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“So, uh, is there any particular reason you decided to drag us all the way out here?” xB asked, giving a nearby chunk of end stone a kick. The porous rock shattered on contact with his steel-toed boot, the few fragments bouncing away into the distance.
“We’re here for the inspiring views, of course!” Scar said grandly, spinning around and spreading his arms, “What, not enough for you?”
xB looked around at the endless yellow wasteland, interspersed with chorus trees and the odd Enderman in the distance. He stared into the endless black void that surrounded them, taking another breath of the permanently-chilled, always stale air of the End. Breathing in the End was…odd. The air felt thick and bereft, like hiding under a blanket for a minute too long; each breath pulling more oxygen from the air and replacing it with CO2, until you could feel the discomfort. Thick, stale air, but chilled, the crisp cold of that hateful September day when the wind turned and you could feel winter’s claws scratching at the breeze.
In short, xB hated the End with a passion.
“Okay, very funny. What’s the real reason? We’re miles from the nearest gateway, too. If we get pummeled by any of these guys, it’s gonna be a long walk to get our stuff back.” xB said, gesturing at the Endermen clustering around them, tactfully looking at his toes.
“Well, I suppose you got me on that one. Actually, I could ask the same of you.” Scar said, leaning back against the supports of his exoskeleton.
xB folded his arms.
“Ask me about what? I’m not the one who decided to walk ten thousand miles into the outer End.”
As if to accentuate the point, a nearby Enderman grunted at Scar and wandered away, shaking their head.
xB gestured at it, as if to say “see? SEE?” and Scar just shook his head.
“Well, we’re going to just… ignore that. To be honest, I brought you out here for some privacy… and I wasn’t lying about the inspiration. I thought you could use it.” Scar said smoothly, and xB stared at him as if he’d lost his mind.
“Inspiration, sure. I’m inspired to start shooting.” xB muttered, “That’s enough nonsense, Scar. Why the hell have you pulled me to this godforsaken wasteland? If you don’t start talking, I’m just gonna leave.”
Scar sighed, and leaned back on his cane, his exoskeleton hissing as he did.
“Alright, fine. Let’s start with the basics. What’s the deal with that idol of yours?”
xB blinked, and his face darkened.
“Joe promised me he wouldn’t roll on me like that!” xB snarled, and Scar held up a hand.
“And he hasn’t. At least, not beyond me. Joe told me, and we haven’t told anyone else. But I have to know what that idol is for, alright? It’s nothing personal.”
“What, this some kind of-“ xB growled, “Fine. Alright. You want the story? Fine. My mom and dad had this idol when I was a kid. I asked what they were doing with it one evening. They said, “Oh, it’s just the family god. It protects us from danger and evil.” It’s not some religious thing for me, okay? My folks thought it was, I don’t. You don’t get a lot of time in a day to just chill out and turn your brain off, to just BE for a few minutes? You know?! So I light the candles, I say the prayer, and I contemplate what I cherish. It doesn’t have to mean any more or any less. Sometimes, not every tradition needs a frickin’ explanation, Scar!”
xB was panting by the end of his rant, and he straightened up and folded his arms, staring scar in the eyes.
“It’s not a thing. You think it’s a thing, and it’s not. Mom warned me about this- people would make a big deal out of it, come to stupid conclusions. It’s not a thing, Scar. I just do my little ritual and nothing changes and nothing happens. Nothing about it matters. You get it?”
Scar nodded slowly.
“So…you have genuinely no idea what that idol is for?” he asked carefully.
xB scowled.
“Do I look like I care? It’s a family heirloom. Do you question why you have a cake for your birthday? No, you don’t. I don’t care. And I don’t feel like having a bunch of people crawl up my butt about it.”
Scar leaned back, processing all of that.
“Okay. Well.” Scar said delicately, “That’s. Uh. Well, Joe said you didn’t just light candles to the…you didn’t just do that. He said you sometimes-“
“Okay, yeah. Blood, right. Once a month. It’s just a drop. I use a frickin’ pushpin. Like, a thumbtack. It’s literally JUST a drop, Scar! Why does everyone gotta be so weird about it?”
“Because your blood is a representation of your life force in more mystical contexts,” Scar said slowly, “Lifeblood, and all that. They used to say the heart was the centre of thought, not the brain.”
“And they were stupid and wrong.” xB huffed, turning his back to Scar and staring at the ground, “If you and Joe go blabbing about my little ritual, I’ll show you what a real Hawkeye looks like.”
