I woke up to someone shaking me, I cracked open my eyes to see a familiar face looking back at me. They stopped shaking me, their hands gripping my shoulders.

"Seto? Come on, talk to me," the voice said with a hint of worry laced in it. I rose my hand up to my achy head, my vision coming back into focus. When it did, it was Matthew that was shaking me and the second thing I noticed was the eerie dark purple and black colored sky. I forced myself to sit up, feeling stiff and sore in multiple parts of my body making me let out a groan.

Matthew gabbed me, keeping me steady. "Take it slow," he warned me. I let my hand fall into my lap, seeing Kala sat beside me with Chimney, Violet, and Shiro still out cold. James and Phil nowhere in sight.

I looked at Matthew. "What happened?" I asked him making him smile at me.

"Cost of traveling through a portal that was just newly formed I'm afraid," he said like that explained everything when it didn't. I stared at him for a second, just accepting the answer since that isn't the key issue here. Matthew moved away from me, going over to Chimney and them.

So...this is the End?

This isn't exactly what I expected it to be like. I get my feet under me, standing up and instantly aware of how small of a platform that we are on. We are on a 5 by 5 obsidian platform that's floating off to the side over a black bottomless pit. How is this floating? How?

And more importantly, why?

I flinched when I heard a dragon roar echo off in the distance, my eyes shifting over to look at a massive floating island made of some strange look tan stone material.

"Was that—"

"Lady Ianite's pet, the Enderdragon," Shiro answered as he sat up. I read a bit about the Enderdragon, it is said to be a massive creature that Ianite raised herself. It protects her and her domain.

But nothing is connecting the platform we woke up on to the massive floating island. This place is...well strange wouldn't exactly describe it in its entirety. It's unsettling how quiet it is, there aren't sounds of nature like you hear in the Overworld, no. The only thing I hear is this low humming noise that is constantly playing like background noise and the occasional roar from a dragon. I look around and there is no other island or anything in sight, just this platform, the main island, and darkness.

"Where are James and Phil?" I asked.

Reed looked at me. "Went to scout ahead, and to keep the dragon distracted and away from us," he answered making me nod.

"Okay," I said. I mean, I don't like that they did that but at least James or Phil didn't go alone. And besides, they can take care of themselves.

After everyone is woken up and James and Phil return, Matthew flew up behind me and hooked his arms around me. "Whoa! What are you—AH!" I yelped as he suddenly took off in the sky with me in his arms. "Warn me next time please!"

I watch Phil pick up Kala and James picking up Chimney. I notice Shiro's eyes glowing before I see white transparent wings appear on his back, not attached to him but floating just a few inches off him. He takes off, picking up Violet as he does. Meanwhile, I see Riley and Reed outlined in blue and red, flying as well.

"Wait, why does Shiro have wings?" I asked.

"That's the flying spell from my world," Shiro answered making me nod, understanding. Oh, that's right. I don't know any flying spells, so both Kala and I are grounded until I relearn flying magic and Chimney doesn't have any magic at all. So, the three of us are restricted to the ground and we don't trust Violet to be able to fly straight with her wound. Matthew and I flew ahead of the others, and the closer we came to the island, the more I saw of just why the End is known in the books as a barren wasteland.

On top of the massive island, there are ten massive blackish-purple towers made of a material that I can't identify this far away. They are arranged in almost a circle, varying in size and height, and two or three of them have what looks like cages on the top. But the most intriguing thing about them isn't the tower itself, but what seems to be on the top of them. Ontop is a floating object that I can't get quite a good look at.

They look to be a purple cube with red runic writings on each one of the faces. It bobbed up and down, floating over a lit fire with what seems to be frames floating and rotating around it, almost like it was some type of protection or shield. They were on top of each tower, and some in the middle of the cages that were on three of the towers. I wonder what those are for, and what the towers are for.

But in the center of the tower circle was an ashen grey bowl with a pillar in the very center of it. It wasn't lit, it was just a structure that seemed like it had no purpose to it.

Also, I'm noticing how there is just about no plant in sight. There isn't any vegetation, which must be why The End is known as a completely barren wasteland. But just because there isn't any plant life that I can see doesn't mean there isn't any life, because there is.

