The song for this chapter is "Disarray" by Lifehouse. Seems appropriate for my life atm. XD Thank you all for being patient. There is a specific place to start the song marked in the chapter.
*Jordan's POV*
I stretched as I walked outside to see Miante and Tucker sparring. Apparently they had been at it yesterday too, but I had missed it. I was happy that they at least appeared to be on better terms now. Tucker had been super jumpy around him right after we'd gotten back from Amniosis.
Tom had been awake when I turned up last night and told me about how Tucker had schooled Mianite. Apparently Mianite hadn't physically fought in a century or two—certainly not after Gaines had given him his "upgrades". I wasn't sure I believed Tom as I watched them fight now. Mianite with his mythril battleaxe was terrifying. He knocked Tucker clear across the dome with one hit. Tucker took the hit well and was back in front of Mianite before I could blink, stabbing with an old rapier I hadn't seen him use in months. He landed a solid hit to Mianite's side just under his ribs. It didn't do any real damage to the god, but Mianite vanished before my eyes.
I blinked in surprise as Tucker opened the visor of his helmet and fist pumped in victory. Sonja and Tom cheered from where they sat under a peach tree beside a meteorite crater. I thought it was odd that the tree was still in full leaf in the middle of winter, but then again, Mianite was a god.
"Good morning, Sparklez," Mianite said as he walked out of the house behind me, scaring me half to death. Mianite didn't seem to notice my reaction. "You know you could have slept in Ianite's old room; her bed would have been more comfortable than that lumpy sofa." I had crashed on the couch in Mianite's house after Tom went to bed around 3 a.m.
"Yeah, it just didn't seem right. I'll be back over at my own bed tonight anyways. I just didn't want to fight off the mobs." Or the psychopath in grey and black robes, I added mentally.
Mianite nodded at me. "Very well." Turning to face Tucker once more he asked, "One more round?" When Tucker nodded, Mianite snapped his fingers. Mythril armor appeared over Mianite's suit as he hefted his silver-blue battleaxe in one hand. I looked over at Tucker to see that the bruises on his face had vanished before he closed his visor.
"Oh, Mianite means business now!" Tom taunted Tucker as I walked over to join him and Sonja.
While we watched Tucker and his god fight a much more even battle, Sonja explained that Mianite had set up some spell to teleport him away if he took a certain amount of "damage" to simulate respawn and make the fight fair. "Mianite wants to be ready to kick some butt if he runs into Creeper McCreepington," Sonja added.
"Somehow, I don't think that's going to help," I said quietly, leaning back against the tree trunk.
"What makes you say that?" Sonja asked.
I yawned and answered grudgingly, "I may have run into World Historian yesterday..."
"Dude, are you okay? What happened?" Tom demanded, sitting up from where he'd sprawled on the grass, genuine concern written on his green face.
I recapped what had happened in my spectre dimension last night, trying to repeat everything he'd said word for word. Mianite and Tucker's sparring had slowed down as they tried to catch what I said too. Tom seemed relieved when I ended my tale, and he cleared his throat. "Hey, Sparklez? Remember when you asked me about my sword?" I nodded. "I think he may have paid me a visit too." Tom quickly told us about finding his sword and the note. I could definitely see why he had been worried now.
Mianite had a frown on his face after Tom's tale and paused his fight with Tucker to walk over to us. "May I see your sword, Syndicate? If World Historian is as skilled in magic as I suspect, it would be better to be safe than sorry."
"Uh, sure thing, Mianite," Tom said, tossing over his sword.
After cautiously examining the blade, Mianite handed it back, satisfied that there was no malign magic on it. Then he inspected me. I shifted uncomfortably under his scrutiny and grew worried when he frowned again. "There's a bit of dark magic lingering on you, which makes sense. It's most likely nothing, but this should clear it up," He said waving a glowing hand in front of me. I didn't really feel any different afterward and shrugged.
Tucker meanwhile had run off somewhere and came back with a note of his own and a tale similar to Tom's. This note was just as dark but far more boastful, explaining what exactly Amniosis was, how it had been powered by Mianite's heart, and how there were a thousand more places like it. Miainte grew grim when he heard from the note how his own error in storing his heart there had played into the villain's hands. He was toying with us.
"Okay, this is super creepy. Should I be expecting a visit from the evil fairy godmother too? Cause I haven't seen him yet," Sonja said, clearly nervous.
Mianite tried to reassure her that she was safe here. Tucker ruined Mianite's efforts by mentioning that the Historian had given him his note while he was here at Origin Ranch. Mianite looked about ready to smite someone when he heard, and the sky overhead darkened threateningly. Mianite's motives may be questionable, but at least we can agree when it comes to World Historian, I thought.
