue FWhip."

Scott didn't say anything. We just grabbed our pickaxes and started chipping at the ice until I was free. Feeling started to return to my legs.

We moved on to FWhip. Once his hand was free, I grasped it and was relieved to feel him squeeze back.

Our boots crunching on broken ice, we managed to excavate him enough so that he could wriggle out of his icy prison.

"It's so c-cold..." FWhip mumbled, shivering.

I put an arm around him even though I wasn't much better.

"Mezalea, Pixandria, or the Nether," Scott said. "Those are the warmest places I know of. Oh, I'm so, so sorry... this is why I should have left. This is why you should have left."

"N-note to s-self, d-don't anger the ice k-k-king," FWhip said.

"Come on, let's get you somewhere warm," I said.

We went back across the room, leaving Scott looking angry and guilty behind us. We climbed the ladder into the throne room and went outside into the bright sunlight.

"Can you fly?" I asked.

FWhip looked at his elytra, which was still covered in ice crystals. "I d-don't think so."

I looked down the mountain at the Rivendell Nether portal. It was illegal to use now, but we had to. The desert and mesa were too far away.

"We may have to break some laws," I said.

"We were already breaking laws," FWhip said. "And S-scott said that Gem was in the N-nether."

We headed down the path to the portal. It wasn't lit as to follow the new rules, but I had a flint and steel and quickly had the swirling purple portal open.

I glanced at FWhip. He was rubbing his arms in an attempt to warm up a little. He had pulled his red scarf up over his nose and mouth to avoid inhaling cold air, reminding me painfully of the shadow assassins who had killed me in Last Life. And there was a white streak in his longish ginger hair.

Something was terribly wrong. Even I wasn't that cold, and my clothes were not made for low temperatures.

We stepped through the portal into the hot Nether landscape.

The heat felt good at first. Then it began to get uncomfortably hot. I took off my cloak, already starting to sweat.

FWhip took off his jacket and scarf as well, putting them in a shulker box that he left at the portal. I left my outer clothes there as well.

"Are you any better?" I asked.

He nodded. "It feels like normal Overworld air should feel. Why does it feel like that?"

"It shouldn't," I said. "I'm sweating."

FWhip frowned. "I feel stronger here. What did Scott do to me?" He fingered the white streak in his hair.

"I don't know," I said. "Our best hope is Gem, though. If we find her, we will probably find our key to getting you cured."

"But didn't Scott say he accidentally cursed her, too?"

I didn't answer. He had a point.

We walked through the Nether, avoiding piglins since we didn't have any gold to bribe them into leaving us alone. We navigated around ghast craters, lava pools, and open fires.

I hated the Nether already. I had always hated all the fire, lava, and mobs that inhabited the place. But now that I had dealt with the tunnels in the Watcher fortress, and Etho's secret base before that, I hated the stuffy air and cave-like layout of the fiery dimension more than anything.

It was nothing like the Nether in Hermitcraft There, they had an established hub that was easy to find what you were looking for inside, or that was what it looked like from what little I saw of it. It was claustrophobic, but at least it was organized. Here in the Empires, where the Nether was only ever visited when we needed resources, there were just portals scattered everywhere, sometimes marked by their owners about which empire it led to. But now, all the portals were dark except the one we had just left.

We wandered around searching for the smallest glimpse of green or purple, because those were the colors of the dress and cloak that Gem usually wore.

I don't know how long we searched through the endless red expanse that was the Nether, but before long we were severely dehydrated and hungry. We had to go home.

"Can I stay next to the portal?" FWhip asked. "Since the only open portal is the one to Rivendell, I don't think I can handle it."

He shivered, but not because he was cold. It was the memory of the cold.

I nodded. "Stay here."

I stepped through the portal.

I realized I had forgotten my cloak, so I tried to fly fast.

I landed back at the Dripleaf Grove and gathered a large supply of food. Then I went back to Rivendell.

From the well in the elven city, I gathered a large hunk of ice. It would be clean, because it was from a well.

Why did I need ice? Water evaporated immediately, but ice didn't melt for a while for some reason. In order to stay hydrated, we would need to suck on ice so it was already inside of us when it melted.

