Archive of Our Own

It had started as a completely normal day, Joey was stealing, Shelby evading the witch police, Joel and Jimmy were at eachothers throats. Nothing new was happening, for now at least.

You would assume the story to start with one of the chaotic emperors, but no, it was in fact quite the opposite.

The story started with Pixlriffs, a peaceful archeologist, who had settled in the ruins of an old empire now named "The Ancient Capital" and dedicated his time to studying the story which the lands were shaped from. So far he had revealed a lot. Not only did he discover things, he shared the information with the other empires in order to help them prosper.

With permission from the goblin, FWhip, the archeologist had ventured deep into the underground in search of not treasure –any gold found would go to the goblins, as part of the deal– but things to help with the history of the area.

Pixl wasn’t sure what he had expected. Perhaps catacombs similar to the ones in the ruins, but what he found was beyond anything he could have imagined.

He had been searching the caves, as he found where the end portal resided. Nothing special, as they had already entered the mystical dimension, except this time he would have time to actually search the stronghold. Last time they had been so focused on the portal FWhip had found that they didn’t really look around.

So he made his way through the winding hallways, which seemed more like a maze meant to confuse people more than anything.

The walls were the same boring stone brick, making each turn feel as if he was entering the same hallway he had just been in.

Eventually, one path split into 4 and down one of the hallways, he could see a library.

Library meant information, so without hesitation he walked down and into the giant room, which had two stories. Well, more like there was a downstairs area and then around the outermost area of the room, a balcony style thing with a couple of bookshelves.

The largest area was by far the downstairs. It looked like something straight out of a fairytale book, something Pixlriffs only had read when he was younger, but had lost interest in it as he grew up. But still, the memories of magical libraries were something he thought back to fondly.

Now, Pixl would consider himself an archeologist before a historian. He preserved things and he explored. He was not one to write everything down.

Still, this library could hold the secrets of the universe and Pixlriffs was beyond excited.

He walked around for a little, simply surveying the library on what might catch his interest. And something for sure did, against the far wall from where he entered stood a lectern.

Carefully, he approached it, knowing it could be booby trapped. Upon closer inspection, he found nothing and deemed it safe.

The book was clearly old, its pages worn thanks to time. The cover was blue with a golden trim. There had once been words on the outside, written in gold, but either they were in another language or had been smudged thanks to time. Pixl wasn’t sure at first glance, it was something that would require further investigation.

He didn’t have time to analyze every word held within the pages, but he skimmed it slightly.

It told the story of an empire in the mountains, FWhip was underneath one, Gem was right next to one. Scott had settled on a plateau so his empire was more elevated than others. But none fit the description of an empire on the mountains.

That left only one option; there had been another empire.

That was big news, but it left one question. Why didn’t any of them know about it?

He continued reading, but ultimately there wasn’t too much information. Only that the kingdom had fallen, now buried deep within snow.

You would have thought that an empire in the mountains would be prepared for snow. Something wasn’t adding up with this story.

And Pixlriffs was determined to get to the bottom of it.

- - -

For the next week, Pixlriffs ate, slept and practically lived in the underground library, spending all his time down there. He had set up a small table as a workstation, parchment with notes littered a good portion of it. Lying there were two stacks of books, each containing at least five.

There were empty ink bottles, quills which were no longer usable and definitely some ink stains on the wooden table, from where Pixl had accidentally knocked over one of his inkpots after a late night.

There was also a book in which Pixlriffs had written down everything he had confirmed to be true across multiple sources and not just speculation.

Next to his work station, there was a world map with –to anyone who wasn’t Pixlriffs– seemingly random red markings. There were also a couple of thumbtacks set up to mark certain locations.

And after a couple days of hard work, Pixlriffs had done it.

He had found out the location of Rivendell, the lost empire of the mountains.

And he had only ignored about four dozen messages from his friends being worried about his whereabouts and well being. All in all, a success if you asked him!

There were still a lot of mysteries and unanswered questions, but those questions could not be answered by any book. He would have to travel to Rivendell in order to see it for himself.

Only, while he could make this trip alone, he would at the very least tell the other emperors he was leaving. Well.. and he was planning to invite those who wanted to come along on the adventure.

And so after a couple of long days, he packed up everything he had gathered and made his way back towards the surface.

It felt like forever. Despite having a sleeping bag, you generally don’t sleep well on a stone floor. The things he would do for his job.

He didn’t emerge at the top, instead coming up the lower parts of the cave and into Gobland where FWhip was working on… whatever goblins did in their free time. But once he saw Pixl, he glided down to greet the brunette.

“Did you get any gold?” Of course that was all he would care about. Pixl shook his head. “No, I didn’t find any.”

The goblin huffed. “You ignored all of our messages for days, I’m out of froglights and you didn’t even respond. Oh, Sausage asked me to tell you, he’s out of froglights too.”

Of course the goblin would only care about what business Pixlriffs offered, he wasn’t sure why he expected anything else to be honest.

The archeologist sighed. “I’ll get some more, but I really need to go, I’ll be calling for a meeting soon.”

“Wait, is everything okay?” FWhip asked before Pixl managed to leave.

“I don’t know yet. For now, it’s nothing to worry about, it’s definitely not an emergency.”

The goblin didn’t seem convinced, but still he didn’t say anything as Pixlriffs left the cave. It was far from his home and there was plenty to do after being gone for days.

It took another couple hours before the great bridge came into view, symbolizing his arrival back at the Ancient Capital.

That was one of the things about being him. Yes, he had to worry about trades. But they were all to benefit him, not his empire, not the people he led. He couldn’t imagine being a ruler of people and having so many people counting on him.

That was why he was content with living in the ruins, it never really got cold since it was in a savannah.

Plus, watching the stars in the middle of the night was special. There was no light from civilization, it was just him and the infinite universe.

It was fitting, somehow. His job here within the empires was to tell the story of the world.

Just him and the universe.

- - -

As soon as Pixlriffs reached his base, he crashed into bed to finally get some proper rest on something comfortable. As much as he loved adventuring, there really was nothing like home.

But eventually the sun rose over the savannah and another day of work started. The first thing Pixl did was text the emperor group chat that he was calling for a meeting later the same day and that yes, everyone was required to join. (Directed mostly at Joey, Joel and Oli) He also answered a couple of questions about what was happening.

Mostly he gave vague answers because that was the funniest way to respond.

Next he actually set up for the meeting, just a table and some chairs so they all would be able to sit together and talk.

Fitting 13 people around a table was not as easy as it sounds when one of them is an 11ft god and others can’t sit next to each other. (Joey and Shelby.) But eventually he came to a seating arrangement which he thinks all would be happy about.

Next he took a couple of shulker boxes and headed for the nether. More specifically towards his froglight farm, he filled 2 shulkers with equal amounts of each color which would hopefully satisfy the other emperors long enough for him to go on this trip.

Just as he returned to his home, the first couple of emperors started to arrive, FWhip on his hoglin, Snort, meanwhile Scott flew in with his homemade colorful wings.

He greeted the emperors and showed them towards the table. More and more arrived until everyone was present and seated at the table.

“So, why did you call us all for a meeting Pix?” Scott asked, crossing his arms as he leaned back against the chair.

If he wanted to do this, it needed to be quick because the rulers of empires were like a bunch of 5 year olds, there was no attention span at all before they had moved on to the next topic.

"So, I have found some information and I do not know what to make of it-"

Joel interrupted it. "So that's really what you summoned us here for? You being confused, I was spending time with Hermes."

Other emperors seemed to hold similar opinions, some even getting ready to leave. Pixlriffs only had one option left.

"There was a 14th empire."

Suddenly everyone went quiet as they looked at him in disbelief. And a couple of the people who had been standing sat back down, clearly wanting to hear him out now.

"What, where?" Gem asked. 

"In the mountains, far away from here."

Sausage was the next to ask a question. "Are we in any danger?" The archeologist was quick to shake his head. "No, that's the thing. It was long destroyed, that's why none of us know about it."

"So then, why should we care?" Joey still didn't look interested in anything Pixl had to say, but that was to be expected.

"Well, the stories about what happened to the empire varies a lot. Some say an eternal winter forced everyone to flee. Others say it simply burned down in an accident. I will be heading out to investigate this and the magic that resided in the empire. I want to hear if anyone is interested in joining me."