While the Mianitees talked about what to do if the Historian made another appearance, Tom had vanished. I began to wonder where he'd run off to when I heard a shout from the direction of Mianite's house, "Fire in the hole!" I turned just in time to see a rocket fly over my head. I yelled in surprise and fell over as it exploded against the meteorite a few yards behind me. I glared up at a small window above the second story to see Tom laughing like a hyena. "Yo, Mianite, why didn't you tell us you were into explosives? Your attic is more packed than a supercharged creeper!"
Leave it to a Dianitee to go snooping while everyone else is talking strategy.
Mianite seemed nonplussed by the disturbance and calmly answered, "Those are some of Dianite's old things. I thought he'd moved them out ages ago. You can use them if you wish, though preferably not in my garden." He said the last part with a stern narrowing of his good eye, and Tom got the message.
Tom grinned devilishly and shouldered his rocket launcher. Then he asked, "Who's up for an explosive game of tag? The one with the most kills at the end wins."
Just like the old Purges. I grinned, warming to the idea of exploding Tom with an RPG. Tucker and Sonja approved of the distraction as well. We quickly decided on wearing some old armor we had left over from previous Purges, so as not to damage our good gear. Mianite teleported all of the munitions and us to a field far away from the Ranch (we could just see it on the horizon) and excused himself to go check in with Gaines. We sprang on the weapons cache, matching weapons to ammunition and calling dibs whenever one of us found something particularly appealing. We had rocket launchers, needle guns, and more types of TNT than I knew existed. There was even a decent stash of ender pearls hidden at the bottom of an old ammo crate.
"So that's where I put those," Dianite said as he joined us. He sounded a bit more chipper than when we'd talked to him at Martha's. He'd been in a bad mood after hearing about the Historian and our theory that he might have been the same robed figure who had assassinated him a decade ago. Tom must have asked him a question mentally, because he answered, "Go ahead; I have no use for them now. Watching you all blow yourselves up would be quite entertaining, but I have to be going," He said abruptly. As I felt his presence drift away again, I wondered why he'd sounded...antsy, excited, impatient maybe? I couldn't put my finger on the emotion.
Sonja had figured it out though. She had a smug grin on her face as she checked something on her communicator. Her grin widened, and she tilted the screen to let me see. It was a list of active communicators in range. There were the four of us, Wag, Martha, the wizards, and Mot. Strangely Dec and Champwan weren't listed. They must have gone out of range. Wait, Mot!
"Looks like someone is finally home after their long trip," Sonja said suggestively before swiping the last cartridge of unclaimed ammo.
We scattered the second we realized there were no unclaimed weapons left. Sonja and Tucker took a few parting shots at me with their needle guns as they ran. Tom had already vanished into the trees at the edge of field. He could book it when he wanted to. I ducked behind a pile of rocks and sorted through my gear, making sure everything was properly loaded and functional. Once assured I was good to go, I peeked through a space in the rocks to see Sonja and Tucker had split up. Sonja ducked out of sight into a creek bed. I couldn't see where Tucker had gone. I aimed a rocket at Sonja's hiding spot and fired, jolting with the recoil. That would take some getting used to. My shot went wide, but succeeded in spooking her. It also gave away my position. A rocket from the forest nearly hit me, exploding against the rocks instead.
We were a bit overenthusiastic with the rockets and ran out in the first ten minutes. Tom had avoided getting killed so far, though the rest of us had respawned a few times. We were mostly fighting with our needle guns by this point, and the game had slowed down a little. Sonja killed Tucker somewhere in the distance, and one more death message popped up on my communicator. I had moved into the trees and finally spotted Tom. He was setting up some trap with TNT and hadn't seen me yet. I crouched behind a thick clump of dormant trumpet vines and lined up a shot carefully. I was about to take it when Wag's voice on the group call broke my concentration. "What's this?! No one told me we were having a Purge! Did I miss the message going out?"
"Wag!"
"Hey there; how are you feeling?"
"How's it going, Wag?"
"Where ya been? Dianite told us you were up and about."
Wag chuckled and told us he was feeling much better. He'd been visiting with his brothers and apprentices the past few days over at their town. Tucker and Sonja filled him in on what had happened with moving and with the Historian. Tom had gone silent, and I suddenly realized he wasn't beside the TNT anymore. Cr*p. Where'd he go? I looked around frantically. He couldn't have gone far.
I heard a hiss above me and looked up just in time to see Tom push a large bundle of lit TNT off the branch directly above me. He shot me a devilish grin as he leapt to a branch further away. "You really need to learn to be keep quiet when you're sneaking up on people, Sparklez."
