Darkness Beyond Darkness [A MCSM Fanfiction]

Chapter 10

   Update after more than two weeks... Bad. Sorry. Was too busy watching Teen Titans (2003) Apparently I couldn't figure a better way to waste 1 hour of my time each day.

   Lukas didn't know what was harder: to make everyone sit down, calm down or shut up. Even though the people left at the town square were merely about a dozen, the chaos they caused, in addition to the wreckage the golem had made, rivalled a Wither in a field full of chickens. Long story short: it was nearly unbearable.
   - Radar! Jack! Over here! The rest can go to their homes. Hadrian, shut up! Romeo! Uh... Continue, please. You were telling us about Tim...
   - Entity 303 - Hadrian murmured.
   - Don't you call him that! - Romeo snapped - You never had, don't, and never will have the right to deprive...
   - Romeo.
   - Oh! Sorry, Lukas, my bad... Now...

***

   When the Blessed and Old, Creators of all that is, set foot upon this world and filled it with life and beauty, they, with their divine perception, understood they could no longer control their creations alone, for this world was one amongst many. Many that were, and many more to come.
   Like a beam of sunlight in a thunderstorm, and a rose in a rotting moor, a solution came to them.
   Why control a world, when it can control itself?
   So, The Six did what they pleased.
The Six gifted The Three with power. The Six gifted The Three with wisdom.
The Six gifted The Three with creativity.
   The Three swore to serve The Six, and The Three swore to protect and care for the world they had been given.
   Three brothers with one fate.
   Fred, he, who was kind and he, who taught people to grow and reap the Earth's gift.
   Romeo, he, who built and he, who taught people the art of redstone.
   Tim, he, who had no fear, and he, who taught people to protect themselves from the monsters that loomed in the darkest of nights.
   The Three reigned in peace, and joy echoed across the land for no mortal knows how long, until one day, evil made its way into that world.
   Null, the One who holds all destruction, sent his minions to purge the peaceful unsuspecting people.
   The creatures, grotesque slim headless atrocities, with spikes for arms and mouths, full of razor sharp teeth, ravaged the land, maiming and slaughtering all that breathed.
   The Three fought to protect their world, as brave as lions and as cunning as snakes. Tim himself came to realize that the evil flooded the world through a portal. A rift that could not be built, but one that Null, and Null alone, could create.
   So Tim assaulted the portal and killed all evil that stepped through it.
   Hundreds upon hundreds fell under his righteous blade, until he stood on a mountain of their corpses, thundering the air with his war cry.
   His arms grew tired, his vision grew blurry and his body was covered in wounds, but still he fought and killed many.
   Then, a hand reached out of the portal. A hand of Darkness. It grasped the Hero and threw him away, right before the portal closed shut and disappeared, never to appear again.
   The mountain of corpses dissolved into thick dark smoke, fogging the whole forest for two suns. But Tim was nowhere to be found.
   Fred and Romeo searched across the woods, looking for their brother, their Saviour, but could one find the other, if they could not see themselves?
   At long last, the mist vanished, and the Two, wearied and limp, found the Third.
   Wolves circled his battered body and protected the Hero from the monsters that advanced towards him. The graceful animals made way for the brothers and escorted them to their home.
   The Two carried their brother to the Cabin and used all the wisdom they had, hoping to heal him. But no matter what they did, Tim would not wake up. His eyes would not open and his voice would not ring.
   Having lost hope, The Two saught help from the Blessed and Old. But even they, in their boundless knowledge, could not awaken the Third.
   There was only one choice. Someone had to take Tim's place.
   So The Six made a decision. And The Six did what they pleased.
   The Six chose One and made her The Third. They chose a girl by the name of Xara.
   She did well and soon earned the Brothers' trust. And so passed a few winters.
   But soon enough, Tim awakened. Unaware of the time that had passed in his sleep, he took a stroll across the city, greeting each pedestrian he passed by.
   His brothers, though, were nowhere to be found. Tim looked everywhere where they would go together, but not only were they not there, but some of the buildings had been replaced by other structures.
   Puzzled, he decided to let go of that pointless wandering and check up on the gates, in case if the defenders were in need of aid. And what he saw there would change his life forever.
   There, entering the city, was a parade. A parade in honor of the Three.
   Tim had taken part in such parades more times than one can count. After a successful quest, he and his brothers would enter the city triumphantly and the people would worship them. Blossoms would rain on the road and cover it like snow, every bell in the city would ring and trumpets would be blown. All in honor of the Three.
   But now his brothers had left without him, and moreover, with them there was a purple haired lass, that rode his horse and wore his armor...