Shelby perked at the mention of magic, although Scott was the first to answer. "I'll come." It made sense the colorful man would join in considering he had been an adventurer before he had taken on the role of Lord of Chromia.

After that, the witch of the Evermore said she would join as well.

Surprisingly Jimmy spoke up. "I wanna join too." If Pixl had expected anyone to try and stop them, it would be the sheriff, not try and join them. Still he nodded. "Alright, anyone else?"

In the end both Katherine and Sausage said they would join as well.

The rest of the meeting was spent figuring out the details, such as how would the empires be run without their leading figure? 

Gem would temporarily take over both Chromia and Glimmer Grove. (Originally it had just been Glimmer Grove but after Joel offered to look over Chromia Scott had asked the sun princess for help.)

The goblin FWhip would look over tumble town and Sausage would ask his dad, Eddie, to look over Sanctuary.

There weren't really people living in the Evermore or The Ancient Capital, so they would both be fine without their rulers for a short while..

By this point all the emperors who weren’t joining for the adventure were good to go, so they said their goodbyes and good luck for when they left. They all knew it wouldn’t be today, there was still a lot to figure out.

One such thing was clothing, they would be heading into the mountains, known for being extremely cold. While Pixlriffs knew he owned a winter coat, he wasn’t as sure about some of the others, so when he brought up both Jimmy and Katherine had to admit that they, in fact, had no warm clothes.

So they agreed that in a week they would meet back here, that would give Katherine time to sew a jacket for both her and Jimmy, as well as give the emperor's time to prepare and pack everything that was needed.

- - -

If someone who had known Scott since he was a child saw him today, they would say he was a completely different person, maybe not even recognize him at first.

If it was a change for the better or for the worse was up for debate, depending on who you asked.

And if you asked Scott? Well, he would smile at you, before giving a vague answer and switching the topic to something completely different. It was a trick he had gotten very good at, considering the emperors loved any and all gossip. Especially when it came to people's pasts, which was something Scott was very secretive about.

As a child, Scott had grown up with a loving family, he had always been someone who saw the bright side of things, even if they traveled a lot.

But Scott loved the adventures he had with his mom and dad. They got to see the world and by the time he was 7 he had seen the majority of the biomes.

When he was 10, his mom wanted to settle down. His dad did not.

They got divorced and Scott got the option to either stay in an upcoming village known as Chromia with his mom, or continue traveling with his dad.

Some people would say it was a choice Scott shouldn’t have had to make at that age and looking back, Scott would agree. But in the end, he couldn’t imagine his life in only one village, never exploring, never seeing anything new.

So, he went on more adventures with his dad.

Scott wouldn’t say he regretted it. He learned a lot of life lessons during that period in his life.

His dad got sick though and on their last adventure together, Scott's dad would give Scott his signature hat, as a way to pass on his legacy.

From then on, it was Scotts prized possession. A purple fedora with multiple patches of other colors and a feather attached at the side.

Not only that, but he made a name for himself as an adventurer, taking on challenges others would not dare.

It was only to make his dad proud, but he'd never admit that to anyone. He was proud to call himself an adventurer.

For a while, Scott was happy.

But that wasn’t meant to last because he would hear of a skull with 2 giant gems for eyes hidden deep within a temple, surrounded by traps. Something people had died trying and failing to get.

And Scott was never one to turn down a challenge, that had been the worst mistake he would ever make.

He barely got the treasure, almost dying multiple times, but in the end he got the skull. Only problem was, it only had one giant pink gem for an eye. The other was missing. But he had risked his life and that was not about to go to waste.

So he left with it and took it to the camp he had set up outside, inspecting it. It really was a treasure. The gem was giant, definitely worth a lot if you found the right buyers.

But the sun had long set and Scott was tired, so all of that could wait until the morning.

When he woke up in the morning his vision was weird, everything was blurry.

It wasn’t normal.

Scott had freaked out back then. In the current times, he sometimes still would when he had nightmares.

That day, Scott lost an eye and the skull would have a new cyan gem. The same color of Scott's eye, in the slot that had been missing one.

After that, he was never quite the same. 

He stopped adventuring. What once made him feel connected with the dad he had looked up to for so long was gone overnight.

He still didn't settle down.

For 3 years he spent day and night looking (no pun intended) for a way to get his vision back.

When he ran into a wizard who could give him his eye back, just for the cost of the skull that had caused Scott nothing but pain, he accepted immediately.

Scott went to sleep and when he woke up the wizard was gone, but his vision was back.

When he saw his reflection a yellow eye stared back at him. It wasn't his eye, but it was an eye and that was better than nothing.

The yellow eye gave him the ability to see magic.

Scott still couldn't feel the same about adventuring.

He was scared.

It didn't feel right to be scared of it, but it had almost cost him everything.

That's when he, years after losing contact with his mom, returned to where he had last seen her, Chromia.

A now prospering, colorful city.

He moved in and on the first day as he was getting everything set up, he got a knock on his door.

It was the Lady that led the town, which came to welcome him.

His mom.

There were lots of tears and questions that day.

When his mom died, Scott took her place, rising to become Lord of Chromia.

No longer the happy go lucky child, he was now in charge of the lives of people. And he would not fail.

He had zoned out staring in the mirror but he focused back on the task at hand.

Scott checked over his bag one more time to see if he had everything. A sleeping bag? Check. Some easy food that won't go bad? Also yes. He also had a lighter so he could start a fire if it was needed.

It should be a short trip. Probably not even a week, which wasn’t that long compared to what he had been used to back in the day, before he had settled down.

Gem and him had worked everything out a couple of days ago, but really, Chromia should mostly be fine to run itself. Plus Owen was there. Some people would say he couldn’t lead an empire because he was a llama, Scott would disagree.

He looked in the mirror, wearing no makeup for once, as he tied his jacket around his waist. It was still hot and it would only be warmer in the savannah, there was no reason to sweat.

He put his bag on and left the house, making sure to lock the door behind him. Wouldn’t want any pirates going through his stuff.

Checking his rockets one last time, to see that he did have enough for the entire trip. But even if he didn’t, he wouldn’t be surprised if Jimmy brought extra.

The only thing left to do was say goodbye to his llamas. He started with the ones in the park, then said goodbye to Owen last, who spat at him. He wasn’t sure if it was because he said he missed Scott, or if it was a “fuck you for leaving me.” Either way, Scott made sure to leave extra hay for him.

Once that was done, Scott set off for the Ancient Capital. It was a little later in the morning than he would have liked, but it would probably be fine anyways.

In the end he wasn’t the last to arrive, the only person missing was Jimmy.

Pixl was looking over a world map as Shelby and Katherine spoke about something, the princess holding two winter jackets.

As soon as Scott landed, Sausage bounced over to greet him. “Scott! Hi!” He said, clearly excited. “Ah, there’s my wood daddy.” Scott replied with a grin making both of them chuckle.

Soon enough, the sheriff landed too. And so they were all gathered.

The archeologist took the map into his bag as he explained that it would be a two day journey to the mountains and that the weather was looking fine so it may even be quicker.

They were quick to set off once they all had arrived, wasting no time on what already was quite the journey for those who weren’t used to traveling. They all followed Pixlriffs as he knew where they were going.

For a while, they bantered, talking about their empires, or what they had been up to for the past while. But even after that, the conversation died out rather quickly leaving them to fly in silence.

No one spoke until some time during the early evening when they decided they were all hungry and that it was time for some dinner. Well, it was a little early for dinner, but none of them had eaten lunch wanting to get as far as possible.

While Scott and Shelby started a campfire, Sausage and Jimmy went out hunting for some food, sure they brought their own, but there won't be a lot of food in the mountains so the little bit they did bring should be saved for that.

Pixl took out the map once more, trying to locate where exactly they were right now. Katherine, well she was mostly there to encourage them right now.

Yeah, she may be a badass warrior princess, but that was only towards monsters, not animals. And she had no idea how to start a fire.

A little while later, Jimmy and Sausage returned with a cow and some rabbit for them to eat, Sausage would make a joke about the sheriff being a toy that they all would laugh at except Jimmy who would yell out how it was disrespect of the law.

