Rainimator One Shots

Captive Audience

Naeus walked over to his newly acquired prisoners including the End Matriarch herself. He had to admit he was quite pleased with himself. Capturing the End in such a short space of time with little causalities on his side, especially since nothing like this had ever been attempted before. There was only one problem. Queen Ceris had scattered the end crystals across the three dimensions. It was a smart move on her behalf, however this was a major set back for Naeus. He had wanted all the crystals to be in his possession by the time the End had been captured.

What does one do in this situation? Well they would question the person who hid them of course. That is exactly what Naeus had done for the past few hours and he had made quite a show out of it. Each time he tried bullying Queen Ceris into revealing the crystals' location, he had made sure all the other prisoners of war were present. The idea behind this was if the End Queen wouldn't crack during the interrogation, then he could potentially scare the others into doing so. The downside was that Naeus didn't know if any of the prisoners knew the whereabouts of the crystals. However Naeus was not the one to waste time. He had given Queen Ceris a deadline. If she didn't say where the crystals are in the 24 hour timeframe, that had been initiated as soon as she was captured, then she would be executed in front of everyone. That deadline was almost there.

Ceris tensed when she heard the guards, accompanied by King Naeus, unlock the door to her cell. She was kept in a cell by herself to minimise the chances of a collective escape or rebellion against the occupiers. The fear of death increased dramatically as the guards unchained her and began dragging her to the site of her execution. However Ceris had known that even if she had told the Nether King the information he so desperately desired, then it was more than likely she would die from the injuries she had obtained during the battle. At least this way she granted her successor, the Last Ender Watcher, more time to retrieve the artefacts. 

Ceris looked at the gloomy faces of her loyal subjects, who had been brought out of the cells. They were awaiting for their former ruler to give a final speech before she was executed, as was the End tradition. The Nether King respected this and allowed Ceris to say a few words before she was killed and thrown into the void. The guards pulled her onto the wooden platform and King Naeus asked her "It is still not to late for me to spare your life if you say where the crystals are hidden." To which she replied in a sad, dull tone. "I shall say this once more. Hope lies not in the ashes of the End..." She paused for a moment so she could say the next part on a lighter note, in order to keep the End from falling into despair. "...but in our successor in the Overworld. We may have lost this battle, however our spirit will not be defeated! My sacrifice will not be in vain but instead is a step towards freeing ourselves of this mighty oppressor!" she shouted as her speech could be heard echoing around the towers of Dragonspire.

The speech had given the End the faith they needed in their chosen future king, rather than the one had annexed the End into his own empire. Naeus realised it was pointless to try to get the End to corporate with him. "Very well. You have made your decision." He said in response to the End Queen's speech. Motioning for Queen Ceris to go down on her knees, he swung his blade and thus ended her reign. The End fell silent not only out of respect for their fallen ruler but in anticipation for their saviour to return to the realm once more.