Declaring War

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We went to the Empires. I took off my elytra as soon as I was there, so when Katherine, Joel, and Lizzy turned up at Spawn, I wasn't going to be arrested. Grian teleported back to Hermitcraft as soon as they appeared, leaving them confused.

"Take me to your leader," I joked.

"It's nice to have you back," Lizzy said, smiling.

Why was she an axolotl?

I decided not to ask.

Joel looked very awkward. It took me a second to remember why: we had had a very complicated relationship in Last Life. I was a ghost, so he didn't know I was there, then I lost him Grian as an ally, then I gave him a life, then I helped him kill Lizzy, then I turned on him and he killed me. For the rest of Last Life, we had been enemies, and he only died when he had killed Pearl twice and Cleo had come to the rescue.

Yeah, we had some things to talk about. But it had to wait, because I needed to know what the heck had happened.

Katherine and I left Joel and Lizzy at Spawn and went to Rivendell. As we walked, Katherine told me about the Last Lifers, the defeat of Xornoth, and the Victory Feast and the events since. She explained that Pearl was wanted for using elytras, which were against the law, and Gem was wanted for harboring a criminal. Since they had caught Gem now, her elytra was to be taken away since she couldn't be trusted with it, and she was going to be executed.

After Bdubs, I wasn't sure I could handle that. I didn't care that Gem would respawn.

I was already planning to steal the Crown when we got there. I would take it and then destroy it. Easy.

"So you are back!" Scott exclaimed when I walked into the throne room. He was back in his elven robes, his ears had grown out again, and a gem-encrusted crown was perched on his head.

"Hi, Scott," I said, putting little emotion into my voice.

"What happened?" he asked, looking concerned. "Why didn't you come back from Last Life?"

I took a deep breath. "I'd rather not talk about this right now," I said. "Can we just release Gem, destroy that crown because it's practically the Red Crown reincarnated, and call it good?"

Scott frowned. "I have to obey my own laws. Sorry."

"In other words, you're going to fall prey to the same power trick Ren and Martyn did, kill one of your allies, and call it a day, is that right?"

Scott winced. "Okay, maybe the execution idea was kind of bad," he admitted. "But Joey came up with it."

"And you carried it out," I said. "You're Grand Emperor. Change the law."

"I have an image to keep," Scott said. "I can't, or people will think I won't actually punish them."

"Oh, so that's what it's about now?" I asked coldly. "Your reputation? Fine, then."

Right in front of the Emperor who had forbidden it, I put on my elytra and flew away.

I smiled wryly. He would never catch me. He had said so himself that he had to obey his own laws.

Instead of flying away to the Dripleaf Marsh like they probably expected, I simply flew up to the roof and sat there, watching Scott come out, angrily look around, then with a frustrated expression, start to go back into his throne room.

"Oh, you're here," Joel whispered from next to me.

"Yes. What did you expect?" I said, rolling my eyes.

"Don't give me away," Joel said, with a grin that made me want to give him away.

"Uh, Scott?" Someone called, coming up the path.

Alone [Book 3 of the Life Hearts Trilogy, previously called Lost Hearts]Where stories live. Discover now