Eventually, poking fun at Jimmy ended as well. But Scott didn’t let the conversation die out this time. Instead, he wanted to know exactly what he was getting into.

“So, what is so special about this empire?” The colorful man asked as Sausage put the meat on the campfire and they all sat down around it.

The archeologist looked up from his map, responding as he rolled it back up. “Well, I’m interested in what happened to it, also perhaps what happened to the ruler.”

“The ruler? What’s so special about him?” Sausage asked.

“Well, based on what I could find, it was a standard monarchy. But the youngest prince was made king, why?” 

Katherines eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “That doesn’t make sense.”

Pixl shook his head. “You’re right, it doesn’t. I believe it may have something to do with the ‘Clash of The Stags’.”

Okay, this entire thing just got a thousand times more confusing to Scott. He had barely any idea what Pixl had just said.

“Clash of the what?” Jimmy asked and Scott was thankful that he wasn’t the only one confused.

“Stags. Anyway, to try and sum it up. In the culture of this empire there were 2 gods they believed in, a good one and an evil one. Every couple thousand years these gods would choose someone to continue the battle."

Scott was never one to believe in gods, so it all sounded very fishy to him. Of course there were things he didn't know considering this was a summed up version. But still, Scott didn't believe in this fairytale. 

Shelby seemed to also not quite believe the tale. "How would a myth affect who became king?"

Pixl rubbed the back of his neck. "That's the thing, I don't know yet. But it feels as if a piece of the puzzle is missing."

Sausage put a comforting hand on Pixls shoulder. "You'll figure it out- Oh! The food is done." Scott smiled fondly as they began distributing the food.

This part of adventures he had never experienced before. The laughing, joking, other people around. It was nice.

He did not regret coming along.

Eventually they all finished, Scott put out the fire and they took to the skies once more.

While they could have settled down for the night, they wanted to get as far as possible.

So even after the sun had gone down, they continued for another hour or so, at least they kept flying until it was too dark for it to be safe and Jimmy had almost crashed multiple times.

They touched down in a spruce forest. Scott took the lead, as he was the one most experienced with finding good sleeping spots.

Inside the forest they could hear the rattling of bones, groans of zombies and the occasional spider making its way through fallen leaves.

Katherine held her battle axe tightly, Sausage seemed to be in a similar position as he held his shield in one hand and the other hovered over where he had his sword sheathed.

If it had only been Scott, they would have been silent, years of experience making sure the monsters hiding in the dark would not even hear him.

The others weren't as knowledgeable.

After a couple of fights where no one was too badly injured, a couple of cuts, scrapes and bruises they found a cave they settled in.

Katherine would take the first shift keeping an eye out for mobs as the others rolled out their sleeping bags and settled in for the night.

It was cold in the cave, but the light of a campfire would just have attracted more attention.

Scott wasn't sure how long he laid awake, it couldn’t have been too long. But Shelby and Jimmy both slept almost immediately.

Eventually, Scott fell asleep knowing he was safe, the sounds of his friends around him.

—

Scott didn't wake up until someone was gently shaking him awake.

"Scott," the voice gently coaxed. "You need to wake up, Sausage made breakfast."

The blue haired man wanted nothing more than to take his pillow and hit the owner of the voice, he didn't, but the urge was there.

Instead he slowly opened his eyes to see Jimmy staring down at him.

Scotts voice was raspy as he greeted Jimmy. "Good morning." And the sheriff beamed back. "Hello!"

He sat up and could see Shelby waking Katherine.

While his sleeping bag wasn't necessarily warm, it was a thousand times better than the cold stone floor of the cave.

Still, he got out and rolled it back before stuffing it into his bag, which he hoisted up on one shoulder.

He followed Jimmy out of the cave. Just outside, Sausage was crouched down next to a campfire, with a pot of some kind on it. He was stirring the contents of said pot.

A little away from Sausage sat Pixl, with a bowl he was eating out of.

As soon as the two saw Scott and Jimmy they perked up. "Good morning! Did you sleep well?" Sausage asked and Scott could only shrug in response. "As good as you can sleep on freezing stone."

The Guardian of Sanctuary hummed as he picked up one bowl and filled it with what looked to be soup of some kind.

He handed the bowl to Jimmy who thanked him and sat down opposite Pixl. Scott laughed as the sheriff got the smoke from the campfire in his face.

Then Sausage handed Scott 2 bowls, one with soup and the other with water.

"Well, even if you didn't sleep well, hopefully some good cooking from good ol' Sausage should help."

Scott took a small sip of the water. "Thanks Sausage."

The brunette just smiled in response, letting Scott sit down next to Pixl who was currently looking to be very entertained by Jimmys predicament with the smoke.

Scott took a small sip of the soup, it was with mushrooms and small bits of meat in there. It was actually really good.

He should ask Sausage to cook for him more.

Just as Scott took another sip, Shelby and Katherine finally emerged from the cave and they were quickly to get some food and something to drink too.

Only when they had sat down on a log to the right of where Scott and Pixl was sitting did Sausage take his own portion and sat next to the blue haired man.

Pixl filled his bowl again as Sausage asked Katherine how she had slept.

The conversation was light and easy going, they all knew they probably wouldn’t be eating for the next while so they made sure to get plenty of the soup.

Eventually though they knew it was time to go as they put out the fire and once again they fired rockets flying into the air. Getting off the ground was always the hardest and the trees surrounding them did nothing to help.

But eventually they did make it over the tree tops and their adventure could officially continue.

Scott liked the feeling of flying, it gave him a feeling of freedom and while the feeling of air whipping against his face was something he had to adjust to, once he had gotten used to it, the good of flying outweighed the bad.

This was the first time he was on an adventure where he was flying instead of riding horses, walking or using some other method of transport.

What he had learnt from this? Flying long distances were not as fun as just gliding between builds or a couple of minutes between empires.

By noon his back was starting to ache due to the artificial wings.

But it was also by noon that far, far in the distance some mountains were raised high.

The mountains were the tallest Scott had ever seen, the ones next to Dawn looked like simple hills next to these. 

The highest peak seemed to reach high above the clouds.

While they were still far away, the mountains practically only an outline against the blue sky, Scott knew they had reached their destination.

That these mountains were the ones they had been looking for.

The temperature was also beginning to drop and the wind was getting much stronger.

As they grew closer as the hours passed it got harder and harder to fly. They had to take a quick break.

Both because flying was getting difficult and it was getting cold. They needed to put on their winter jackets, which meant readjusting the leather straps of the elytra to better fit on top of the thick jacket.

Some of them needed a little help, but it was fine. Scott was more than happy to assist in checking that the wings weren't too loose.

Once they had done that, they took a quick test fly. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary so they all continued towards the mountains.

Scott was a pretty average flier. He wouldn't crash just randomly. And his landings were decent. Sure, he wasn't the fastest and sharp turns were still difficult. But he usually got where he needed to without much problem.

Only this was far from home and he hadn’t trained in wind like this.

So when the wind forced his elytra to close he tried to open it, he really, really tried to. But the wind kept it tightly shut as he barrelled towards the ground at high speeds.

A soundless scream escaped him, or maybe he did scream. Maybe his voice was carried by the wind. Did it matter? The only thing there was to cushion the fall was the trees his elytra got stuck in and ripped.

He fell through the branches, which stopped his momentum slightly. Shortly after, he hit the ground, his arm hurt and he was disoriented.

Scott had been flying in the middle of the group, someone must have seen the fall. That didn't stop him from thinking that they were going to leave him here and he would respawn. He would much rather walk home with a broken arm than go through the pain of respawning.

He heard someone gliding towards him as he tried to sit up, the world was spinning, his body ached from the fall.

The spinning vision was making him nauseous so he just closed his eyes. Even then, he heard someone land near him, followed by someone else and another. In fact, there were multiple people landing and someone half crashing that was definitely Jimmy.

Scott chuckled at the idea of Jimmy face planting into a tree.

“Oh god he’s delirious!” Scott heard Sausage exclaim.

There was the sound of someone moving before Scott felt a presence next to him. “Scott, are you okay? What happened?” Someone in front of him asked.

He slowly blinked to try and adjust to the light, his vision wasn’t spinning as much anymore which he saw as a win. Turns out it was Pixlriffs who had asked him.