There are massive swarms of tall black creatures, they have long legs and arms with a small body and glowing purple eyes.

"Those are endermen," Matthew said.

"Well, there are a lot of them."

I heard him chuckle. "Yeah, well, this is the home to just about anything Ender. As long as you don't look them in the eye or throw stuff at them, they won't bother you. But they will take it upon themselves to destroy any structure you built like the jerks they are," Matthew grumbled at the end making me smile. I'm sensing some interesting stories there. Just what structures did endermen tear apart that bothers him?

I looked over my shoulder, seeing the others flying at a reasonable distance from us. I looked back ahead, but when I do, I see a massive black and purple dragon heading straight for Matt and me. And what's worse, Matthew doesn't even seem to notice that. "MATT!" I screamed snapping him out of whatever thoughts his mind wandered off to as the dragon roared at us.

"CRAP!" he screamed before he jerks us to the left, the dragon follow us.

"Matthew! Seto!"

I put my hand out towards the dragon, activating my magic as I chanted, "Arkana Ŝildo!".

A purple mage circle, the same one that appears each time I cast almost about any spell I do, appears in between us, staying there instead of disappearing. The dragon collided with it, slamming into it and flying away from us. The impact, while wasn't as bad, the recoil was a different story. I could handle it, but Matthew couldn't. The recoil made him lost his balance, making him lose his grip on me and letting me slip out of his arms.

"No!" he shouted as he dropped me. The mage circle disappearing.

I gasped when I felt gravity suddenly taking hold of me and the wind of falling towards the ground hit me. And we are high up which only makes this worse and probably very painful once I hit the ground.

"SETO!"

I see Matthew flying towards me, trying to grab me but isn't fast enough. I close my eyes, preparing for a whole lot of pain, but instead, I feel something grasp my ankle, stopping the falling sensation and jerking me upwards. I opened my eyes, seeing I'm getting farther away from the ground instead of plummeting towards it. I grab my satchel as it slipped off me from being upside down, holding it close in my arms. I sigh in relief, happy that I won't have to endure that pain.

I look up at my savior, expecting to see Matthew or maybe even Riley or Reed, but instead I see a tail, and massive claws wrapped around the lower part of my left leg.

The ENDERDRAGON caught me! NOT Matthew!

My eyes widen in horror, not knowing whether or not to panic since I don't know flying spells and I don't want to make the dragon drop me when I'm 100% confident the others won't be able to catch me.

'Seto!' I heard Kala shout in our mental link, but her voice was growing fainter the further away we became. The dragon is flying away from the island! Why?! I don't know, but I don't like dangling over the void with the only thing keeping me from falling into it is a massive reptile since I don't know any flying spells and the dragon is faster than the others! 

The dragon tightens its grip on my leg making pain shoot up my left and making me mad. You know, my left leg is already a pain in the ass and this is just making it worse...

Well at least it isn't hurting my good leg, my right leg, it's just furthering the already present damage on my left.

For the record, I blame Matthew wholeheartedly for this...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After flying for what seemed forever, we started passing over multiple much larger islands made of the same material, but this was different. These massive islands actually had what looked like a type of vegetation on them. There were purple tree-vine-like things, at least that is what I'm able to interpret them like that from a distance and flying fast-paced.

The dragon swooped down towards the ground, which scared the living daylights out of me since it practically divided downwards like it was going to crash. But the dragon grabbed my arm with its upper arms and let go of my leg, making the blood stopped rushing to my head finally.

It stalled a few dozen off the ground, dropping me. I would have landed on my feet just fine, but seeing how my left leg was already hurting before the dragon put a death vice-grip on my leg, once my feet hit the ground, my left leg sprouted a wave of pain that washed over me and made it give, letting me fall onto the ground. I groan as I pushed against the ground, sitting up.

I looked at my left leg, seeing no visible wounds, but I do not doubt that there are bruises underneath my pants and boots from its hold on me. Suddenly, the ground violently shook making me jump and look around until I see that the dragon landed and is staring at me.

I pull my satchel over to me, putting the strap over my head before directing my attention to the dragon that is moving closer to me. I put my hand up towards it. "Arkana Ŝildo!" I chanted making the mage circle appear again between up, the dragon stopping once it appeared. "Back off!"