I gathered a lot of ice and put it into a heat proof pouch from Gem. Did that count as magic? I didn't know. I didn't really care. I was already using Nether portals, not to mention the fact that I had started a rebellion against the Grand Emperor.

Glancing around to make sure I wasn't being watched, I stepped back through the portal.

I found FWhip on the other side, still waiting. He was looking a little more battered, and he clutched a vial of a foggy white liquid - ghast tears.

I pushed some food and the pouch of ice into his hands. "Eat."

He slipped the vial of ghast tears into his pocket and did as I said without complaint.

After we had eaten enough to last us another few hours, we popped more ice into our mouths and continued our search.

Eventually, we found something.

It looked like a house, but people didn't live in the Nether. It had a blackstone base, basalt walls, and a crimson wood roof. It was built in a similar style to the buildings in the Crystal Cliffs.

I smiled. "I'm pretty sure I know who built this," I said.

FWhip looked up at the cottage that somehow made Nether blocks come together in a good way. "Yep."

We walked up the stairs to the porch and knocked on the door.

There was no answer, so FWhip called, "If you're not going to come out, we're coming in!"

After another minute of waiting, FWhip huffed and tried the door.

It was locked.

FWhip started to kick the door, because violence was the answer to everything. The door rattled but held until I pulled him away. "FWhip, you can't just break down a person's door. Especially if that person is your twin sister."

FWhip pouted.

I knocked again. "Gem, if you're in there, could you please let us in?"

"Gem is, in fact, not in there," an amused voice said from behind us.

We turned around to see the wizard standing at the bottom of the stairs, trying not to laugh.

I almost flew down the stairs as I went to hug her. FWhip was right behind me, in a slightly more civilized manner.

I know. FWhip? Civilized?

"FWhip, what happened to your hair?" Gem asked, fingering his white strand. I noticed she had one as well, which went all the way down her braid.

"Scott," FWhip said, wincing.

"Me too, actually," Gem said with a panicked expression. "I hope you didn't come to me for a cure. I've been trying to find one myself."

"After we found you, we were going to go to Katherine," FWhip said.

Gem nodded.

"But," I said, "The thing is, since you conveniently didn't turn up to the meeting Joel called, now you don't know that all magic, including communication devices, Nether portals, and potions, is illegal. Being here is illegal, at least for me. Magic needed for survival is okay."

"Then why are you breaking the law?" Gem yelped.

"One, Blue declared war on Joel, which was awesome, by the way," FWhip said.

"You WHAT?" Gem said, turning to me."

"Two, we needed to find you," FWhip said.

"YOU DECLARED WAR ON JOEL?"

"It wasn't as cool as FWhip says it is," I said. "All I did was tell him that if he wouldn't let people use the magic we depend on, we would go to war."

"IT WAS SO FRICKIN' COOL!" FWhip cheered. "I'm so proud of her! Little sis going to war!"

"This is not a good thing!" Gem argued. "You and I can't survive long in the Overworld. We'll freeze. We can't help her."

I perked up, an idea forming in my head. "What if I went to Katherine and got her as an ally? Then she would be willing to break the law."

"Yeah! Then we can go kick Joel's butt!" FWhip laughed gleefully, punching the air.

Gem did not look very excited about the whole "kick Joel's butt" thing. But she said, "If it means a cure, I'm in."

"I am most definitely in!" FWhip yelled. "We're going to get Katherine, then we're going to get that crown and destroy it because I made it and I know how and TAKE THAT COD BOY THAT'S WHAT YOU GET FOR NOT BEING OUR ALLY."

I looked at him, amused. "FWhip, when was the last time you had coffee?"

"I think we should go inside," Gem said. "I need to hear everything that's happened. Everything."

I knew she meant Last Life and the Downside-Up, too.

Good thing my tears would evaporate instantly.

We went inside and sat on a couch that somehow was not in flames despite the heat.

"First of all, what about Joel banning magic?" Gem said.

I crossed my arms. "No. First of all, why didn't you tell me you lived in Hermitcraft too?"

FWhip looked at me. "That is exactly what I said when she told all the Emperors about it."