The blue haired man simply shrugged, trying to ignore the pain going through his arm at the movement. “Wind knocked me off balance I guess.”

Jimmy was the one next to him, clearly looking worried. “Do you need to head back? Traveling on foot may take a while but it’s better than injuring yourself further.”

If there was one thing that Scott was, it was stubborn. “I’ll be fine. I can continue, just give me a moment for the world to stop spinning completely.”

“That sounds like you might have a concussion, Scott.” Katherine pointed out. 

Scott deadpanned at her. “That’s not that bad.”

Shelby gently, as to not injure him further, hit him over the back of his head. “You’re lucky I brought health potions. A concussion is still bad.”

“We both know I have had way worse.”

He stared at Shelby, trying to ignore the weird stares he got from the others.

It wasn’t often someone got seriously injured within the empires and even if they did, they couldn’t hide it for long. So this was definitely concerning. But also it wasn’t the others place to pry about personal information.

“Okay, okay fair.” She said, pulling a healing potion out of her bag and handing it to Scott. “It should take effect soon, but I don’t have that many of them, so don’t go randomly getting hurt.”

Scott gratefully took it. The taste of golden melon was sweet compared to most other potions, which he was grateful for. He would rather not have the salty taste of a regeneration potion stuck in his mouth.

He relaxed for a moment as the potion quickly started to take effect, the pain in his arm which had been unbearable becoming nothing but an ache. It wasn’t nice and would definitely bruise and be sore later, but it was better than constant pain.

Scott tried to stand, still a little disoriented. 

He would rather die than admit that Jimmy helped him get up.

Once Scott could walk on his own, they decided it would be for the better if the walked the rest of the way there, not wanting another accident like the one Scott had (he was still hella sore and complaining under his breath for things he normally could do no problem) and also the fact that his elytra was really broken and they didn’t have the stuff on them for Scott to fix it.

The flight to the edge of the mountains would have taken 5 minutes, maybe 10 thanks to the wind. But by foot it took them around 30 minutes, before they reached the base of the mountains.

There really was no option but to start climbing. No matter how little they wanted to. The ascend was easier than expected at first. The floor was made purely from stone and with enough time and patience, they all safely made it up at a decent pace.

The problem came with the wind.

Scott could barely hear anyone and every time he tried to look for them, the wind would hit his face, making his eyes tear up thanks to how dry they became.

Yeah, this part of the trip was not the most fun.

Climbing the mountain was tedious, not to mention dangerous. On multiple parts the stone was more like gravel, where with every step they took a couple of rocks fell down, which only served to remind them of just how far up they were.

For most of them it wasn’t too bad, if they were to fall they could simply use their elytras to glide down.

Scott didn’t have that safety and they all knew it, so despite his protests that he could manage just fine on his own thank you, they took great care in making sure he got help if he needed.

Eventually the stone and gravel turns to snow and before they know it they’re standing between two of the higher peaks on the mountain.

And there in the distance they can see something which stands out amongst the natural terrain of the mountains.

“What is that?” Jimmy asks, trailing off as he tries to narrow his eyes to get a better look at what it is. 

No one seems to answer his question at first, well, until Shelby perks up. “Oh, I know what it is! It’s a wizard tower but it looks… Destroyed.”

Destroyed was a nice word for it, Scott was surprised she could even recognize it considering how a wall had fallen down and the roof caved in. Plants, vines specifically, although an odd color seemed to have been growing up the walls (Scott wondered how many plants survived this weather). Part of it looked charred, as if a fire had taken it down.

What once must have been the interior was now scattered all around it, although it was mostly covered by snow, only just peeking through it.

But that didn’t seem to be the focus of Pixlriffs. “So Rivendell is real.”

“Seems that way.” Scott said, although he was more captivated by what was just behind the tower, it seems to be the remains of a town. Or, well, empire.

He could imagine it already from here, the beauty of once was. But also this place was huge, he could tell from where he was standing. 

It may even be bigger than Stratos.

How did a place like this fall?

Sausage was the first to move towards the place, then Katherine and Shelby followed. Scott didn’t move until Jimmy's hand gently laid on his uninjured shoulder in order to lead him forward.

Now that they knew where they were headed more exactly than just some mountain range, the task seemed less tedious. In fact there was a bit of a jump in Shelbys step as she happily chatted with Katherine.

Pixl was just sort of doing his own thing, although he did look very enthusiastic to explore the place more.

Meanwhile Scott, Jimmy and Sausage were talking about what they would do while in Rivendell, what was their goal there?

Scott was, unsurprisingly, after treasure. Anyone who knew him would know that any challenge and adventure was something he would enjoy.

Jimmy and Sausage meanwhile didn’t have any clear goals. They just really wanted to tag along for the sake of it.

When they passed the tower Shelby stopped for a moment, however considering she was in the front everyone noticed, especially when Pixl almost bumped into the witch.

“Shelby? Is everything alright?” Sausage questioned, she looked back at the group as if surprised they were still there.

She hesitated for a moment before responding. “The magic here is incredibly powerful… What happened here?”

She looked at Scott for a moment, as if asking him a question. He somewhat understood. “Do you see anything?” She was trying to ask.

Scott could see magic in the form of a magic glow only he could see. But here there was nothing.

Nowhere a magic glow was to be seen.

He climbed the rubble left from the wall that had fallen and briefly looked inside the tower. There really wasn’t anything glowing. He dug slightly through the snow and deep in there he found a small green piece of crystal.

It had clearly once been a piece of a bigger one, how big? Scott couldn’t know.

The piece wasn’t glowing. He would compare it to a fire, once burning bright now nothing but embers.

It wasn’t glowing but there was a little shine, it was faint and Scott had to strain to see it. The full crystal must have been powerful. Now not as much. It was a wonder if this was what Shelby was sensing considering how weak it was.

“Scott?” Katherine called from outside the tower making realize he might have been studying the crystal piece for a little too long. However there was nothing else interesting to look at, so he decided to climb out again.

Shelby looked at him expectantly.

He pulled out the crystal and handed it to her. “I see nothing.” He said and it was basically the truth.

Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion as she studied the green gem. “Well it’s coming from the village. It’s strong. Very much so.”

He looked back towards the town half buried in snow. He carefully looked across the place from their vantage point. He could see multiple collapsed buildings.

“What are we looking for?” Sausage asked, to which Shelby hushed him.

Scott could feel someone, or someone's staring at him by the way the hairs on the back of his neck stood up.

“I don’t see anything. Maybe it’s just out of my view?” He offered Shelby who just shrugged in response.

“Well, whatever it is you’re looking for, maybe you should search for it tomorrow? It’s getting late and I don’t want to be stuck here for the night,” Pixlriffs said to which everyone agreed.

Once again they began walking, although all of them were now quiet and alert for whatever had caused the powerful magic.

Nothing showed though and eventually the sun began to set. By the time they reached the town they couldn’t see anything.

Everything was destroyed though, that much they could tell. How bad the damages were though no one knew. 

They found a collapsed building. It was hard to tell how bad the damages were in the dark but it was shelter from the wind and it seemed like there was no snow in here so it worked just fine.

They set up a campfire this time because it was so cold. There really weren't any monsters here from what they could see plus it was way colder here than in the forest.

Scott decided he would take the first shift of keeping watch as he settled next to the campfire. But he could tell others wanted to argue about why it was a bad idea and how he was still injured.

He wouldn't listen of course.

He heard the others go further into the broken house as well as the sound of zippers from bags and sleeping bags as they went to sleep.

The night was cold, Scott was really glad they decided to make the campfire.

In the distance he could hear the sounds of owl hooting.

A small part of him wondered if they were saying anything. Probably not considering animals weren't that smart but still, it was an entertaining thought.

And Scott definitely needed entertainment right now considering how bored he was.

Eventually though, it reached past midnight and Scott could find himself getting tired. His eyes were drooping and on multiple occasions he almost fell asleep his head lolling forward until he snapped himself up and awake.

After a while of this the colorful man had to admit defeat and went over to where Jimmy was resting and shook him awake saying how it was time that they switched.

Jimmy sat up groggily but once he had blinked the sleep out of his eyes and was a little more awake he nodded and got out of his sleeping bag, although he brought it with him to the campfire where he sat down and got comfortable.