I didn't have time to move out of the way. There was a flash of pain, and then I was back on Mianite's couch. "D*ng it!" I turned off the group call—which was now full of my friends' laughter—to vent my frustration in peace. Tom had all my gear now. Welp, looks like I'm out of this game.
I was about to head back outside to watch the game wrap up when I got a message on my communicator. I opened the message to see it was from Martha. I quickly let the others know I was heading out and took my portal to Wag's tower. I flew towards Martha's house, wondering if something had happened with Ianita. Martha had made it pretty clear in her message not to let the others know that I was going to meet her.
Speculation occupied my thoughts until the crater that was my Fortress of Fury came into view. My heart ached just looking at it. Everything was gone: the dragon statue Andor had sculpted for me, Guard Tom's room, the Ianitas' room, the weed garden the others had set up as a prank, and the pool room where Ianite had told me goodbye. My friends had asked if I was okay after the volcano wiped my tower off the face of Ruxomar with its second eruption. I had replied that I'd lost nothing major, just a quantum ring and singularity (which cost a couple hundred thousand cobble and my hopes and dreams). I kept most of my stuff in the spectre dimension anyways. They had accepted my answer, though I suspected they didn't really buy it. Certainly Tom and Sonja didn't.
I barely tucked my emotions away by the time I landed in front of Martha's house. Her place didn't look like it would be standing much longer either. The whole structure canted towards the gaping fissure that ran all the way from the looming volcano beside her home to Tucker's courtyard. The wooden beams that supported the corners of the house bore stress fractures along their length, and the front windows had cracked under the same strain. I turned off my communicator and cautiously knocked on her door, wondering if she would really still be in such a dangerous place.
It turned out that she was. She came out of her house balancing a box of books and picture frames. I quickly took the overfilled box from her. She smiled at me appreciatively and locked up her house. She teleported both of us, and it took me a moment to recognize that we were now at her home in Katsir. She directed me to set the box over by her bookshelf, and I set the box beside the stack of others Martha had already brought over.
Martha then pulled a golden lasso out of her pocket. It looked like a normal one, except it had a purple glow to it. She loosened the loop, releasing Ianita, who promptly ran over to me and hugged my knees. I laughed and swept her up and over my shoulder to dangle upside down. She shrieked and laughed until I walked her over to Martha's bed and let her drop down onto the mattress. As I alternated between tickling Ianita and listening to her tell me about her day Martha fixed her some spaghetti for dinner. Was it that late already? I hadn't realized how long we'd been playing with those explosives.
Martha settled Ianita at the table with her food and sat in her own chair. She grinned tiredly before speaking. "Glad to see you're feeling better, Sparklez. I'm sure you're wondering why I asked you to stop by."
"I mean, if you needed help moving stuff you could have just asked," I said jokingly.
Her grin seemed less forced for a moment. Then she levitated a book from one of the boxes to the table. It was a book of fairy tales or legends by the look of it. "I actually messaged you, because I may have found a way for you to retrieve the Interloper. I think I know where it is, and I have a feeling you're going to need it."
I looked at her in confusion for a moment. Mianite had said we should still have enough quintessence without it, but he had seemed stressed lately and had been visiting Gaines more frequently. Was there a problem with the revival process with the Interloper missing? It certainly wouldn't hurt to get it back if there was a way. "But, it fell into the void," I pointed out.
Martha nodded and flipped through the book until she came to a tale entitled "The Lost Crypt." I raised an eyebrow in question, and Martha summarized for me. "There is a legend of a place where lost things go to rest. Just like Amniosis, gods are prohibited from entering. Really we have no reason to, as we can remake anything we need. A mortal may go there, but only one who is lost or has lost something substantial. Even then, the mortal is only allowed to retrieve an item that belonged to them, or they will find themselves unable to leave."
"So you think the Interloper wound up there?" Martha nodded confidently. The Interloper had belonged to Mianite, then me. Luckily or unluckily I fit the other criteria for entry as well. "Okay, how do I find it?"
Martha smiled and said, "That I am allowed to help with. I can teleport you there. You should be able to get back out through your spectre dimension. Just relax and remember not to take anything that doesn't belong to you."
(Start song here)
I nodded and held still as Martha's eyes began to glow lavender. I was teleported a few moments later. The trip took longer than most teleports, and I began to wonder if something had gone wrong. As I formed the thought, cold swept over my skin. It was dark and freezing here! I shivered and formed a mage light to see where I was. I was standing in great hall carved from an icy cavern. The walls were adorned with intricate celtic designs, and the high ceiling was supported by pillars with the same designs wrapped around them. The floor was coated in a thick layer of frost that obliterated any pattern or decoration that may have once lain there. The room stretched as far as I could see with my light in every direction. Chests and loose items lay haphazardly in piles around the pillars. Hooo boy, this is going to take awhile...