"I didn't choose to tell everyone about it," Gem said. "Ren exposed me. Then I explained because they deserved to know."

"But why didn't you tell meeee?" I complained.

"Because you would have wanted to come so you could visit your Third Life allies like Grian and Bdubs, then you would start fights against your enemies like Ren and Etho."

I slumped down in my seat and said grudgingly, "I guess you're right."

"She didn't tell me either until Ren blabbed," FWhip comforted me.

"Nobody knew except Pearl and Pix," Gem said. "Even the people on Hermitcraft thought I lived there full-time." Her lip trembled at the mention of the destroyed world.

I huffed, not quite ready to forgive her. "Okay. Now we can talk about Joel's crazy red name urges that came home from Last Life with him."

"WHAT-"

I laughed bitterly.

"Scott and Pearl told us about how scary he was," FWhip said.

I nodded gravely. "Last Life obviously left a mark on him. It did to all of us."

"Why did he ban magic?" Gem asked, closing a protective hand around her staff, which leaned against the wall next to her.

"He felt like all our problems were started by magic," FWhip explained. "He's got a point. But magic does more good than bad, at least here."

"So..." Gem said, holding out her hand and watching an orb of light appear. "This is illegal?"

I nodded. "Being here is illegal, since portals are a form of magic."

Gem but her lip. She wanted to use magic, but she didn't want to be in hiding anymore. Gem had always been a rule-follower.

Her twin was the exact opposite, however. FWhip said, "Illegal is good though! We started a civil war and now we're going to take over Mezalea!"

"No!" I said, annoyed. "We're not going to capture Mezalea. I don't want to leave Joel without a home, no matter how much he abuses his power. I just want the crown so I can destroy it. Once we get that, the war's over."

FWhip pouted again.

"Back up, explain the whole story," Gem said.

FWhip and I explained what had happened in the Empires since my return, from the yoinking of the crown to the new law to FWhip being frozen.

Then we backed up even more. Gem and FWhip told me the story about the fight with Xornoth while I was in Last Life, and after the Last Lifers came, his defeat. FWhip explained the Grand Crown that had been introduced at the Victory Feast and how it could be destroyed. The power was never meant to destroy this world like it did. It was supposed to do the opposite - keep the peace, restore order after months of war.

Gem told us the full story about Hermitcraft. She and Pearl had come in just as everyone got to the Eighth World. They had made friends, built bases, and Pearl had met up with an old friend that she wouldn't tell Gem much about - aka Grian. Pix had come in later and started to write rough drafts of a newspaper called The Recap with the help of a few of his friends from other worlds, Lyarrah and Zloy. They had never gotten anything published, however.

Gem told a story of pranks, suspicious neighbors (namely Ren and another guy, Doc), friends, animals named after other animals, and woodland palaces. Then she had stopped visiting Hermitcraft to devote her time to the fight against Xornoth. When she had returned after the No Flight Rule was passed, the moon was huge, and only a few days later, it crashed.

Gem had gotten to Hermitcraft around the time that we had escaped the Downside-Up. The days that I was unconscious had been the days that she spent, building, watching the moon, and worrying.

Then Gem confessed that the Listener had been contacting her.

I let the hurt show on my face. "Why are you keeping so many secrets?"

Gem looked guilty but didn't answer.

Gem explained the conversations she had had with the Listener, and how she, Pearl, and Jimmy knew the Evolutioners were alive. She then went on to tell about that final dream, the one where the Listener had entered her mind with a panicked warning. Gem fled the Overworld and went into the Nether, where she found Xisuma and then Grian and I had turned up.

She told me about her escape with the help of FWhip, and then about how when Scott lost his position, he came looking for her in an attempt to get help controlling his powers. She was unable to help him, however, and when she pushed him too hard, he froze her.

Then they turned to me.

"Now for the real story," FWhip said. "What happened on your side?"

I swallowed the lump in my throat. "Didn't you hear about it at the Victory Feast?"

My siblings' gazes softened. "You don't have to tell us if you don't want to," Gem said. "But it does help. It really does."

"We also kind of want to hear your side of the story," FWhip said.

I took a deep breath and launched into story mode.