Even in the dark Scott could feel Jimmy's eyes on him.

The feeling never left, not even as Scott finally pulled out his own sleeping bag and got comfortable. Well, as comfortable as you can get.

Before he could fall asleep he heard the sheriff's voice. "Hey, Scott?" The voice was quiet, clearly trying not to wake anyone.

He just hummed in response.

"What did Shelby mean when she asked if you could see anything?" Of course Jimmy would be the one to ask about it.

Scott didn't have an answer though. Well, not fully.

The best he could give was something vague and he did. "I can-" he hesitated. Was he really about to give his biggest secret to Jimmy of all people?

It wasn’t a secret because Scott wanted to keep it from them. It was simply because he hated that side of him.

The heterochromatic eyes so many found special and admirable Scott hated. Because he had lost, wasted years of his life because of it.

And every time he saw his reflection it was just a reminder of everything he had lost because of one adventure.

Scott took a deep breath. "It's complicated."

Jimmy seemed confused, maybe worried, but nodded along anyway. "We're all here for you."

Scott stared up at the stars before whispering a small. "Thank you."

No more words were exchanged between them. Scott just wanted to sleep and Jimmy sat pondering what Scotts big secret could be.

- - -

When the sun eventually rose into the sky the sun was shining directly on them and slowly they woke up, all around the same time. 

Scott sat up in the sleeping bag and already felt cold. He immediately dug into his bag and took out a thick colorblock hoodie he put on. Others seemed to not want to get out of the comfortable warmth either.

Scott grabbed some bread and beef jerky from his bag. As he began eating it, he could finally get a proper look at the house.

The walls were black and charred. He ran one of his hands across the one next to him and beneath all the soot was a white wall, made of what looked to be concrete.

There were spruce pillars which had clearly once been supported. Now they weren't anymore, considering the majority of the roof was gone.

In the back of the house were chests, knocked over, yet somehow still intact. The contents were spilled out over the foundation that had been under the floor.

Now, that finally caught his attention. It gave him enough motivation to roll together his sleeping back once he got out and put on his jacket.

It was all junk, useless items with cobwebs on them. Scott had hoped for treasure. The bits of building materials and common things found in households was not it.

The others were watching him with curiosity as they ate.

“Finding anything good?” Jimmy asked and Scott shook his head. “Nope. Just a bunch of junk, I think we should look around the town though.”

They all agreed as they rolled up their sleeping bags, hoping to explore everything before noon so they could head home soon.

“Should we split up and cover more ground?” Scott offered, but Sausage was quick to deny the offer. “Splitting up is never a good idea, have you ever watched a horror movie? We're literally in an abandoned empire. It could be haunted for all we know.”

He only rolled his eyes in response but agreed anyway. “Fine, what way do we wanna go?”

Most of them didn’t have a preference, except Pixlriffs, “Can we head further into town? I want to see the other buildings.”

No one had any objections so they agreed. As they walked Pixl kept taking notes, Jimmy Katherine and Sausage were all clearly alert for anything they might find.

Meanwhile Scott and Shelby took up the back of the group. “Still not seeing anything?” The witch asked and Scott just shook his head. “No, nothing. Are you sure there’s magic here at all?”

“Without a doubt.”

The colorful man nodded. “I’ll keep my eye out then.”

Their attention was snapped back when Pixlriffs had stopped at the front of the group.

“Is everything alright?” Sausage asked and the archeologist just hummed, muttering under his breath.

Pixl pointed from one house a bit away to their left to one on the right. “Look at the distance between the houses. Even if one house caught on fire the place has clearly been planned for that so it wouldn’t spread… The empire can’t just have been lost to some accident with fire.”

Scott knew what that meant, he could see in the others eyes, they all did. Something really, really bad had happened here.

They continued exploring, both inside and outside of houses although there really were no points of interest.

They passed a stone statue, once it might have been mighty, not so much. Vines were growing over it, from where the body of a stag had crumbled, its head was no longer attached to the body and the antlers could barely be seen at this point.

They all stared at it for a while. 

“It feels wrong somehow. Knowing that people once had a home here and now it’s like this. What happened to their emperor? Where were they when this happened?”

Of course Sausage would be the one to worry about all that, but to some degree, Scott had to agree that it felt wrong standing here in what had once been someone's home.

Sure, Scott had been a looter, collecting treasure. But that was from temples and other stuff similar to those. Not peoples houses.

The house next to the statue was by far the biggest they had seen so far. And Scott was one of the first people inside.

It once had multiple floors and even now they were some-what standing. Even if the wooden staircase at the center of the room was rotted, Scott knew his way around that from years of training.

He knew just from looking exactly where to step and which ones to avoid.

The others, not so much.

“Scott.” Jimmy dragged out making the blue haired man turn around. “Help me.”

Unsurprisingly, Jimmy had a foot stuck in the floor making Scott laugh, clutching his stomach tightly as Jimmy blabbered something about it not being funny, only causing Scott to laugh harder.

Scott did not stop laughing as Sausage tried to help Jimmy, only for Jimmy to fall even more through the floor.

Breathing was a thing though and Scott was not doing that. In fact, he was actually crying because he was laughing so hard at Jimmy's misfortune.

It took a while for the colorful man to actually calm down enough to help, still giggling as he got Jimmy out of his predicament, with the help of Sausage.

In Scotts defense, it was really funny watching the guy who sued a god be defeated by a wooden staircase.

Eventually, all three of them were at the top while Katherine, Shelby and Pixl took the downstairs area.

There were chests lining the walls, immediately catching their interest. Now, was it the right thing to steal in front of the sheriff? No.

Did Scott care? Also no.

He was never one to listen to the law before and he sure as hell would not start now, thank you very much.

What was Jimmy gonna do? Arrest him now and walk all the way back to tumbletown? Or wait until they were back at the empires and arrest him with no proof?

Also, this was technically out of Jimmy's jurisdiction. 

Yeah, Scott had a lot of arguments for why he was in the right and the sheriff in the wrong.

Plus, it was just funny when Jimmy was mad.

He checked the first chests. They were dusty as hell, spiders having made the place their home, filling it with cobwebs in the process.

Plus from what Scott could see it was all just building blocks, maybe some iron or gold here and there. Nothing he couldn’t get at home.

He did take the gold and some of the cobweb, since he could use that to repair his elytra before they left. It would make the trip home a lot easier if he could fly.

He put the items into the satchel he always carried around, but that’s when Sausage's voice got his attention. “Guys! Come look at this!”

That caused Scott to turn around. The Guardian of Sanctuary seemed to have found an outfit of whoever once had lived here. It was rather dirty, but still in good condition.

The outfit in question was a robe with multiple layers, a white coat with blue undershirt and a golden trim around it. It looked warm, which would make sense considering the mountains they were in. Not only that- “It looks regal.” Scott wasn’t even sure where that came from, but it was the best way to explain it.

“Whoever lived here was definitely rich.” Sausage agreed. 

But Jimmy chuckled. “It looks to be your size Scott.”

The sheriff actually had a point, it did look to be something Scott could wear. Of course he wouldn’t wear a dead guys clothes. He wasn’t False. But it was odd how much it seemed like it could have been tailor made for him.

Scott pushed the thought away. Whoever had lived here was probably just of similar build and height of Scott, that wasn’t that far fetched.

Although, the cyan haired man was the first to notice the pockets in the outfit as he went to inspect it a little closer. Inside one of them, he found something. 

Both Jimmy and Sausage looked confused as Scott pulled what looked to be a gold chain necklace out of the pocket. There was an attachment at the end of it.

“Pendant is missing.” Scott noted. Clearly there had been something, diamond, crystal, it could have been anything. But it wasn’t there anymore.

But why would someone take just the attachment and nothing else?

Scott put it into his bag, whatever the history, it was his now.

“Did you really just steal in front of me?” Jimmy asked, making Scott chuckle. “Yep.”

“Wha- that’s against the law!” The sheriff exclaimed.

“So? Do I look like I care?”

Jimmy blabbered something as Scott made his way down the stairs, “You can’t just not care about the law.”

As the cyan haired man reached the bottom floor, he turned around to face Jimmy. “Oh yeah? Watch me.”