***

   - Um, ahem, Romeo?
   Romeo looked up from the book and raised an eyebrow.
   - Yes?
   Lukas coughed again, not because he wanted to, but to buy some time.
   - Can you TELL us the story? As much as I like reading The Chronicles - he giggled awkwardly - They are way too... Long and fancy written. Sometimes even too fancy, to the point of being...
   - Unclear? - Romeo guessed.
   - Exactly.
   The redhead nodded thoughtfully and then suddenly burst into laughter.
   - Silly me! Reading The Chronicles about events I witnessed with my own eyes! Jesse must've hit me really hard with that gauntlet... Now...
   This is what happened: After Tim saw Xara, he... Sort of freaked out. I'm not even mentioning how shocked he was when he found out he had been asleep for four years.
   Of course, he wanted to rejoin us immediately and get his things back, but Hadrian literally came out of nowhere and...
   - You should have seen your faces - Hadrian grinned, his eyes glimmering in some sort of amusement.
   - I agree, it was funny... To you. Now... where were we?
   - Hadrian appeared...
   - Oh, yes, and told Tim that he will have to pass some trials...
   - Tests! I said tests!
   - ... If he wants to rejoin us. Xara got... Angry, and demanded that she did the trials...
   - TESTS!
   - ... As well, so that it would be easier to determine who was truly worthy to be the third. Hadrian, agreed and...
   - May I take the story from now on, lad?
   Romeo nodded and told the others:
   - Hadrian had a better perspective on the events after that. He'll do a better job.
   Hadrian cleared his throat, and stiffened up, as if preparing for a speech in front of thousands.
   - So... Immediately after we had arranged the time when the TESTS would be held, Tim left the city, not having told anybody where he was going, nor when he was planning to return. In a few words: He disappeared.
   Xara was cheering, since she thought that he had fled, but Romeo insisted that we waited until the day of the Tests.
   Little did we know, Tim indeed showed up, looking way more ready than I had expected. At first I had thought that he had no hope to win, but once I saw him, oh, did I change my mind!
   He had gotten himself a new armor, his sword was...
   - Okay, okay, what happened? - Jack interrupted rudely.
   - You just ruined the moment, Velvet Tornado... Well, anyways, he won. Despite all those years of being unconscious, he prevailed gloriously.
   Hadrian paused, and Radar thought he had finished, so he asked:
   - So how did...
   - We were asking ourselves the very same question. How does one sleep for four years and instead of losing strength, doubles it? Something smelled fishy...
   He sighed and shook his head in disapproval. The memories haunted him too.
   - Apparently, Tim had made a pact with Null himself. A pact to regain his strength, in exchange of faithful service. Tim had sold himself to the Darkness.
   We found out too late. The weeks after the Tests, he grew more and more twisted. He had always had the vision of a perfect world. A world of peace and a world with no wrongs.
   Slowly but surely, this vision grew more and more corrupted, so that Tim started killing innocents, because they were below his standards of perfection.
   We had to stop him.
   With our combined strength, we captured him and he stood trial before The Six. Our judgement was simple: Exile in the Void between worlds. Romeo insisted that we gave him a second chance, and Fred secretly asked me if there was any way for his soul to be saved... But there was no way back. Not anymore...
   So the decision was made. Xara was the one, who would bring him to the Void... But she did more than this... Way more. She burned him... Burned him until his face was impossible to recognize... I saw it with my own eyes. The fire... Tim's body slowly burning away... The screams...
   We barely saved him. As soon as we were done, he attacked Xara with all his might and nearly killed her. I had to intervene, so I proceeded to teleport him to the Void.
   No living mortal knows of this. The name Tim is legend of honor. The name we gave him after his downfall, Entity 303, is legend of horror. No one in the realms knows the link between the two and it shall stay that way.
   Now, we need to act quickly, before...
   - No one is going to act in any way - a calm interrupted him.
   They all turned to the speaker: A bald elder in a white rope with grey stripes on the edges, was standing a few meters away, about a dozen others behind him, all with the same clothing.
   Hadrian grunted angrily, then demanded.
   - So who do you think you are?
   The man raised a hand, revealing a symbol tattooed on his forearm.
   - We are the followers of Soren, and we believe that the universe is guided by the hands of Fate... And that people are nobodies to change its paths. We shall not let you bother Fate. Brothers! Get them!

   Death ain't coming soon, dammit... The best for the end, I guess...

   Word count: 1832
  
   Cheers ;)