Evolved [Book 2 of the Life Hearts Trilogy]

The Ender Dragon - Gem

Blue had just left for the dungeon. She wasn't in any danger yet.

So why was I so scared?

I stood up out of the chair, forgetting that my cat, Gandalf, was on my lap. He meowed in protest as he was dumped off.

I went to the landing strip on my tower and took off. I couldn't help but think that Blue was in trouble, even though the logical side of me screamed that she was fine.

When I got to the castle that FWhip, Sausage, Joey, and I had built together, they had already entered the dungeon. Or, most of them, anyway.

Katherine was standing under the cover of the forest, but I could recognize her purple armor and crown anywhere. I landed next to her and said, "hi."

Katherine jumped. "I'm just looking. Did FWhip build this place? 'Cause if he did, you'd think that it would actually be in the Grimlands."

"I know they're already inside," I said.

Katherine sucked in her breath. "They know..."

"FWhip and Sausage?" I asked. "No. I haven't told them."

"Please don't, Gem! I know you're allied with them, but please don't!"

"You're forgetting that my sister is in that dungeon. I'm not going to send Sausage in there and get her killed. Plus, I gave them the coordinates to get here."

"Really?"

"Yep."

"I had no idea..."

"I'm trying to bring peace. And sometimes, that means going against my allies. And my brother." I winced.

"Jimmy doesn't understand that at all..." she was referring to that time when she had tried to help Sausage and Jimmy negotiate over the disk, and Sausage had given Jimmy a fake one.

"Well, he's Jimmy."

"Yeah, I guess."

"Do you want to come back to my tower for a bit?" I have some new information about the demon that you should know."

"I would, but I can't... I promised everyone that I'd stay here."

"It won't be long. And it's important."

"Okay..." we took off and headed to my tower.

Almost everything in the Crystal Cliffs was corrupted. The red stuff tainted one of my farm terraces, hung from my cave behind the waterfall, and had almost completely taken over one of my watchtowers. But that didn't matter as much now, because my main tower where I would be living was finished. And every stone, every plank, every crystal was infused with magic that made me stronger.

We went to the terrace at the top, where I had a book that I kept all my research in. I showed Katherine what I had discovered: the demon Xornoth had a strong connection to the Nether and End dimensions. All Xornoth wanted was to kill the Ender Dragon, which he shared the power of the End with. If the Dragon died, then all the power was his. But, he needed others to kill it for him because he wasn't powerful enough to do it himself.

I explained my research to Katherine. Her only response was, "You should probably tell Scott about this. He'd want to know." I had forgotten that Xornoth was Scott's brother.

It was kind of complicated. I didn't know the full backstory, but way back in another world, Scott had had a brother named Xornoth. Xornoth was an elf like Scott and both of them were about fifty years older than the rest of us. Before we were even born, Xornoth had gone dark. He chose power over family. Scott had banished him from the Realm with a heavy heart. We had no idea where he had gone, even after he managed to come to Empires.