The group met back at the front door, Scott and Jimmy still bickering with occasional input from Sausage.

There was a lot of confusion when Katherine, Shelby and Pixl joined them, but once Sausage had explained what was going on, the archeologist joined Jimmy's side arguing that “Treasures should be preserved, not stolen.”

Scott stuck his tongue out in return.

Despite all that, the other group had found a banner that must once have represented the empire. It was blue at the bottom and faded to white at the top, with a golden stag symbol in the center of it.

They continued down the path. They had no clue where they were going, but wasn’t that the fun of it?

This time Shelby took the lead, as she steered off the path and up a hill for a vantage point.

She stopped, her eyes widening at whatever was at the bottom of the hill.

Everyone else seemed to be in similar states of shock.

Scott wasn’t sure what was going on until he too could see down into the valley.

There were these tentacle looking things, although they were lying dead on the ground. But they were massive.

The tentacles looked to be surrounding a giant ice skating rink, it wasn’t that though. Scott knew it. What that giant ice circle was surrounding could have been an arena. It was made of magic.

“This is it.” Scott said, still looking at the glowing symbol of a stag in the ice, which only he could see. The same symbol he had seen just a couple of minutes prior on the banner.

“Scott?” Pixl questioned.

“What Shelby has been feeling. This is it.” He said again. Shelby nodded, not even asking him anything. The others shot him looks of confusion.

Not that Scott cared.

He started making his way down the hill.

He hesitated by the border of the ice. It could be a trap, it could set something off, he could lose another-

Deep breaths. He needed to stay calm and level headed.

The others were close behind and when he hesitated by the border, they stepped out onto the ice before him. He almost yelled out to stop them, almost.

He doesn’t.

It would be childish and stupid.

They’re fine too. Nothing happens, except.. 

They all pause. This isn’t normal. Something isn’t right.

They’re not in any pain, but they’re staring into the ice.

Katherine hesitates, but is the first to speak. “What happened?” Her voice is quiet.

“I don’t know.” Sausage quietly responds as Scotts curiosity gets the better of him and he finally climbs onto the ice.

Scott stares into the ice, unsure how to feel as a face stares back at him. The face isn’t human. It’s twisted, corrupted somehow. A demon of sorts is what Scott would assume, if he were to make an educated guess.

The demon could be hundreds, if not thousands of years old. The ice encasing it preserved its body.

It was kind of unsettling.

The creature's mouth seemed to be open in what could easily be assumed to be a scream (maybe in pain during its final moments?) and it’s reaching towards the center of the circle. (Scott assumes it used to be an arena of sorts.)

No one could have seen it coming, or stop what was about to happen.

They would all regret it though.

Scott had been the first to snap out of the trance of just staring at the demon and he walked towards the center, to where the demon had been reaching for.

They would regret not stopping him.

The walk to the center took a couple of seconds, it was a big thing and Scott kept almost slipping on the ice.

At first the figure in the ice had been blurry, but something, someone was definitely encased in the ice, just like the demon.

There was something in their stomach but it was hard for Scott to see. Before he saw the face he called out to the others, telling them to come over to him.

Finally he reached just on top of the figure - it felt wrong to be standing on someone dead (they were dead, their clothes were so bloody, oh god why was there so much blood?) but it was the best way to get a look at the face of the person.

No one had expected that Scott would be face to face with someone who looked exactly like him. There were a couple of differences, but their faces were practically the same.

It was like staring into a mirror.

Scott screamed, scrambling away from whoever it was. He didn’t get far before he slipped on the ice and stayed there while his hands froze. He emptied his stomach onto the ice.

Katherine and Shelby walked directly towards him instead of the center, Shelby holding his hair out of his face as Katherine rubbed soothing circles into his back as he continued vomiting.

Jimmy, Sausage and Pixlriffs meanwhile went to see what Scott had gotten so scared (upset?) over.

And the sheriff had to look in Scotts direction to make sure that yes, he was really alive and not the man in the ice.

There were a few differences. The person in the ice had sharp elven-like ears. And both of his eyes were a light blue (although now faded with death,) compared to Scotts cyan and yellow eyes.

Other than that, they were carbon copies of each other, right down to the bright blue hair.

Jimmy felt as if he might just join Scott in losing everything he had eaten that day.

He stared at the corpse and could only see his friend's face.

Needless to say, Jimmy tried to look everywhere but at the face. Only then did he notice the blade sticking out of the elfs stomach.

No one said anything and it seemed as if the wind had stopped moving all together. There was just silence, no one knew how to start a conversation after seeing this.

Scott, surprisingly, was the first to speak. “Can I go back to the camp?” His voice was quiet and hoarse.

Katherine nodded, “Of course, I’ll go with you. Come on Scott.”

The warrior princess supported the colorful Lord, as she led him away and back to where they had settled for the night.

Shelby seemed lost for what to do, so she joined the other group. 

She gasped when she looked into the ice. “Is that Scott?”

Sausage shrugged. “At least they look a hell of a lot like him- what do we do?”

Pixlriffs had always been one of the more level headed leaders, which was also the reason why he had been the one entrusted with the Ancient Capital. He was less impulsive than anyone else and tried to think ahead instead of in the moment. So really, it was no surprise when he was the one to take charge.

What was a surprise was the suggestion he had. “Maybe we should try and get him out of the ice?”

It was a stupid plan, but maybe it would give answers. And they could give the Scott look alike a proper burial, even if nothing else was to come from it.

They only began asking questions after they had taken the first swing into the ice, of course careful not to damage the body.

The first day there wasn't much progress to be made, Jimmy and Pixl slowly chipping away at the ice (it’s much stronger than ice should be.) and Sausage is heating it up, trying to melt it with a lamp.

Shelby went to check in with Scott and Katherine, warning them that they should be very careful, as they had no idea what they were dealing with.

Meanwhile Scott was doing as well as you can expect. Katherine had coaxed him to drink a little water, other than that, he had mostly been disassociated. Not that anyone could blame him.

The two girls were talking, trying to include Scott into the conversation. He wasn’t responding much, but he wasn't completely silent either. 

They had long since started a campfire and Scott had settled next to it with a blanket wrapped around him. 

It wasn't until it was too dark to work anymore that the others returned. Pixl tried to give Scott space, but the other two did not get the hint and sat down next to him.

“How are you feeling?”

Jimmy's voice was gentle, as if he was talking to a scared animal. And Scott might as well be one right now. He doesn’t fully snap out of the state that he’s in, but he gives a little shrug and whispers a response a little too quiet for anyone to hear. That’s better than anything they'd gotten for a while.

They made dinner next to Scott, hoping that the smell of food would help ground him back to reality.

“Thank you.” Scott said quietly as he’s given the food.

He doesn’t snap back all at once, it comes slowly as he grows more aware. A part of him hadn’t even realized it had gotten dark.

He tried to be a part of the conversation, he really did. It was hard to focus on the words and sometimes he zoned out. But the others were patient.

When Scott was finally back with them almost fully, it’s close to midnight.

None of them feel like sleeping though.

“Have you found out anything about the guy?”

Scott asks. He isn’t sure he wants the answer, but it’s too late to go back now because Sausage exclaims, “He was the king!”

“We think so, he has a crown but we can’t confirm anything right now. I want to study it more closely.” Pixlriffs corrected.

Scott nods. He’s quiet for a while, it feels like everyone is expecting him to say something. “It’s scary how much he looks like me.” Is all he can think of.

Before he can protest, Jimmy is there hugging him. “You’re not though, we- I wouldn’t let anything like that happen to you.”

Sausage smiles before adding. “Yeah! You’ll be okay, we will make it back home just fine as soon as we have answers.”

Scott pulled Sausage into the hug as well. “Thank you.”

As much as he didn’t want to sleep, his friends were surprisingly warm and he was so, so tired mentally that he drifted off before he knew what was happening.

- - -

You would have expected for Scott to wake up screaming, crying having had a nightmare about seeing his own lifeless face. But no, he had almost forgotten about that until he woke up still sandwiched in between Sausage and Jimmy.

While the sheriff was asleep, the other was not so much.

Sausage must have felt Scott stir, because he quietly said Scotts name. The colorful man hummed in response.

“How much information do you want us to tell you- if we find anything that is?”

