...𝐖𝐄𝐋𝐋, 𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐀𝐋𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐄 || gameknight999

PROLOGUE

MORAL COMPASS POINTING SOUTH

===

Angel wouldn't have considered herself to be a bad person. Then again, she wouldn't have considered herself to be good either.

She had a plan, a plan that nobody in their right mind would approve of. However, it was worth it to remember that Angel was not in her right mind - it had been twisted by trauma, grief, and an overwhelming desire to see the man who had died in her arms again. If it meant that she would have to bargain with the most dangerous entity in Minecraft to do so, she was willing to take that chance.

It fascinated her, the sight of him, a dark form standing on the snow-covered plain before her. He didn't look anywhere near like he had in the Source, but Angel knew it was him. Those same burning eyes shone like a spotlight, still visible though the sky had been darkened by clouds.

Why he had taken the form of the Ender Dragon was still a mystery to Angel, however, but she ignored it for the time being.

"Feyd, King of the Endermen, how many of the zombies will join us in the next battle?" His booming voice echoed throughout the landscape, able to be clearly heard even from a distance. She drew closer to the scene, praying that the monsters that surrounded the dragon wouldn't attack her; this deal was the most important thing to her at the moment.

"Endermen, I will be leaving you briefly," the dragon declared. "Get into defensive positions and watch out for our enemy, Gameknight999. Scouts, patrol the area."

To Angel's relief, the nearby Endermen began to teleport away, causing her to move closer to the dragon, observing the scene with intrigue.

"Shall I take you to Xa-Tul now, Master?" Feyd asked. His voice sent shivers down Angel's spine, not due to how unpleasant it was, but rather how familiar.

"You will," the dragon told him, white eyes sweeping the landscape. "But first..."

His gaze finally fell upon the User, and a toothy grin spread across his face as he tilted his head. Angel, in turn, smiled, knowing that this was truly who she had been looking for.

This was Herobrine.

"Well, well, well," he chuckled, prowling closer to her. "I wondered when I'd be seeing you again, Angel..."

"Good to see you too, I suppose," Angel said. "Being a dragon suits you... what's the look for?"

The dragon looked pleased. "Nothing that hasn't furthered my plan," he told her. This was partially a lie, but Angel didn't know what exactly had caused his transformation, and he wanted to keep it this way. "What brings you here?"

Angel's gaze turned to Feyd, who had seemed to recognize her by now. Nodding curtly to him, she returned her focus to Herobrine. "I think we both know the answer to that," she said. "I have a deal to make with you, Herobrine, one that I believe will help us both greatly."

Intrigue shone in Herobrine's eyes as he moved forward. "What is it that you propose?" he asked. "Tell me quickly, I have a few pressing matters at hand."

Angel made sure to meet the dragon's harsh gaze, not wanting to look away lest he lost interest in her deal. "I propose a change in your plans," she told him. "I don't know exactly what you're working on, with your army and all... but I'm here to tell you that you don't need it. You are an all-powerful being, a man of dedication and patience. My idea is that you reconsider plan A... in other words, return to the Source."

Herobrine tilted his head. "Oh?"

Angel nodded. "I can help you to do that. Gameknight999 and his army of NPCs will not be expecting this, since they most likely know what your current plans are by now. I can help to lead their suspicions away from what you are doing, since to them, I'm still partially an ally. By the time they find out, if they do at all, it will be too late - you will have destroyed all of the server planes and gotten to the Source. Once you take the Gateway of Light, you will have gained a physical body in the real world, where you are free to do whatever you want."

She paused briefly, allowing Herobrine to process this offer. Hope began to grow within her as she watched his intrigued expression, knowing that this was going well so far. He was still listening, and that was a good sign.

"My current plan was to wait for Gameknight999 to use the digitizer," he told Angel. "There is a second User-that-is-not-a-user if he fails to comply, a sister... Upon taking the Gateway of Light that he creates, I will enter the Internet, using that to control the world to my liking. How is gaining a physical body better than living in the Internet?"

Angel pondered this briefly. "The Internet is limited," she told him. "And quite frankly, there's some awful things there... Besides, if you have a physical body, you can hack into the Internet using that, and still have more of the world to see. There's ways to get onto the Internet, and to control it entirely without having to stay inside of it. You can see firsthand the effects that your rule has on the people of the physical world, while also using the Internet to enforce your rule."

The dragon prowled forward, white eyes glowing slightly brighter. "You wouldn't help me if you weren't gaining something in return," he said. "Tell me what you want, and perhaps I will consider this."

Angel shook her head. "I think you know," she told him. A quiet growl came from his throat.

"Erebus." Herobrine spat the name like a curse, his clear distaste for his creation setting Angel on edge slightly. Despite this, she continued.

"I want him back," she told him. "And I want him in the physical world, on my own terms - I want him uninjured and intact, with all of his memories preserved, and human, just as I knew him then. No loopholes."

Angel could tell that her confidence was starting to bother Herobrine, and in a way, it made her proud of herself. "You're much more intelligent than I first assumed," he noted. Angel chuckled a little. "But at the same time, you are still quite foolish. In case you haven't noticed, I already have a King of the Endermen right here."

He gestured with a massive paw to Feyd, whose shrewd eyes were observing the scene closely, far colder than Erebus's had been.

"You know why I wouldn't choose him," Angel said. "You know the reason why I have requested Erebus specifically to be brought, rather than Feyd. If you didn't, you wouldn't have crafted Feyd with significantly less empathy than Erebus had, would you?" She folded her arms across her chest. "You saw his humanity and deemed it a sign of weakness. Therefore, to avoid that same mistake happening again, you chose to create Feyd without much, if any at all. Am I correct?"

Herobrine didn't dignify Angel's question with a response, aware that she knew she was right. He straightened up, scaly tail waving behind himself as his white eyes searched her keenly; for what, Angel did not know.

"Allow me to restate your proposition," he stated. "In exchange for leading Gameknight999 and his NPCs away from me and my army while we destroy the server planes and travel to the Source, I will bring Erebus back, uninjured, with his memories preserved, and human."

His final word was punctuated with scorn, as if it was a vile taste in his mouth that repulsed him beyond belief. Angel nodded. "Erebus and only Erebus," she said firmly. "Other than that, you got it."

Herobrine stood quite close to Angel now, and she had to crane her neck slightly to look up at him. "It's an interesting plan," he mused. "Especially coming from you... it seems this Angel really has fallen, hasn't she?"

Angel smiled softly. "It's like you said," she murmured. "One side's hero, and all... It's a matter of perspective. Something got taken from me, and I want it back. The same thing goes for you, hm? You make heroes from your perspective, and villains from another. It seems like we're the only ones who understand, huh?"

Herobrine nodded, chuckling a little. "You get it," he said, before offering his paw to Angel. "And you might just have yourself a deal as well."

A wide grin spread across Angel's face as she placed her hand into Herobrine's paw, blue-gray eyes bright with an exhilaration that had been gone from them for weeks now. Herobrine grinned back, an uncanny glint in his eyes.

"I have a feeling that we're going to do great things together, Angel."