Scar put one hand behind his back and crossed his fingers.
“You have my word.”
By the time xB turned around, Scar was gripping the top of his cane with both hands, an innocent smile on his face.
“Alright, fine. Great. Because like, the last thing I need- Keralis would just rock up and start, like, asking me a load of stupid questions. Xisuma would just jump to conclusions. The last thing I need is Tango giving me demon-summoning- like just- sometimes you just want to be left alone with your weird little habits, you feel me?”
Scar nodded slowly.
“Yeah, I get you.”
xB huffed.
“Alright, so aside from dragging me out here to push me over the edge, what’s the other reason we’re out this way? We could have had this chat in my base. Like, why?”
“Well,” Scar said, dragging the point of his staff through the dust at his feet, “Here’s something…odd. I can sense magic, you know.”
“Yeah, I know. Magical creatures sense other magical creatures. Why?”
“Well. I’m not saying you’re a magical creature,” Scar said carefully, “not at all! But, you know. There’s a…whiff. Of something magical on you.”
xB frowned.
“I showered this morning, though.”
“Not like that. See, magic is- it sort of exudes from people, you know? Everyone’s got a spark- that’s what a soul is, really. At least, that’s my take on it. But you…I’ve been noticing lately that there’s a bit of magic coming from you. More than you should normally have, I mean.”
“So…what? You’re saying I’m a wizard?” xB folded his arms.
“Maybe. I just- I’d like to check and see if you are. If you have any…aptitude for anything.”
xB ran a hand through his hair, turning to look out at the void.
“Alright, hold up. This is kind of a lot for a guy to take in, you know? First you get after me about my idol, and now you say I’ve got some- magical ability? So what, you think I can cast spells or do hocus pocus? What are we talkin’ here, Scar?”
“Well,” Scar said, shifting a little, “Magic is…it’s a science, really. It’s the essence of using your innate power to…lightly bend reality, following her rules to do what you want to do. That’s what enchanting is! Just lightly bending reality per your own desires. And I was just…I figured we could try it, you know?”
xB sighed and checked his watch.
“Alright, fine. I got nothing going on today I guess. So how do we…do magic?” He asked, folding his arms.
Out of the corner of his eye, xB caught a flash of something…green. Bright green, almost like a leaf or a cactus. He glanced over-
And there was nothing there.
He shook his head and slowly turned back to Scar.
“Well,” Scar said, “That’s the rub, isn’t it? If you were a Vex, I’d run you through a few practice Deals and teach you about digging deep into your own desires. But I don’t know if you are! So that’s what we gotta figure out, you and me. Magic is magic, after all.”
“Are we crazy sure this is a good idea?” xB added after a minute’s pause, “I mean, Doc said it himself. If you got too much magic in you, he can’t do any implants. Magic and machinery ain’t exactly the best of friends, you know?”
“Concerned you’re gonna lose your arm or something? It hasn’t happened yet! And this is worth it, trust me. Besides, there’s such thing as removable prosthetics.”
“It’s…a concern.” xB protested weakly.
Scar shook his head.
“Well, if it bothers you that much, we can make a little Deal, and I’ll take all that unwanted magic off your hands for the low, low price of you buying some of my cookies. Satisfaction guaranteed, or your magic back. There’s literally no risk!”
“See you say that, but I was saying that to people all last seas- no, Scar, I am not shaking your hand.”
“Aw…okay. Well, at least let’s just give it a try. Odds are, nothing’ll happen.” Scar assured him.
“Fine.” xB said with a sigh.
A minute passed, and he shifted uncomfortably.
“So, uh, what do we do, exactly? Think real hard about stuff? Like, what?”
“Hmmm…” Scar said, “Let’s sit down and we’ll think about it some. Magic is more an art than anything. It’s a lot of…thinking. But once you do it, once you figure out how to trigger it, then it’s as easy as snapping your fingers. We just gotta work out how that looks for you, that’s all.”
“Like doing the eye shake thing.” xB said sagely.
“…eye shake thing?” Scar said, raising an eyebrow.
“Yeah, eye shake thing. Here, look.”
They locked eyes, and xB’s pupils suddenly jittered back and forth rapidly. Scar recoiled, and xB chuckled.
“See? The eye shake thing! Took me ages to figure out how to do that, and now I can do it whenever I want.”
“That’s uh, that’s called- that’s called Nystagmus. Let’s- sure, that’s a great metaphor actually. Also, have you spoken to Doc about that?”
xB shrugged.
