Alone [Book 3 of the Life Hearts Trilogy, previously called Lost Hearts]

Epilogue

For future readers:
This was written at a time where we don't know what the Rift is or what's going to happen with it in the future. At the time I am writing this, Grian has just barely posted Hermitcraft 9 Episode 11 and I have not watched it yet.

I know I don't have the covers yet... I rage-quitted after I tried oil pastels instead of my usual colored pencils and they didn't work out very well.

~~~

~One month later~

"HAWKEYE!"

Gem yelped as an arrow hit her head and bounced off her helmet.

"It's been a whole month since death," Scar said, landing on the dock next to her in full mattress store glory.

Gem jumped. "Oh, gosh, you're right."

One month since the battle.

One month since the sacrifice.

Mentions of Blue still made Gem sad. She didn't know if FWhip was still affected by it, because he was still in Gateway, preparing to enter the Second World of Empires.

And where was Gem, if FWhip was in Gateway and she wasn't with him?

Well, the Ninth World was up and running, so Gem and Pearl had gone there.

Scar made a surprised noise. Gem turned around and saw Violet in the process of pouncing.

The baby dragon had hatched, and because Gem (the "mom," sort of), FWhip (the expert on fire and explosions), and Scar (the magical creatures go-to guy) had all been there when she hatched, she had decided that Scar was her mom instead of Gem.

"Why does it hate me so much?" Scar whimpered as the dragon clambered onto his head, making a sound that might have been an attempt at a roar.

Gem reached up to pat Violet. "She doesn't hate you. She loves you. Every time we go to your tree she doesn't want to leave."

Violet nipped at Scar's pointed ear. He whimpered.

That was a trait they now shared: pointed ears. Gem could have been mistaken for an elf, with her antlers. They had a theory that it had something to do with being wizards once.

Speaking of wizards, their powers had completely gone, except for Gem's plants, of course. Even though most of their powers were related to the moon, they had been connected to the Listener. And the Listener was in the End.

Gem finally pulled the hatchling off of his head. "Grian called a meeting," she said. "Didn't he?" She checked her communicator, and, sure enough, Grian had invited a few people to a meeting at his base. Including Gem.

Scar nodded, a little pale. The dragon in Gem's arms squeaked and tried to jump toward him.

"No. Nope, nope, nope, nope. Goodbyyyye!" Scar said flying off.

She hadn't seen Grian much in this world, with his duties as permanent Admin of Gateway. But he was still here enough to do some mining and build a diamond pillar to rival Scar's.

Gem glanced over at Doc's base. That diamond pillar had gotten a little out of hand.

She knew Pearl had one, too. And Cub, across the river, but it was made of diamond blocks. And several others. Spawn was becoming a little too tempting, so it was a good thing Gem had already picked out her megabase location.

Tango was a different story. He had built one out of stone with a sign at the bottom that said Learn2pillar noobs in glowing letters.

If Blue were here, she would even face her claustrophobia in the strip mines so she could try and beat them.

Gem frowned. That had gotten sad real fast.

She took off on her elytra, letting Violet fly alongside her, and flew over Zedaph's... hole in the ground, and then made it to Grian's base: a huge rock formation with a levitating Nether Portal near it, because not all magic came from the End.

Grian was waiting on his bridge with a few other people. Gem was surprised to see so few, because she was late.

She landed on the bridge, where Grian was bouncing on his heels with excitement. That was never a good thing. Scar was there, as well as Xisuma, Mumbo, and Pearl.

Pearl gasped with excitement when she saw Violet. "You brought her!"

"You brought her," Scar said, dismayed.

"Great," Grian said, rubbing his hands together. "Now, I need to go finish my knitting, so how about you all wait here-"

They all laughed. By now, Grian's lateness to his frequent meetups with Jimmy, Joel, and occasionally FWhip was well-known.

"So, why are we here?" Xisuma asked suspiciously. Anything that made Grian this happy couldn't be good for the rest of them.

"Come on!" Grian cheered, and hopped into a hole in the bridge. A beacon beam came from it.

They jumped down after the Watcher and found him at the base of his beacon, staring at a large crack in the wall that glowed pink.

"Um," Pearl said. "What?"

Grian gestured dramatically to the crack. "Behold the Rift."

It felt weird.

It felt wrong.

Gem hadn't felt a feeling of wrongness like that since... the transport crystal.

"Oh, no," Scar said.

"This does not feel right," X said, but he approached the Rift curiously.

"Don't go in!" Grian said. "We don't know where it leads. But I thought you guys might know something about it."

Gem had the sneaking suspicion that he was mostly talking to her and Xisuma. The other three people present were Grian's best friends, so of course they were there.

"It's like... a tear between worlds," Gem said. "I don't like it."

But something drew her to it... it felt wrong, but it was also intriguing.

Gem glanced behind her at Pearl, still holding Violet; Scar, munching on a cookie, oblivious; Grian, curious and excited; Mumbo, rather uncomfortable; and Xisuma, staring at the Rift with an unreadable expression. Literally unreadable. Gem couldn't even see his face.

"I'm going in," Gem said, maybe a little recklessly, and stepped into the pink light.

"Gem, no-" Pearl started, then ran toward the portal.

But when she tried to go through, the surface was like glass.

Meanwhile, Gem saw absolutely nothing but pink, and was panicking a little bit because of it.

And then words appeared, in handwriting she thought she would never see again. But there was no mistaking the neat script of King Scott of Rivendell, who was supposed to be dead.

Welcome to Afterlife. You might see some familiar faces...