Suddenly, I felt a pair of hands grab me from behind, lifting me off the ground. "What the!" I yelped as the mage circle vanished. I looked behind me seeing it is an enderman that has me.

But I felt this strange sense of calm wash over me, the enderman set me on my feet but kept ahold of me.

Is it trying to help me or something?

As soon as I try to put weight on my left leg, the pain that struck me would have made me collapse if it wasn't for the fact the enderman is holding me up. I hold my left foot off the ground, shifting my weight to my right.

What exactly did this enderman think it was going to achieve by doing this?

Suddenly, my vision blackened as I felt absolutely no ground under my feet and my stomach dropped. I let out a scream as the enderman had teleported holding me, so I went with it. We appeared inside a sort of cave-like place with torches on the walls. The enderman gently set me on the ground as I try to recover from that heart attack of a teleport, but as it set me down, it grabbed my sword, yanking it out of its sheath, stealing it.

"Hey!" I exclaimed. I try to get it back, but once I put weight on my leg, it gives making me fall forward, the enderman backing up enough to let me fall onto the ground in front of it. I sighed, irritated.

I'm kinda glad no one is here to see this humiliation since this is embarrassing.

I know I could just use magic and kill the enderman, but I don't want to do that. It didn't do anything wrong except steal my sword. Matthew said that looking at them causes them to attack, well, I've been staring at this guy and he hasn't attacked. So, it is only fair to show the same kindness.

I sit up, staring at it. "Can I have that back? Please? I can't stand and I don't want to hurt you," I said to it.

"You aren't going to kill him?" a disembodied voice asked making me flinch and look around for the source. Suddenly, the cave we were in disappeared and we were outside again. Except, we weren't where I was expecting to be.

I've gotten used to the whole barren wasteland of the End, but when this...I guess illusion went down, I found myself on an island that is beyond beautiful looking.

(A/N Basically, Seto appeared on the island that Jordan, Tom, Tucker, and Sonja went to for the last episode of the first season of Mianite)

I appeared in what seemed like the courtyard of a massive palace or temple that's made of various materials. And instead of the tanish stone I have grown used to, there was plant life; grass, flowers, trees even. It looked like a normal place you would find in the Overworld.

But stood beside the enderman was a woman. She has long dark purple hair, light purple eyes, and wearing a dress. But what stood out, besides her obvious purple theme, was that she is wearing golden jewelry on and yet on her left hand I see a silver ring with black designs on the band. It seems plain for her to wear something like that given what she is already wearing.

Also, I feel drawn to her and her voice is very familiar to me.

But I sat up more, looking at her instead of the enderman. "N-No, why? He didn't attack me, so why should I attack him?"

"For stealing," she said. I held my hand up towards the enderman, the sword flew out of its hands, flying into mine.

"Good point, but I can just do that and get it back," I said. I sheath the sword, looking back at her and hesitating. "Are you—" I stopped when I saw a brief flash of sadness wash over her face, making her frown and her eyes soften as she stared at me.

"I...apologize for your introduction to Vienna...but it couldn't be helped. It seems the God of Chaos did a lot more damage to your mind than I thought, it is only thanks to your original god that you are still alive. I'm glad," she said making me pause for a moment.

Original God? What does she mean by that? And what did the God of Chaos do? And who is he?

"Who are you?" I asked her making a smile curve her lips as she almost looked assumed.

"I'm pretty sure even you know that answer," she said making me look away from her. So she is Lady Ianite...but where are we?

I looked back at her, suddenly realizing that me sitting on the ground is disrespectful in the presence of a god. "I-I'm sorry, I can't stand. Your pet dragon hurt my leg making me unable to walk on it," I said hoping that makes up for it.

She lost her smile, looking at my leg. "Let me see it," she said coming down beside me on her knees. She takes off my boot, pushing my pant leg up, and just like I suspected, bruises decorated my skin, almost covering every inch of my skin from below my knee. I feel her fingers touch my skin, she looked almost guilty.

"I'm so sorry, here," she said before she turned towards the fountain that is right behind me. She lifted her hand towards it, her eyes glowing a purple color before I saw water start floating out of the basin. I flinched, her hand moving from towards the fountain and to my bruised leg. Water wrapped around my leg, and almost instantly, the bruises starting going away and the pain subsided. Well, not all the pain is gone, but the pain from the bruises is gone. I smiled a bit, impressed.