I told them everything that had happened since the Ender Dragon fight, from the dream that told me I would be a ghost to the Battle of the Final Life. They listened with fascination and, when it was necessary, horror.

When I got to the fight with Scott, FWhip looked guilty as he remembered the argument that had led to him being frozen. "I didn't think... I'm sorry. I didn't think it would hit that hard."

I snorted. "I'm not the one who got frozen."

They were glad to hear that I made amends with Scott later.

The Battle of the Final Life was surprisingly hard to talk about. "And then... well, this is kind of hard to explain, but the Watchers and Listener themselves came. They were just silhouettes, but they all had a weird symbol floating above their heads like a halo. Then the Listener cast a spell, and suddenly we could see all the ghosts. Every single Last Lifer was there, including Tango. He was just barely visible in the forest."

"Probably not the best idea," Gem said. "I would have run away."

"It makes sense, though," FWhip said. "He was still mad at Martyn, and maybe a little scared to go out on his own. He didn't want to come across you guys and get killed, which we all know would have happened."

"With Scar there? Yes," I said. "So then Joey turned up. The Watchers and Listeners ignored him and started using magic. Everyone knew somehow that it would destroy the world. So we all ran for the portal. But Grian and Martyn weren't able to get through.

"I tried to get in after everyone else was in except Grian and Martyn, but Grian tried going in at the same time as me and, well... it pushed both of us back. And then the Watchers and Listener used too much magic and I was knocked out."

"So it was his fault you stayed in Last Life?" Gem said, her eyes burning with fury.

"No," I said. "We don't know why he was held back."

Well, actually I sort of did.

After the Battle of the Final Life, I spoke of the strange visions I had seen. Some of them I had never seen before, but now I knew what they were: a red crystal that I now knew was a dream communicator, the black scythe that had corrupted Sausage.

I stopped there.

"How did you escape?" Gem asked.

I hesitated. I wasn't sure how to say this without giving away Grian's secret.

"Well, Watcher One turned up," I said. "Grian and I were together. Martyn was missing, but we didn't know he was there and we really didn't care. But Watcher One appeared and then suddenly I was in a tiny, like really tiny room..." I shuddered.

"What do you mean? Were you teleported?" Gem asked.

I shook my head. "I don't think so. We had a theory, and what you said about Sausage not remembering working for Xornoth confirms it. I was possessed."

"Who's 'we'?" FWhip said.

"Me and Grian."

FWhip mumbled something about forgetting Grian was there.

"But how did Grian know you were possessed when he was probably not in control either?"

Oh, frick. "I don't know," I lied.

I immediately felt terrible. But it had to be done.

"We talked a little before Watcher Two came in and took us over again," I said, leaving out the part where they couldn't possess Grian. "I remember part of it this time. I think I was developing an immunity. But they brought us to another room that was a little bigger, and this other guy, Taurtis, was there."

I explained the reunion, the planning, how I could hurt the Watchers, and then the other Evolutioners. Then I talked about our escape.

When I got to the part about finding Martyn, I said, "he was just sitting there. It was so pathetic that it was scary. I'm scared of Martyn for what he's capable of, but I'm more scared of the Watchers now for what they did to him. They didn't touch him, but they nearly drove him crazy."

"You did the right thing, getting him out, even if he did lie to everyone," FWhip said. "Where is he now?"

I went on to tell them about the fight with Watcher One. They were kind of angry when I avoided the subject of our teleportation and how it was possible.

"You're not telling us something important," FWhip complained. "What if we need to know it?"

"You don't," I assured them. "And it's not my secret to tell."

"Grian had wings... and he could teleport," Gem remembered. "Something happened to him and he's magical now."

That girl was too smart for her own good.

I decided not to tell them that he had always been magical. Instead, I insisted, "Ask him. It's not my secret to tell."

They pouted.

I told them about my injury, where Gem paled. I then told them about Gateway, and the village that the Evolutioners constructed. Both twins said they wanted to see it, at the exact same time.

Then I got into the destruction of Hermitcraft, when we had found Bdubs dead. That part was particularly hard to talk about, worse than any of the deaths in Third or Last Life, because I knew he was gone for good. He was nothing but a memory now.