That was actually a good question. If it was something Scott wouldn’t like to hear, because it could hurt. But not having answers of why they were so similar would hurt more, at least if there were answers and his friends would never look at him the same way again and he would never understand why.

“Everything, it’s- I’m so confused Sausage and I don’t like it.”

“I know, I understand how you feel-” Scott wanted to ask questions, but before he could, Sausage continued, “-I keep having these flashes, memories or something. I don’t know, they aren’t my memories, I think, but there’s this person, a girl, I knew her, I must have. I just don't remember.”

Scott hummed, that was a lot to unpack and he wasn’t sure what to say. “I’m sorry, that you have to deal with that.”

“Same to you, also why I want to help you find answers.”

“I appreciate that… Truly, thank you Sausage.”

“You’re welcome.”

They didn’t need to say anything else, they just existed until the others woke up.

They invited Scott to come and work with them and while he appreciated it, he would rather not. Instead he would take a look around other parts of the town to try and see if he could find some animals or something he could make for lunch.

The rest of the group meanwhile went back to the arena - it probably wasn’t an arena but it was easier to call it that than the “magic ice circle.” so the arena it was.

They worked for hours, even in the cold of the mountains they got warm quickly. Although they didn’t dare remove their winter jackets. That was just a recipe for getting sick which none of them could afford right now.

By the time noon rolled around they finally, after hours of work, got the body out of the ice. They could finally see the details closer. Such as the flat edge of the sword had runes carved into it, so ancient that even Shelby and Pixlriffs didn’t know what they were saying.

“The outfit is like the one you found, Sausage.” Jimmy pointed out and true enough, in fact, it was the exact same outfit. Even in death the elf looked regal in the clothes.

“The pockets,” Sausage said, when he only received confused looks. “Check the pockets.” He said again crouching down on one side to check where he knew the pocket to be as Jimmy checked the other.

The Sanctuary owner came out empty handed, but Jimmy pulled out a piece of paper which had been folded. He, carefully as to not break it, unfolded it.

“It looks to be a letter.” The sheriff noted as he handed it to Pixl for closer inspection.

“Should we read it now, or go get Scott first?” Katherine asked as the archeologist narrowed his eyes.

“I think now, so we know what we’re getting into when we tell him.” Shelby said and they all seemed to agree.

But before he read it aloud, Pixl said. “It looks to be a goodbye note.”

Most of them debated if they even wanted to hear the contents of the letter, but it would probably be for the better if they did.

And so Pixl began reading.

Dear Codfather,

Although I hoped it should never come to this, my time here is soon to be over. In this letter, I write my last confessions, wishes and goodbyes to you.

First of, I want you to know that it was always meant to end like this and there was nothing you could have done to prevent my demise. I know what you are like and there are no “what ifs” situations in this.

The end was written in stone, long before either of us were born.

I know there are a plethora of questions you may have and I shall try to answer them all.

Shrub of the Undergrove warned me of Xornoths return and I can feel it happening. I do not know when, or how. But he will come back and he will take Rivendell down when he does.

I shall fight to my last breath to save my empire, although it will be in vain if I am not careful. We both know of the prophecy where the cycle will continue if I do not banish his spirit.

A couple of weeks ago I returned to the elven library, in search of answers. While I did find a solution, it was not the one I was hoping for.

You may already know of the prophecies, considering your sister holds the book with them. However, I found one in particular during my research.

“Twin souls trapped in an endless battle since the beginning of time, chaos and order, light and dark, hot and cold. One cannot exist without the other, for if one soul is to die, the other is sure to follow.”

It is about me and my brother.

I mentioned earlier that in this letter, it should hold my last confession.

I know I am going to die.

The outcome of the battle is already decided and I am terrified. I do not want to leave you, but it seems that I have no say in the matter. 

Therefore you could not have prevented it, for my death was foretold in the prophecies, which you of all people should know we cannot change the fate of.

During my time as ruler of Rivendell, I have made plenty of mistakes.

One of them was leaving you.

I sit here, regretting that we did not get more time together and that some of my last months walking this mortal plane as I have for so long was not spent with you, but rather wallowing in my own self pity.

If any of Rivendell still stands after the final battle, I wish for you to take my place as ruler.

The others doubt your power, I do not.

You have always been stronger than you know.

I am running out of space on this page, so I write this last bit to you, not as a ruler, but as your friend, companion, partner and husband.

Jimmy, you have always meant the world to me. Through many sleepless nights, you have always been by my side. To support and love me, even in my darkest moments you were a light, shining so brightly with your endless optimism.

To say that I love you would be an understatement, because there is no one else I would give my heart to in the same way I have to you.

Even when I was cold, heartless, some called me. That did not stop you from caring about me and attempting to warm my heart. You did what once was thought unthinkable.

My one regret is that I cannot spend more time with you, Petal.

One last promise I shall give you, is that I will find you in another lifetime, where we can finally get the happily ever after that we both wanted.

All my love,

Scott Smajor, King of Rivendell.

They were all too stunned to speak. There had been so much information in such a little amount of time, that none of them knew how to react properly. But one thing stood clear considering who had signed the letter.

The king of the lost empire of Rivdell was somehow.. Scott.

But that didn’t make sense. None of it made sense. They got the answers to their questions only for more questions to pop up.

“Holy shit, Scott and I were married?” Jimmy exclaimed, the first one of the group to actually speak.

Before anyone could say anything else, Sausage spoke up. “We should show this to Scott. He deserves to see it.”

It wasn’t like Sausage left much room for argument, as he already began to walk away. When the others didn’t follow him, he just gave them a look before they went over to catch up with him.

As they walked, Sausage spoke once more. “We shouldn’t let Scott see the body. At all. The sword… It’s- the angle it’s at. That was done by the king himself, not the demon.”

Everyone remained quiet at the thought of that.

Jimmy was very quiet, almost whispering as if their Scott would turn the corner any moment. “You don’t think Scott would…”

“No. But I think we should keep an eye on him just in case.” Pixl said and no one dared argue. Not when everything was as confusing as it was right now.

They found Scott easily. He had relit the campfire from the morning and was currently cooking what looked to be a rabbit over it.

He was looking brighter than yesterday and Sausage had to stomp down the guilt about the fact they were about to ruin that.

It felt mean to say that Scott had asked for it.

But he technically had?

The colorful man must have been able to tell that something was wrong from the way Jimmy couldn’t even look at him, to Shelby being deep in thought and Katherine looking at him with such sadness.

God, this was exactly what Scott wanted to avoid, these looks of pity.

Sausage felt bad, but hiding how they truly felt wouldn’t benefit them either.

He had never been more thankful than when Pixlriffs took control of the situation. “We uh, got the body out of ice. There was a letter in the pocket. You should read it.”

Scott could tell that whatever the content of the letter was, no one wanted to hear it again. So he grabbed it. All eyes were on him, as his eyes scanned the words written down. He reached where it had been signed off and suddenly, he couldn’t hold the letter between his fingers anymore. It fell to the ground.

That had been his signature, the exact same.

Same face, same name, some of their friends seemed to match up. Sure, Scott had no idea who this Shrub character was. But he did know Jimmy.

The letter had been addressed to him.

The letter had been for Scotts husband Jimmy.

Surely it was all some coincidence.

He felt Jimmy sit next to him as Pixl picked up the letter again.

When Scott felt the sheriff touch his shoulder, he jumped as if the touch itself had burnt him.

“Don’t touch me.” The colorful man warned as he stood up.

Everything felt like too much. “You’re joking- this has- this got to be some joke. You’re all just pranking me right? That letter- that wasn’t- I didn’t write that. I promise I didn’t write that.”

Scott wasn’t making sense, he knew he wasn’t. But neither were the thoughts running through his brain. How could he have signed it if he had no memory of it. And how was he dead ?

“Scott.”

This was all a sick dream, any moment now he would wake up in Chromia and Owen would be there. Scott would be able to scold him for spitting in customers drinks again and everything would be fine and Scott could ignore this.

“Scott!”

He would go back home to the empires. To their stupid boring meetings about trades that Scott didn’t care about and he would tune them out as they talked about whatever new prank or war thing had happened, which Scott wanted to part of.

“Scott! You need to breathe.”