Nyara had told me about water healing spells, but she said that it is difficult and nearly no one knew how to do it anymore. The healing spells used through water are more effective than any other.

Though, it didn't fix what was originally causing me pain. The water, once it was done, soaked into the ground as I see my leg bruise-free.

"Thanks," I told her as I push my pant leg down.

But she still seemed guilty about something, guilty and confused. "Hmm...it healed the bruises but not what is wrong with your leg in the first place," she said making me understand.

"I don't think healing magic can fix that," I said as I slip my boot back on. I get up on my feet, offering my hand to her which she takes and I help her up. I look around again, getting a better look at the beautiful landscape. "Where am I?"

"Aethoria," she said surprising me.

Aethoria...For some reason, that seems familiar.

"Is this your home?"

She nods. "For now, yes, its existence is rather unknown to the rest of the world..." she said.

I looked at her. "Well, it's beautiful," I told her making her smile. "What did you mean earlier? What did you mean by original god?"

She gives me a faint smile. "Don't worry, since your memory has been significantly damaged the encounter in your world, I know you don't know who you are and why you are here. I will try to tell you as much I can, but I haven't been to your world personally, so I do not know much of what your world is like besides that of what Master Nicholas told me about it. So my information about your world may be outdated and/or incorrect," she said.

I figured this would be the case, but...

"Wait, so Master Nicholas was—"

"Yes, Nicholas was from your world, and like you, he came here almost for the same purpose. But first, I think we should bring your friends here before something happens to them. Follow me," she said before she walked past me. I follow her, we walk out of the courtyard and pass the gates.

I turn around, looking at the structure and yet again I am impressed. This place looks like a combination of a temple and a castle. Well, she is a goddess, so a temple would make sense I guess. I catch back up with her, seeing that there is the same black purple sky. But what I expect to see in terms of just a tannish stone landscape, the rest of the island is much like the courtyard.

Trees with golden leaves scattered, waterfalls, lakes, and rivers, there was plant life everywhere. And the buildings that were here and there looked like houses or buildings with specific purposes. Most notably was the massive dome building that looked almost like some type of arena. 

But I'm noticing something...

"Where is everyone?" I asked her before turning my attention to her, getting met with a sad response.

"I'm the only one here currently. There are animals around, but in terms of people, we are the only two. Come, I rather not teleport your friends here near the temple," she said making me curious. Why doesn't she want them near the temple?

Ianite flew up, meanwhile, I just stood there wishing I could fly but I haven't gotten that far yet in remembering my magic. "I still can't remember my flying magic—"

"Oh, that's because Arcane Wizards aren't allowed to use flying magic. You can use levitation magic, but you are not allowed to use any type of flying magic," Ianite said making me look at her, shocked.

"Well, that's dumb! What idiot made that decision?!" I exclaimed making her laugh.

"The God of Creation," she answered. Who?

"Who? And why?" I asked her.

She smiled at me, lowering down until was back on the ground. "In case you are unaware, arcane wizards are very powerful beings. They are very powerful because of their origins and their purpose, they aren't normal wizards. But it wasn't discovered until afterward that arcane wizards without rules are closer to being gods themselves than wizards they are supposed to be. So, the God of Creation took all the arcane wizards, which that wasn't exactly hard to do, and placed restrictions so they were more like wizards and not gods. Of course, he put in a way for you to bypass these restrictions, but break one without good reason and you will be punished by the God of Creation," she explained.

I stared at her. Oh, so I have been purposely weakened because I'm strong enough to be considered a god myself?

Hmm, don't know whether or not that is a good thing. It seems like it on the surface when considering that gods have specific purposes for existing and arcane magic is powerful enough to make wizards gods, that isn't so good. I understand their fears but why take away flying magic?! But that explains why I kept failing when Tom and Matthew were trying to teach me flying magic. I'm not allowed to use it because the God of Creation is a jerk.

I nodded a bit. "Alright, that's understandable, but why am I not allowed to do flying magic? Like...that's not even cool, I hate people carrying me around. The last person that did carry me, they dropped me," I said.

