Zane's Second Chance (Minecraft Diaries' Fanfiction)

Chapter 31

Branden's POV:

The first thing I remember from my previous life- my mother's famous cakes.

She loved baking sweets despite the fact that she was Queen and it was considered "improper", but Father never had the heart to say no to her. When I couldn't find her in her chamber or the garden or at Father's side, she would always be in the kitchen- her hands white with flour and her long raven black hair sticking to her face because of the blazing huge fire in the center of the room. She was a welcoming sight to the chiefs, and everyone loved her sweets- especially her sons.

I remember fighting over them with my brothers, me getting squished in the middle between the two oldest, trying to reach in vain for the stack of small cakes. I usually lost in the battle for the cakes and in the end, Mother would gently but firmly remind my brothers that they had to share with their younger brother.

There were many advantages to being the youngest- but not enough to prevent me from turning into the very thing the human race despised.

Shadow Knight.

For years, I had hated the very title I held with my life. Hated it- and what I had become, so much that I ended my own very life in the Netherworld.

But at this moment right now, perhaps I can be grateful for it, for if I had not died in the prison, my body wasted by my own blade, then my soul would not have traveled from my body- took a trip through worlds- and seek redemption for another better life in another better body.

Branden Lansberg.

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Xandra's POV:

Why do these things happen to me all the time?

"THE PRINCES OF O'KHASIS, WHERE ARE THEY???" A towering figure stands a few feet away from me, his face and expression completely blocked by a black helmet outlined with actual fire in the rims. His body is clad in a black armor suit that again seems to hold back the fire on his skin that jumps and dances when the light catches. It seems as if his body is made out of an immense firestorm and the armor protects the world from it- not the other way around.

But dear Irene, he sure can scream.

"WHERE ARE THEY???" the strange figure's voice booms across the hallways and soon, curious folks pop out of their office rooms to see what the ruckus is about. I can see Lauren- Branden's girlfriend, curse under her breath at the sight of the fire knight- or at the gawking crowd, and I know that this is more serious than I expected it to be.

"Alright, everyone," I call out, gaining the attention of the slightly freak-outed therapists and doctors, "Go back inside. Nothing to see here. Go. Back. Now!"

After some more yelling (and shoving just for good measures), I turn around and see Lauren ordering Zane and Garroth to get into Branden's office room, her tall posture blocking the fire knight's view of the two princes. The two brothers did so obediently, but it was already too late. The fire knight saw.

"THE PRINCES OF O'KHASIS!!!" he bellows, the walls seeming too small to contain him- and his voice. I feel my ears complain at the screeching sound. "YOU MUST COME WITH ME TO THE NETHERWORLD- ORDERED BY THE SHADOW LORD!!"

At the mention of the Shadow Lord, Zane's body goes stiff, blocking the doorway to Branden's office. I can't see his face, but I know him long enough to know that he's silently screaming and containing his will to run away. My heart stutters at the sight of him so helpless and chokes down a really bad insult to the Shadow Knight.