Did Grian still have that clock? Had he given it to Bdubs' family? I didn't know.

Then we all relieved memories of the return to the Empires and Gem's capture. That sucked, just a little.

FWhip said that Xisuma had settled in pretty well. He was staying in the Crystal Goblet Tavern with Bigb until someone could take him to Gateway. I told Gem that both of them were probably sulking right now. She put her head in her hands and mumbled something about how irresponsible she was. FWhip and I immediately reached out to comfort our older sister, because she was exactly twelve minutes older than FWhip.

I talked about our search across Hermitcraft for escapees, and how Keralis was also found dead.

Gem sniffled. "He never gave me half of his third of the Bigeye profits like he promised," she said. "Why did so many people have to die?"

I put an arm around her, a rare physical contact from me.

When I talked about how half the Hermits had still been missing, they immediately wanted to go look for them.

"We have enough problems here," I said sadly. "Once we figure out the whole Grand Crown thing, then we can go to Gateway and Hermitcraft."

"But what about Xisuma and Bigb?" Gem asked. "We should take them to Gateway. Jimmy, too, since the Evolutioners are there."

"If we do, we can't come back," I said, shaking my head. "No, we need to strike first."

FWhip nodded eagerly.

Our story time finally over, I got ready to go find Katherine. Gem said she and Lizzie the Ocean Queen had made three crystals that kept their users infinitely hydrated, inspired by a con Jimmy and Martyn had pulled on Scar, but these ones actually worked. She gave one to FWhip since he would be staying with her in the Nether. Unfortunately, the other one was with Lizzie to help her survive on land for long amounts of time, but I was fine with that.

Was Lizzie allowed to use that crystal? Joel had said that magical items that were necessary for survival could be kept.

I waved goodbye to my siblings as I took off and flew back toward the Rivendell Nether portal.

Once back in the Overworld, I flew to the Overgrowth as fast as my elytra could carry me. I was determined to find Katherine quickly, so that Gem and FWhip could be cured as soon as possible.

"Katherine?" I called, gliding over the field of giant flowers. She came out from under a tulip. "Hi!"

I landed. "Hi. I wanted to ask you if you would like to join a war."

The fairy blanched. "No! Last time I was involved in a war, it ended in Xornoth being released and half of the Emperors missing."

I cracked a smile. "I know. I was there, too. But you don't have to be very involved. I just need a favor and a promise that you won't help Joel."

"Joel?"

I nodded. "I declared war on him, right after his announcement. I wanted people like you and Gem who depend on magic to be able to use it."

"I'm not going to help Joel ban magic, you have my word on that," Katherine snorted. "But what's the favor?"

I glanced around as if I was nervous of eavesdroppers. "Scott... well, he has these powers, and Gem and FWhip were hurt by them. It was an accident. But you know potions, and we figured you could get a cure for them."

"I can't do that!" Katherine yelped. "It's against the law!"

I looked at her.

"Of course I'll do it," she said quickly. "What did Scott do to them?"

"Freeze them."

"Wait, what?"

"I was hoping you would know."

"Let me see," Katherine said. "Where are they?"

"In the Nether," I said. "It's the only place they can go where they for sure won't freeze to death."

"Oh, no..." Katherine gasped. "But isn't it illegal to go there, too?"

I rolled my eyes. "Katherine, do you want to help or not?"

Her black and white cat tail twitched nervously. "Yes."

"Then let's go!" I cheered, taking off for Rivendell.

She followed me. Katherine was a pretty good flyer, being a fairy. She caught up to me quickly.

We drove straight into the Nether portal and landed a little roughly on the other side.

I led her to Gem's hut and we knocked on the door.

Gem answered, looking a little wary, but threw it open wider when she saw us. "Come on in!"

FWhip was sitting on the couch, fiddling with some gadget or something in his hands. As we walked in, it let out a burst of red sparks and exploded. FWhip stared at where it had been with a hilarious expression between alarm, amusement, and anger.

"Doctor Eliz, to the rescue!" Katherine said, using her last name. "What do you need?"

In case you haven't figured it out already, I use their Minecraft usernames for their last names. If they don't have a longer username than they go by, I just make one up.