She puts her hand on my shoulder, smiling. "Trust me, when your memory does fully return and you are back to your allowed full strength, you'll realize how insignificant that detail is," Ianite said.

"Okay, but I'm still bummed. I wanna fly, it seems like fun," I said making her chuckle. But I see her demeanor change again to depressed. I lose my smile slightly, but I smile at her. I know I only just met her, but I feel like we have been friends for years already. I hate seeing her depressed.

She snapped her fingers, and suddenly we were in the dome building. I looked at her. That works I guess. I jump when I hear a crash and a yelp behind me making me turn around. I see Chimney on the floor and catch the tail end of James flying into a pillar and crashing into the ground outside the dome structure.

"James!" I exclaimed running to the edge of the platform, looking out seeing him slowly get up.

"Arghhh, that hurt! Who the Nether teleported us?!" James exclaimed as I see him get up. I was about to answer until I heard more crashes and yelps from landing. I look around, seeing that Phil had thankfully dropped Kala, but was flying too fast and crashed into the hillside, Matthew was able to stop himself before he crashed into anything while Riley and Reed hit the obsidian structure in the center of the dome. And Shiro stopped himself before he crashed, setting Violet down once he landed down.

"And this is why you don't teleport people who are flying at high speeds!" Riley said making me smile a bit. I mean, I bet that hurt a lot, but it is really funny.

"My apologies, wizards, I should have taken that into account before teleporting you here. But you are needed here," Lady Ianite said. James flew up beside me, seeming sore.

"You alright? That looked like it hurt—"

"It did, slamming face-first into a bloody stone pillar at high speed and crashing into a pathway doesn't feel good," James said.

I heard Ianite chuckle. "I can heal your wounds, but the damage to your egos will remain there," she said making me smile.

Yeah, why did Phil and James crash? I understand Riley and Reed since they had no time to react. But Phil and James should have been able to stop themselves as Matthew and Shiro did.

We all gathered near her, Kala sitting beside me. After getting introductions out of the way, she turned her attention back to me.

"I suspect you have a lot of questions, and as I said before, I will answer what I can," she said to me.

I looked at the others, seeing if maybe they have questions they want to ask. "Do you—"

"Go ahead, Seto, we can ask her stuff later. You're way more important," Phil said making the others nod, agreeing.

I looked back at her. "You said you knew about the world where I came from, so...what is it? And how did I get in Vienna?" I asked her.

She sighed. "Well, the world you hail from is called Estir, the Birth World. The very first world and home to the Gods of Creation and Chaos," she said.

"What do you mean by Birth World?" Riley asked.

"Estir is the very first world. It is the place where the Gods of Creation and Chaos were born. It is also the world where magic is at its most powerful, hence why wizards who are from Estir are so powerful," she said before looking at me. "Arcane Magic was created by the God of Creation, it wasn't made by the normal means like most magics are. Much like Athar Magic, it was made for a reason. But unlike Athar Magic, Arcane Magic wasn't created for evil."

"You calling us evil?" Phil asked.

Ianite looked at James. "Well, one of you four has already had two corruptions—"

Phil stepped towards her, seeming to be purposely putting himself in front of James. "I mean no offense, Lady Ianite, but don't blame James for that," he said as I see Matthew go beside James. I smile a bit, it's nice seeing how protective they are of each other, even going as far as to stand up against a god.

Ianite put her hand up to Phil. "You can calm down, Master Phillip. I'm already aware that both corruptions were against James' will and he is not to blame. But, if you four are going to be helping Seto from now on, you need to be aware of the dangers of that," she said.

"What dangers?" Matthew asked.

Ianite glanced at me and back at the three brothers. "Mianite is not angry at Seto, he is angry that Seto is friends with the Fyre Brothers," she said confusing all of us.

Wait, so I haven't done anything wrong? Well, I'm happy about that but why would Mianite be mad because I'm friends with the Fyre Brothers?

"Why?" I asked.

I see her expression darken. "The Fyre Brothers haven't done anything wrong, even he knows that which is why he has done anything to you. Attacking you four just because you are friends with Seto isn't right. It has to do with how you four are Athar Wizards and Seto is an Archmage," she said.

"What? Why? Do they not work together or something?" I asked her making her look at me.