I picked a random direction to wander in and casually looked through the items and chests as I went. Everything looked to be of strange makes and designs I had never seen or heard of before. Just how big is Ruxomar? The more I looked around, the more I grew to suspect that this place didn't just collect the lost items from one world. If it was linked to the void, it would make sense. I passed piles made up almost entirely of unmatched socks and children's toys. There was one pile that sported two gemstones the size of my fist that glowed with a light of their own that outshone my mage light. I stood for a few minutes mesmerized by their calming light, imagining distant shores littered with pale gemstones as if they were no more precious than pebbles and mountains beyond that were rimmed in light that wasn't from the sun. Another pile sported a golden chest with two winged humanoid creatures facing each other on the lid. I was intrigued by it, but I knew it wasn't from our world. So I passed it by.
I searched for a long time, eventually deciding to use mage lights to mark pillars that I had already checked. After lighting up twenty or so, I sat down on top of a stack of pirate treasure to eat a quick meal and rest. I was down to the last bite of my steak when I heard snuffling. I froze and wondered what creatures might live here and if I should be worried.
I couldn't have been more surprised when a spectral pig came trotting around the side of a pile a few pillars over from me. Its transparent ears flopped as it neared me, eyeing the steak in my hand. It looked familiar. I started as I realized this was the spectral pig I had summoned before Franklin. I had sent my first spectral pig off searching for diamonds (my witchery book said they were good at finding precious materials), but he had never come back. I hadn't been able to find him when I went looking either.
I grinned and tossed him the last bite of my food. He caught it midair and grunted happily as he ate it. Then he squealed at me and started walking away. He stopped a few feet off and looked back at me. "You want me to follow you?" I asked as I got up. That seemed to be the case. The unnamed pig led me far enough that I almost couldn't see my previous mage lights before sitting in front of a pile of diamonds. I laughed as I realized he had found diamonds after all. "Good boy!" I said, scratching behind his ears.
I surveyed the mound and saw a diamond chestplate. The workmanship looked familiar. I opened one of the chests and saw that everything present looked familiar. I began searching in earnest when I found a Knockback X stick. This pile was from The Realm of Mianite! There was a lot of stuff buried deeper in the pile that looked unfamiliar, but our dimension was old. I paid the most attention to the items at the top of the pile. To my disappointment, I didn't find anything of mine in the pile. I had been pretty careful in my home world; the only things I lost had been stolen by the others during Purges. I puzzled over the contents of the last chest for a moment. There was a bronze bangle or shackle—I couldn't tell which—that appeared to have but cut through and pried open. There was also a dried rose. It wasn't the same variety as the one Capsize had though.
I shrugged and moved to the next pile, which also appeared familiar. I had almost searched through the whole thing with no luck until I saw a scorched picture peeking out from under a chest. I lifted the chest and tugged the brittle paper free to see it was a blackened picture of Wag and Martha. They had huge smiles on their faces and had their arms around each other's shoulders. This must be the pile from Ruxomar, I thought as I gently laid the picture back down. Since it wasn't mine, I couldn't take it. A few minutes later, I found the glowing gem I sought. The blue violet stone was warm against my cold skin, and I clutched it tightly, not wanting it to get away again. I pulled my spectre key from my pocket but paused when I spotted something even more valuable. I stuffed the Interloper in my golden bag carelessly and tenderly picked up a familiar piece of paper. One corner was burned and missing; another corner was sticky with pink jelly. A tear slipped from my eye as I remembered Ianita giving this to me after I'd broken my wing. I carefully folded the drawing of Ianita and I flying and tucked it into an inside pocket of my jacket. Then I wiped my eyes and activated my spectre key, wondering how many other memories of peoples' loved ones had come to rest in this place.
The gem stone littered beach and the land beyond are from Tolkien's world, though not from the LOTR books. You'd find Valinor in The Silmarillion and the Books of Lost Tales (basically earlier versions of The Silmarillion + some additional lore). 10/10 would recommend if you liked LOTR. I don't think the gem stone beach was actually mentioned in The Silmarillion though. Pretty sure it was one of the Lost Tales. I don't remember where I read what. XD The two gems are the Silmarils that were lost to the world. (If any of y'all want to talk lore, just message me. :) )
Pretty sure you can all figure out what the box is... ;) *cough* ark of the covenant *cough*
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