"They need a cure," I said, trying not to laugh. "I already told you that."

"Can you help?" Gem asked.

Katherine examined them for a minute. "I think so," she said finally. "I don't know if a plant thing will work on humans, though."

"Plant thing?" FWhip said.

"Humans?" Gem asked.

"People," Katherine corrected herself. "And yes, FWhip. Plant thing. I have a splash potion that helps plants survive through winter. It also thaws them if they freeze. I think that will work."

"You think?" FWhip sputtered.

"It's our best bet," I said to him. "Katherine, if it doesn't work, will it hurt them?"

Katherine shook her head. "I don't think so."

Gem nodded. "Can you get it now?"

The fairy nodded, and we walked out together.

"FWhip doesn't have a lot of trust in this plan," Katherine aknowledged.

"He doesn't have a lot of trust in any plan," I said dismissively. "He just charges in and hopes for the best."

Katherine laughed.

We flew to the portal, careful not to fly into it this time, and then once in Rivendell, flew back to the Overgrown.

Katherine went into one of her greenhouses, warning me not to go inside because some plants were carnivorous or poisonous, and then went inside herself. A moment later, she came out with a splash potion clutched in her hand.

She slipped it into her pocket as we took off back for the only Nether portal in use.

We brought the potion back to FWhip and Gem. When we walked in, FWhip immediately started complaining about how we had taken too long.

Katherine, Gem, and I looked at each other, rolling our eyes. Boys.

"Okay, who wants to go first?" Katherine asked, holding up the potion.

I looked at FWhip. "If you're so impatient, why don't you go first?"

"No, Gem can..." FWhip said.

Oh, now you change your mind, I thought smugly.

"I can go first," Gem volunteered, chuckling.

Katherine took the potion in her hand and yeeted it at Gem's feet.

Gem stopped shivering. She watched in wonder as the white streak in her hair faded, but not to its normal orange... it turned green.

"Is that supposed to happen?" Gem asked.

Katherine shrugged. "I don't know. Like I said, I've never tried this before."

Gem fingered her new colored hair. "I feel fine. But I do have a strong urge to go plant a garden."

A garden?

FWhip voiced my thoughts. "That was kind of... random."

I nodded in agreement.

Katherine looked uneasy. "I don't think that was supposed to happen," she said.

"I'm fine!" Gem protested. "I feel fine. I feel thawed."

Suddenly, the crimson floorboards cracked between her feet. A small green shoot came out - an Overworld plant.

In the Nether.

Everyone was silent for a minute as they stared at the plant.

"Maybe FWhip should find another cure," Katherine said, looking guilty and angry at herself. "But I don't know how to help Gem..."

"Does it wear off?" I asked.

Katherine put her head in her hands. "No, it's permanent."

"Do you at least have an antidote, in case you put it on the wrong plant?"

"No!" Katherine wailed. "I'm so sorry, Gem, I didn't mean for it to do that!"

Gem stared at the vine in between her feet, rapidly stretching for the ceiling. "I guess Scott isn't the only one with random powers he can't control..." she said, trailing off.

Katherine wiped a tear off of her face. Gem immediately hugged the fairy in an attempt to comfort her. "It's okay, you had no idea what was going to happen! We'll find a cure..."

She looked at FWhip and me, who were just kind of staring from the sidelines and being useless, but I immediately jumped into action.

"We will," I said. "We just need to think about it. Even if an antidote doesn't already exist, we can make one."

"And making plants grow randomly where they're not supposed to is better than slowly freezing to death from the inside," FWhip supplied.

Katherine looked a little better.

"Now that I think of it," Katherine said. "I do think I can make an antidote. But it might still have some effects. Your wizard powers might be a little diluted, except for plant magic. That'll still probably be really strong."

"As long as they're not this," Gem said, gesturing to the plant, which had flowered into a bunch of peonies. More had started to grow at a rapid rate.

"FWhip, I think we should wait for Scott to find a way to cure you," I said. "He's probably the one who can help the most. No offense, Katherine."

FWhip nodded. "It's okay," Katherine said.