“Ain’t affected me none. Alright, so…what am I thinking about? Fireballs and lightning? Like, what?”
Scar hummed and stroked his chin.
A soft blue glow reflected off the yellow endstone, and xB looked up to see a pair of glowing wings slowly growing from Scar’s back. He hadn’t transformed, not fully, but he was just letting a fraction of his power loose.
“Kinda a shame about Cub,” xB mused.
Scar waved his hand, shaking his head dismissively.
“Cub wanted a change. Being a servant of the Vex…isn’t for everyone. And he never had the…He didn’t want to devour himself to get free from the contract. He’s honestly smarter than me, just letting it all go.” Scar smiled wistfully, and then shook his head.
“That’s not important. Let’s focus on you.”
Scar tipped his head back, opening his mouth and curling his tongue into the chilled air of the end. He sniffed deeply, inhaling the twisting tangle of smells, and his eyes were closed as he reached out a hand towards xB.
He could taste and smell that loose knot of power, twisting away in xB’s…spine?
Spine?
Scar snapped his eyes open and stared. He wasn’t going to say anything, but the spine wasn’t- that wasn’t a normal place for the seat of power to be. The heart, the brain, the lungs for dragon-hybrids- those were all normal places. Some, like Hypno, had the seat of their power through their whole heads, concentrated in the eyes. But…the spine?
His own power was concentrated in his mouth, in his throat and his teeth, the place where the Vex dwelled most deeply. xB’s power was…something different. A faint rumbling of a distant avalanche, like a hibernating bear waiting to be awoken. It was black and dark and cold, and just for a second, Scar wondered what the hell he was doing.
That thought was swiftly brushed aside as he hummed thoughtfully. xB’s power felt…dormant. It needed a spark to awaken it, and he was left with no clue how to do that.
“Okay, I think I got an idea. I want you to start thinking about…your back.” Scar said softly, “I want you to start to focus on your back. Feel it, feel every inch of your skin. Look inside of yourself. Can you feel it? Can you feel your spine? Can you feel it, pulsing with life? Every second you live and breathe, sending signals through your whole body, a network of near-infinite complexity. Can you feel your spine, xB?”
“…No.” came the flat reply.
Scar groaned.
“Well, just- try for me, okay? Just try.”
xB huffed, and closed his eyes.
At first, he just listened to Scar’s chattering. Letting his mind follow the soothing patter.
“Right, let’s just try…let’s try emotions, first. So, let’s start with the basics. I want you to think about your rage, your hate, your fury. This one’s pretty common. Everything that’s ever upset or angered you, just dig that up for me, would you?”
Focus on his rage, sure. He was pretty pissed off about sitting around here doing nothing. Minutes ticked by as xB dug up every slight that had ever prickled his skin, and all it did was make him irate.
Nothing happened.
“Okay, well, let’s try sorrow. Do you want to focus on your sorrows, for me?”
“No, actually.” xB said smoothly, both because he didn’t want to and because deep inside he thought all of this was pointless.
Scar’s chatter shifted and changed. Joy just brought his mood up. Envy- he didn’t really think he had anything to covet. Hate they’d already done- why was Scar insisting on it again? What was the essential difference between righteous hate and regular hate? Hate was hate.
Powerlust? He didn’t need power. He was a crackshot with a bow, and he was a hermit. There wasn’t anything else he wanted or needed. Anything he did desire, he could get with honeyed words or asking nicely.
Logic and rationality? Sure, that made sense. Try and visualize the rules of a universe he didn’t understand. Perfectly sensible. He was totally a physicist.
The chatter went on and on, and as it continued, xB started to pay less and less attention. Silence filled the air, and he let his mind slip off the path Scar was trying to direct it down.
He wanted to go hang out with Hypno later, actually. That would be fun. They’d just chill, together. A sense of peace and contentment filled him as he pondered, and then- a strange tingling sensation began in his fingertips.
Probably he’d been sitting for so long. xB ignored it. It was just nice to sit here and zone out, actually. Feel at peace. Maybe this was that inner peace those monks went on about. Scar was still nattering away, and xB didn’t care. He always got a bit spacey when he had to sit still for so long.
All this magic mumbo jumbo was just kinda…like, it was fine, right? But there was a whole world out there, of rights and wrongs and thises and thats. And everything, generally, was as it should be. Perhaps not among people- people never did things right, did they? Every problem that had ever existed was only a problem when viewed through the eyes of a person. Because animals and nature didn’t see ‘problems’- only ‘hard times’ and ‘challenges’.