She gives me a small smile. "Arcane Magic is a magic that can only work when used by Estiran mages. The magic demands more from the body than wizards outside of Estir cannot handle. You were born into a world where magic started from Seto. On Estir, you are at your strongest, and any mages from outside of Estir that visit the planet will feel the difference," she explained.

"Why is that? Why are Estiran Mages stronger than all others?" Reed asked.

She crossed her arms as she looked at all of us. "Well, that's simple. Those born wizards in Estir rarely survive past the age of eleven because their bodies reject magic and it is that rejection that kills them," she said shocking me.

Wait, that can happen?!

"That can happen?" I asked making her nod.

Phil sighed. "Yes, but that happens everywhere. Even here in Vienna--"

Ianite shakes her head. "You are right that it does, but it happens so much in Estir that the wizard population rarely makes it past seventy. And when comparing to Vienna's wizard population of around 1250, that is a very big difference," she said.

"It's because Estiran magic is the most potent out of any other world, isn't it?" James asked making her nod.

I looked at James. "What do you mean?"

Riley looked at me, taking the chance to explain. "It explains why you took so long to recover from your wounds, Seto. All mages have natural enhanced healing abilities, we heal faster than humans. But for some reason that we could never understand, your natural healing ability was being tampered with. You were healing at the rate of a human. It wasn't until you woke up and started moving around that you started healing like a mage. Your body must have been trying to learn how to cope with receiving magic from Vienna's core, which is a much lower potency level than Estir's. It also explains why you are so strong, the more potent the magic you are exposed to at birth, the much stronger of a mage you are," he said. I look away from him, thinking it over.

I mean, I remember feeling really rundown and tired those first two weeks, but I thought that was just because of my injuries.

"And the less likely you can survive becoming a mage," James said making me look at him. James looked at me. "While it seems like a good thing to be exposed to such highly potent magic when you are a baby, it is very dangerous. The immune systems of babies and toddlers are very fragile, so introducing highly potent magic to them can be fatal. That explains why mages are so rare in your world, Seto."

I looked at Ianite. "Is that why mages in Estir are so respected by humans and demi-humans?" I asked.

"Demi-humans?" Shiro asked.

Ianite smiled a bit at me. "Estir is home to many different types of races. There are humans, wizards, demi-humans, the clans, and the gods. Demi-humans are humans with the characterizations of animals or mythical creatures," she said before looked at me in particular. "And regarding any political standings between those races, I'm afraid I cannot provide that answer. I only know the standing of that the Malus Clan and the Aether Kingdom and even that may be out of date. Like I said before, I haven't spoken to someone from Estir since Nicholas and I haven't been there myself. So I only know things from the various stories Nicholas told and items he left behind."

I step towards her, tired of us beating around the bush. "Why am I here? Who or what brought me here? Who are the Gods of Creation and Chaos? And who was Master Nicholas really?" I asked her.

Ianite looked at me. "You really don't know who the Gods of Creation and Chaos are?" she asked me.

I shake my head. "No, I don't. Should I?"

Her eyes soften at me. "Yes, you should. Even with your amnesia, I figured those names would return faster than anything else. Your whole life revolved around the actions of those two gods. In order you for to understand what I tell you, I need to go back to the beginning since that might be the only way to make you understand," she said making me nod.

"Alright, then go back to the beginning," I told her.

She paused, probably thinking. When she gathered her thoughts, she started her tale: "

As I said before, Estir is the first world. It is the world that is home to the God of Creation, the only god that is capable of creating worlds and filling them with life. Well, Estir is the only world that was not of his creation, but he is responsible for bringing it to order. He and his Guardians, the Archmages.

You see, Seto, Arcane magic was of his creation. He crafted the magic for the purpose of creating a subrace of wizards that are more powerful than the Estiran Wizards and strong enough to be able to take on the God of Chaos. At the time, the God of Chaos wasn't a problem, but he knew that the God of Chaos would become a problem one day.

The Gods of Creation and Chaos are brothers, they were born in a small town called Aether. At first, they were suspected to be just wizards since they had magic. But once they hit their teens, the gravity of what the boys actually were set in for their town. Somehow, the God of Chaos was corrupted and turned on his brother. The two fought, and the God of Creation was able to banish his brother away for the world's safety into the hellfire of the Nether where the Chaos God stayed for twenty years," she spoked before Reed spoke.