Katherine and Gem left to see if they could make a cure for whatever the fairy had done. I left to find Scott, and FWhip insisted on coming with me, despite my protests that he could die, possibly permanently. But I knew he wouldn't budge.

We went and relit the portal to Mezalea in hopes that FWhip would be able to survive in the mesa long enough to find some decent clothes for him.

Also, we kind of hoped someone would find the Mezalea portal open and get mad at Joel for it when he had made the law.

FWhip said he felt fine. So we snuck into the kingdom to buy some warmer clothes for both of us.

We wore hooded cloaks because we didn't want to be recognized by Joel or Lizzy if they were wandering the streets. It was a good idea, too, because we were being hunted.

In several places around the city there were notice boards with announcements and laws posted on them. Several times, I saw a rather hilarious poster with a picture of Joel that said, Anyone found harboring horses (or magic, I guess) will be punished. Horses are illegal in the Kingdom of Mezalea.

I nearly blew our cover with laughter when I first saw that one, because it was impossible not to giggle a little at Joel's strange hatred of horses. Nobody knew where it had come from.

"What... oh!" FWhip said, following my gaze and snickering.

I laughed too, until my eyes drifted to the next poster.

Wanted: Bluemoon Tay

For leading rebellion against His Supreme Majesty, Grand Totally Tall Emperor Joel Smallbeans, Slayer of Horses and Chickens

Reward if found

Wanted: FWhip Tay

For joining rebellion against His Supreme Majesty, Grand Totally Tall Emperor Joel Smallbeans, Slayer of Horses and Chickens

Reward if found

My smile faded as I gazed at the posters of me and FWhip.

"Okay, that's a little excessive," FWhip said. "His Supreme Majesty? Pfft. I would have just gone with Grand Emperor Joel."

"Look at this," I said, pointing to another poster.

Missing: Scott Major, King of Rivendell

Last seen at the Declaration of the Banishment of Magic, but then his kingdom kind of froze

Reward for information

"How come he gets a title?" FWhip whined. "I don't have a title. You don't have a title. But Scott has a title."

"What worries me more is that nobody has seen him," I said.

FWhip frowned. "Oh yeah, I guess that too."

I stared at the posters for a minute more before FWhip pulled me back into the crowd, warning me that we couldn't stay in one place too long.

We found a stall in a back alley selling Rivendell cloaks. They were famous for keeping their wearer warm no matter the temperature. I didn't know where the owner of the shop had gotten them, but he warned us not to use them too often because they were magical, and therefore illegal.

We thanked the shop owner and headed back into the streets. Then, just because we wanted to make fun of Joel, we went to the town square, threw off our hoods, and yelled, "Join the rebellion! We want magic back!"

When the guards came after us, we lit rockets and took off, since they didn't have elytras. As we flew away, FWhip taunted, "JOEL IS SHORT! AND POOR!"

That was what tended to happen when Gem wasn't around.

Back at the Nether portal, we put on the cloaks despite the heat. Then we took back off, crossing the sea and navigating around several mountains before we arrived at the elven kingdom.

Rivendell was completely covered in snow now. Tall spires of ice jutted from the ground, and it was even colder.

FWhip drew the cloak tighter around himself but didn't develop a stutter or shiver uncontrollably. I took that to be a good sign.

After finding Rivendell bustling with life as usual but without its ruler, we went down to the secret cave underneath the throne room.

We found that empty as well.

Maybe he was out gathering resources. Maybe he was fine.

Or, maybe it was time to put up some Missing posters of my own.

FWhip started to shudder a little, so we hurried back to the Nether portal. The stuffy heat of the fire dimension seemed to calm him down.

We went back to Gem's cottage and just hung out while we waited for her, talking about the events of the past day and night. I hadn't slept since Gateway, so I was about to take a nap until FWhip reminded me that sleeping in the Nether was incredibly dangerous. So we went back to the mesa, dug a tiny secret base, and went to sleep there.

But despite being so tired that I could barely keep my eyes open, sleep was a long time coming. Questions raced through my head - what if we failed in our rebellion? What if we never found Scott? What if Gem and Katherine couldn't find an antidote?

It was a long time before I fell asleep.