And yet, it mattered, didn’t it? People mattered. Tradition mattered. Everything, everywhere mattered, and every single person mattered too. He knew Hypno and his family, and Hypno had his own family, who had their own family; every friend you had had a dozen other friends, and one tug on the whole web of mankind pulled the entire rest of it along for the ride in one great mishmash of friendship.
And that was just as it should be, shouldn’t it?
xB sighed contentedly and opened his eyes.
And both he and Scar screamed at the top of their lungs.
“OH MY GOD WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!” xB shouted, scrambling away frantically from the small black sphere floating in the air between them.
“YOU TELL ME!” Scar screamed back, “YOU’RE THE ONE WHO MADE IT!”
Light lensed around the edges of the perfectly black ball, which spun with an audible screaming noise at a velocity that was truly terrifying. Motes of dust fell towards it and were instantly sucked in, and the whole thing pulsed, and was it- was it-
IT WAS SHRINKING. IT WAS SHRINKING EXTREMELY QUICKLY ACTUALLY-
“OH MY GOD WHAT THE HELL DID I DO?!” xB yelled, scrambling back frantically as the thing shrank and shrank and-
“I THINK IT’S GONNA BLOW!” Scar screamed, frantically scrambling away, but not nearly fast enough with how quickly the black-
Oh. Oh god.
He’d just made a BLACK HOLE.
xB scrambled backwards, nearly tripping and falling into the void, yelling in a panic. No no no no-
He panted, frantically, trying to think, what could he- what-
He grabbed his bow, nocked an arrow and fired it straight at the Black Hole. Because, because, because they fed on matter, so if he- if he fed it maybe it wouldn’t-
The arrow slipped into the event horizon and lengthened, and xB watched as it slowly turned red and finally vanished. The hole grew slightly- and then immediately shrank again.
Then something above the black hole moved, and his eyes locked onto it.
xB gasped as he found himself staring up into a bright green transparent eye, glowing down on him, floating just above the black hole. Disembodied and see-through, it was barely there-
And it was staring straight at him.
It pulsed with light, staring down at them, almost offensive in its…greenness in this desolate place.
It blinked-
And then it was gone.
And his attention snapped back to the black hole.
He nocked another arrow, firing it with pinpoint accuracy, and then another and another- the hole wasn’t shrinking, no wait it was still shrinking, oh god, oh god-
Scar was running, and how big, how big would this thing be when it blew, HOW BIG-
Something crunched behind him. And behind him was nothing but a drop straight into the void. xB turned around slowly-
There was a single rotted hand, five-fingered and dark green, clutching at the edge of the endstone.
He gasped, scrambling towards the black hole, and then glanced back up to see it had shrunk more, and then-
Another glance back revealed a second hand, rotted and falling apart, pulling a rotted cowl out of the void, and xB spun around again-
And caught sight of his black hole.
Which had stopped its ominous shrinking, and was just sitting there, pulsing and spinning.
He let out a sigh of relief, and made to step back towards it-
In the distance, he saw Scar take off with a rocket and vanish into the distance. He was alone. Except for the thing crawling out of the void, he was alone.
Which, uh, speaking of-
He turned around to see it, and instead caught sight of an entire arm, pulling itself up. He took a step back-
“Please remain where you are.” The voice said calmly, “If you take another step closer, you may cease to be biology and will instead become physics. Which I would prefer to avoid, as I’m not sure your respawn will function from the event horizon of a black hole.”
xB spluttered, and watched as a-
The person that pulled themselves up and stood on the fragile stone of the end island was a- rotted corpse. Absolutely ancient, decrepit in every aspect. A long flowing robe and a hood stamped with a curious circular insignia. Their eye sockets were- well, one was empty, and the other had a bloated, cataract-covered eye shrouding its vision.
Long black cables made of dripping ooze were plugged into every hole and gap in their robes and flesh, and the cables snaked off the end island and down into the void below. In their hands, they clutched a long staff tipped with the head of a mace, and this too was made of the same shifting black ooze as the cables.
They held out their hand and waved it, and the black hole instantly vanished.
“Wh- who the hell are you?!” xB spluttered, and Scar gasped.
“My name…is Tanner.” They said in a raspy voice, and then-
They dropped to one knee, bowing their head before xB, still clutching their weapon.
“And we have been awaiting your awakening, Crowned One. It is finally time for you to learn.”