Legends of Ardonia [Editor's Edition]

Chapter 1: The Vault

Five figures clad in black clothing made their way through a Chorus forest, melting into the dark shadows of the End dimension. Their glowing orange eyes were the only discernible features on their hooded and masked faces. The looming silhouette of an End castle slowly came into view as they made it out of the Chorus forest. It was a twisting, gravity-defying structure, upon which the faint movements of patrolling Enderknights moved. An enderman suddenly teleported right next to the thieves, prompting one of them to flinch in surprise. Their gaze nearly landed on the enderman before one of their comrades swiftly pushed their head down without a word. The enderman let out a passive grumble before picking a Chorus fruit off the tree and teleporting away.

The leader looked up, making sure the enderman was gone, and pointed at a guard on the balcony of the castle. One of the thieves nodded at the silent order, silently conjuring a warbling black and purple portal. Another thief suddenly vanished, the sound of footsteps going through the portal.

Up on the balcony, the End guard let out a grunt and collapsed on the floor after being struck by a floating mace. The thief holding the weapon appeared behind them soon after and motioned for the others to pass through the portal. As the group made their way through the castle, one of them jotted down notes of the location of the armory, the hatchery, and the Enderdragon stables, all the while dodging the patrols of Enderknights.

Finally, they turned down a hallway that was different from the rest of the castle: the purpur floor was broken by veins of purple energy and endstone that snaked up the walls. The soft mutters of resting shulkers echoed through the hallway as the thieves cautiously stepped forward, their goal in sight. A large obsidian ball sat in the room at the end of the hallway, pulsing rhythmically with a purple glow. Shulkers were scattered along the walls and floor of the room, which the thieves carefully stepped around and over as they grew closer and closer to the ball. Once they stood in front of it, a runic symbol swirled into existence on the ball, warbling End symbols flickering inside of it. The leader nudged the smallest thief forward, who looked back at the leader in annoyance before observing the symbols.

"We need an Enderknight to open this," the smaller thief whispered.

"Great. Terax, get that Enderknight you knocked out. Quietly," the leader hissed, and Terax vanished as he went invisible again.

The thieves waited anxiously for Terax to return, looking around at the shulkers and hoping they would stay asleep. Footsteps suddenly echoed down the hallway and the thieves saw two Enderknights approaching. The four quickly ducked behind the vault, narrowly avoiding the Enderknights' gaze.

"Huh, weird. Normally this thing stays off," one of the Enderknights said, noting the still-active rune. The shulkers stirred awake as he passed by, the other Enderknight following close behind.

"Do you think someone tried to open it?" the other one asked.

"I doubt it. The shulkers are still napping and no one has sounded the alarm. But, just in case, go tell the others to be on alert, Haden."

Haden saluted and walked off, heading back down the hallway. He turned the corner and bumped right into another Enderknight.

"Oh, sorry!" Haden apologized as he stumbled back. "There's been a disturbance in the vault, can you tell the others to..." Haden paused, noticing that the knight's eyes were closed. "Are you..."