"Wait, that story seems familiar," he said.

Matthew nods. "That's the urban legend of Notch and Herobrine. The bedtime story that parents tell their kids to scare them," he said.

Notch and Herobrine?

My eyes widen a bit. "Wait, that's--"

She nods. "Yes, the Gods of Creation and Chaos are Notch and Herobrine. The stories of their rivalry are legendary here in Vienna. But they are real, and you Seto, are the Champion of the God of Creation," she said stunning me into silence.

Okay, I knew that man seemed important because I talked to him in a throne room, but I had NO idea he was THAT important!

She smiled at me. "I could tell by how he spoke of you that he cares a lot about you. He was constantly checking in and asking me how you were doing during your time here," Ianite said.

"If Notch is the creator of the universe or something, why doesn't he just ask me himself?" I asked her.

She loses her smile. "He would, but you underestimate the level of damage Lord Herobrine did to your mind. If I hadn't pulled you out of your world and into Vienna...you would be dead right now," she said.

"He's that powerful?" Violet asked.

Ianite nods as she started talking: "

Lord Herobrine is the God Chaos and the One True King of the Nether. As much as Dianite hates that last title, even he will say that Herobrine is a true king. But he would never work with Lord Herobrine, even if his life depended on it.

But after Notch sent Herobrine away, he helped develop his town into the kingdom that is known as the Aether Kingdom. A kingdom that is known as an urban legend here in Vienna as well but is real in Estir. It is also known as the Kingdom of the Skies because it is the only kingdom that is on a pair of floating islands. Notch is the ruler of the Aether, he is the king and still is even to this day. Standing beside him were the Twelve Archmages of Estir, otherwise known as the Guardians of Estir. Trusted friends who were granted the knowledge and power of Arcane Magic from Notch, the creator of Arcane Magic. Arcane Magic can be found in the other worlds, but only an Estiran Mage can use it to its full potential. That is why Arcane magic has mostly died off in all worlds except for Estir.

That is also why it is written in the foreign wizard language known as the Arcanic Tongue. A language that was created by the Guardians and is only known by Estiran Arcanic Users. It is the language that the Guardians use to cast spells and to communicate with each other over long distances.

Even someone like James, who is known for decoding languages using his archive magic, would never be able to learn Arcanic Tongue unless he learned it from Seto or was granted the knowledge from Notch. Nicholas taught me some of the language so I could understand what spells he used if I needed to support him in a fight.

Before they were known as World Heroes, the Archmages rarely traveled out of the Aether,  maintaining the massive kingdom was an around-the-clock type of job.  They helped Notch form alliances with the other races, helping the humans and clans flourish and grow.

If I remember correctly, there were the humans, the demi-humans who own their own country, the clans: Alius, Elatus, and Malus, and then the wizards who like the demi-humans owns their own country. The Aether Kingdom was open to all, but it was a known magic kingdom that was famous for housing wizards and demi-humans. The human kingdoms did not completely accept demi-humans and looked at wizards with the utmost suspicion and distrust.

Nicholas left behind an Estiran Map that updates automatically, so it is up to date with the new kingdoms of Estir and not the ones that were existing during his time. So I recommend you look at that Seto, it is written in Arcanic Tongue though, so you will need to translate for your friends. But from what I saw, the map purposely does not show where the Aether Kingdom is. I don't know why it doesn't," she said.

I nodded a bit, making a mental note to look at the map. "According to what I remember so far, the Aether Kingdom is more of a legend in Estir as well. But some know of its existence. The whispers of a kingdom existing in the skies seemed to be more fiction than reality," I said.

She sighed. "Yes, well, humans can be quite clueless creatures. While wizards would believe the impossible, humans like to have facts. They are--"

Chimney pointed at her. "Hey now, I'm offended. We are not that clueless. And yes, I like to see things for my own eyes before I believe it, but I'm always willing to put in a little faith depending on the person on who tells me," he said.

Ianite looked at Chimney. "Mortals are a weak race, the weakest one there is. And no, Prince Chimney, I do not like that you have decided to tag along almost as much as I hate that Seto allowed you to. I will be returning you back home after this, humans have no business involving themselves in the affairs of gods," he said making Chimney crestfallen. I stepped up towards her, defending him.

"Okay, why? Chimney has proven himself to be a skilled warrior, so why can't he help?" I asked her.

She looked at me. "Humans are prone to illness and injury. They aren't as durable as wizards are--"

"Yes, but that doesn't mean they can't help. Another question, why is it that gods have only ever picked wizards as champions? Why don't you pick humans? Is it because they are weaker compared to wizards?" I asked her making her nod.

"Yes, humans die easily. Wizards do not," she said.

"Then fix that," I said surprising her.

She stared at me. "Fix that? How? And why would I want a human for a champion?" she asked.

I smiled a bit at her. "Well, for one thing, humans have a much stronger relationship with the gods. They are more likely to follow you than wizards are. Wizards already have powers, so why would they want to follow someone who has more power than themselves? And from what I can see, the relationship between gods and wizards in Vienna is significantly damaged, there might not be a way to fix it. So if you want champions, start picking humans. You are a goddess, you should be able to figure out how to make it so human champions last much like a wizard would," I told her.

Phil nods. "Seto does have a point. Humans are known for being loyal to the gods, their faith in religion and such is unlike that of wizards," he said.

Ianite looked away from me. "Well, I'll bring this idea to both Mianite and Dianite, see what they think. But you do make a good case, Seto. Maybe one day in the future we will pick humans for champions. But for now, I think that was enough for tonight. It is getting late, and I'm sure you all are tired from your journey to get here," she said.

I crossed my arms. "Well, some flew here...others were dropped by a certain fire wizard, kidnapped and injured by a giant reptile and then finally, violated by an enderman," I said making Matthew rushed to me and grab my arm as the others smiled.

"I'm SO sorry I dropped you, Seto! I am!" Matthew exclaimed.

I looked at Matt, cracking a small smile. "I know, Matt, I'm just messing with you. But don't you dare ever drop me again. Especially since I now know I'm not allowed to use flying magic," I said.

"What do you mean you aren't allowed to?" Shiro asked me.

I looked at them. "Apparently, Arcane Wizards were more powerful than Notch intended them to be. So he placed a bunch of rules on them to weaken them to be more like wizards than gods. And one of the rules is, arcane wizards aren't allowed to use flying magic," I complained.

"Well that's dumb," Reed said.

"I know right! It is!" I exclaimed.

Ianite chuckled. "Well, follow me, I'll show you where you can rest for a few hours," she said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After we had settled into the house that Ianite took us to, we all ate and turned in. Since we were in Aethoria, there was no need to keep watch...meaning I'm gonna have to sleep. I sat in my bed, not feeling like sleeping, so I pulled out my journal, and started writing:

-- Entry #11 - June ? - ? --

I'm not exactly sure what the date is. Phil had said that time is slower in the End, so we'll figure out what the date is once we reach the Overworld again.

But at least we learned a lot about what is going on and my past. I mean, we didn't really learn a lot about what is going on. But I got some answers to some of the questions I have.

Estir...

The name is definitely familiar to me. So she is telling the truth. I mean, of course, she is, why would Lady Ianite lie to me? She has no reason to lie...

I just wish that Notch would tell me what is going on himself instead of depending on Ianite to tell me. I mean, I am his champion, so he trusts me. But he is keeping me in the dark, that isn't...that's not fair. I wonder what it is that she is going to tell us in a few hours?

There are still so many questions that have yet to be answered.

But like I promised James, I'm gonna try to get sleep since I am tired. I just hope I don't have a nightmare about Anna like I seem to almost always do ever since I learned about her.

-Seto

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sorry for the late update. As you imagine, I had to do a lot of research for this chapter in terms of Mianite Lore as well as creating and ensuring that the Estir Lore would be able to interact with the Mianite Lore as good as possible. And like I said at the start of the book, a lot of the Mianite Lore will have to be changed, but I will try to manipulate it as little as I can.

And people have been asking if Jordan, Tom, Tucker, and Sonja will make an appearance in this book. I recommend rereading the prologue for that answer. Seto's letter states his position since it was written after his adventures with the Fyre Brothers and he is back home in Estir.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter! :)

(Expect maps and drawings for the next chapter since Seto is going to be looking through Nicholas's things that he left behind.)