Wait, when had he stopped breathing?

There was a voice counting. Was Scott supposed to be counting along?

“Come on, breathe in 4, you got this.” The soft voice said. Oh, right. He needed to do that.

Eventually he calmed down enough to realize he had been crying and that Katherine had been the one to help him calm down.

Shelby brought him a bowl of water.

“I want to go home.” He admitted quietly.

It felt wrong being here.

Had this once been his home?

Could it have been a home if he had no memories of it?

He hated it, the thoughts, the uncertainty, the confusion.

Katherine hugged him tightly and he felt himself go limp in the warrior princess’ arms. “We can go home. It’s too late to do it today. How long do you need to fix your elytra?”

“A day with the right resources.”

Jimmy stood up, as if to go collect them, but Pixl stopped him. “We’ll start collecting tomorrow. We've all had a long day.”

They all settled into smaller groups. Jimmy tried to approach Scott, but before he could, the cyan haired man stood up and walked over to Pix where they seemed to discuss the letter.

The blonde wanted to join them, but he didn't. Scott seemed to not want anything to do with Jimmy right now. The sheriff wasn’t sure why, but the least he could do was respect Scotts wishes.

He watched as Pix gave Scott a tight hug as they chatted.

Whatever was going on, it must be quite emotional.

Before this journey, Scott had never been the type for physical touch. And while this may not fully change that, during this trip alone Jimmy had seen Scott get more hugs than through the entirety of knowing him.

As someone who craved physical touch, Jimmy wasn't sure how Scott didn't get lonely.

He wasn’t jealous.

Not at all.

He didn't think about how the other Scott would probably have gone to Jimmy if he ever needed a hug.

He didn't think about how he could be that person for Scott but wasn't. 

They could talk about all that later.

There was plenty of time.

Instead he sat and talked with Sausage.

None of them were fine after everything they had discovered.

All of them just wanted a light hearted adventure, instead they found something much darker.

The only positive thing to gather from this was that they had definitely grown closer.

They would understand each other in a way the other emperors wouldn’t be able to.

It was bittersweet in a way.

They would never be the same, but they weren't alone.

The night continued as all the others did. They took shifts keeping watch, as everyone else slept.

Scott couldn't sleep. 

He tossed and turned. From where Pixl was sitting by the entrance, Scott knew he was worried.

When shift change happened Scott still wasn’t asleep.

Eventually he sucked up his pride and crawled out of his sleeping bag and over to where Sausage was sleeping before shaking him awake.

He still was half asleep when he answered though, "Wha?" The words were slurred and clearly Sausage hadn't fully registered who had woken him up.

"Can't sleep." Scott admitted. "May I sleep with you tonight?" He asked quietly.

The brunette yawned before unzipping his sleeping bag so Scott could crawl in.

It was a tight fit for two adult men in one sleeping bag, but they made it work.

So as Sausage wrapped his arms around Scott, pulling him closer into a hug, the colorful man finally could drift off into sleep.

When the sun rose and Scott was still asleep, Sausage didn't dare move. This also led to the two girls cooing at them and snapping pictures.

The other 4 ate breakfast and then went out in search of wool to repair Scotts elytra while Sausage just resigned to his fate as being used as a pillow. Whatever helped Scott right now.

Eventually the cyan haired man woke up and the two could get food. For a couple of hours they just chatted, while the others went adventuring.

They didn’t return until night fell, but when they did, their arms were full of wool bundles, which made Scott perk up. “I should be able to fix my elytra with that and the gold and string I found.”

He started working with the little light he had left and whatever the glow from the fire provided. It wasn’t a lot, but it was something.

The next day continued like all the others. Scott and Katherine remained in their camp working on his elytra together as Shelby, Pixl, Sausage and Jimmy all gave the elven king a proper burial.

The ground was hard to dig in, but he deserved it. They had chosen a spot up on a hill, overlooking the empire which the fallen king once had called his.

Sausage had taken the crown though. Maybe one day their Scott would like it, when the shock of everything had calmed.

Jimmy wasn't sure why. But he found a poppy, the only flower around actually and planted it in the ground in front of the grave. 

"You can rest now."

After that there wasn't a lot to do. Considering how familiar the outfit had been, Pixl theorized that the house where Sausage had found the outfit had once been Scotts.

So they returned there to search it for anything they might have missed.

They didn't find anything.

- - -

The day after that continued like all the others. Scott continued working, this time with both Shelby and Katherine while the others searched for more answers.

This time they tried to remove the demon from the ice in hope of more answers. Also the fact that, even if the guy had been evil (they were assuming, he looked evil), he still deserved a burial.

The ice around him was easier to break, as if the ice surrounding Scott had been more compact than the one near the edges.

There was no secret letter this time, no big reveal.

Just a demon.

They buried him on the same hill as Scott, although a little further down.

It felt symbolic, that Scott won over the demon one final time as they both looked out over Rivendell and what had become of it.

Scott with his beautiful kingdom, the demon seeing the ruins he created.

When they returned for the night, Scott said he would be ready to leave in the morning.

So they prepared for the final nights in the mountains.

- - -

It wasn’t the last night. 

A blizzard had started during the early morning hours just before they left. No one could see anything and it would be too dangerous to travel on already rocky terrain, while also not being able to see anything.

There really wasn’t a lot they could do but sit close together to try and keep a resemblance of warmth.

There was no way any threat was coming towards them in this weather, so having someone sit guard was completely forgotten about, in favor of sitting somewhere where the wind wouldn’t be directly on them.

They rationed whatever little food they had, not sure how long they would be trapped in this storm, but also not wanting to risk anything.

The storm continued raging on for two days straight around the little house they had settled in.

With the sky always covered, it was hard to tell the time fully. But Scott spoke up when the sun set for the second day.

“It was the eyes for me.”

Sausage looked concerned. “What?”

“They were so… dead, but I also can’t help and wonder if he had cyan eyes like me.”

Pixlriffs looked confused, they all did actually. But still the archeologist was the one to respond. “Well, it would be hard to tell. But your eyes are nothing like each other. You have heterochromatic eyes. He does not.”

There was a beat of silence. Shelby looked at Scott, as if asking ‘are you going to tell them?’

Her question was answered soon enough.

“I didn’t always have two different colored eyes, you know.”

Pixl gave a nervous chuckle. “Someone's eyes just don’t change color, Scott.”

The colorful man hummed. “You’re right.”

He looked at Shelby for help, who really was no help and just made everyone even more confused. “Yeah! He can even see magic now. It’s awesome!” The witch exclaimed.

“Hold on. You can see magic?” Sausage asked.

Scott subtly moved a little closer to Shelby. Nope, he had started this, he was not backing out now even if a little uncomfortable.

Jimmy was the next one to speak. “Okay, none of this is making sense, right? How can you just see magic?”

“So, to make a very long story short. Lost an eye. Got this yellow one from a wizard. And it can apparently see magic.”

Katherine was the first to react. “That's… Kind of cool?”

The sheriff however was focused on something else. “Are we just ignoring that Scott lost an eye?”

"Yes." The cyan haired man said without hesitation, completely ending that part of the conversation.

"Is that why Shelby asked if you could see anything when we first arrived?" Pixlriifs asked.

"Yep," Scott said before continuing, "also makes Sanctuary a total pain to be in because everything just glows."

Sausage let out a squeak, "Sorry!" To which Scott just shrugged. "Not your fault."

After that, no one knew what to say. Scott had shared something extremely personal about himself and no one knew how to react.

It was clear that Shelby had known for much longer than anyone else and it made sense, considering she was a witch. Who most likely knew more about the type of magic Scott had than anyone else here combined.

They fell asleep, a lot more secrets having been revealed about someone who just said he was an adventurer.

- - -

After a couple of days, the blizzard eventually stopped. It felt like forever since they had left the small house they had set up camp in, but it was a nice change.

Sure, they would be gone for longer than initially expected. But it would be fine.

The climb down the mountain felt even scarier than the way up. This time they all had an elytra though and eventually they just carefully glided most of the way down the mountains, still not daring to fly with the harsh winds.

Instead, they would walk for a bit before taking to the skies to try and avoid anyone getting injured again.

Speaking of injuries, while the healing potion had taken the majority of Scotts pain away, leaving only a dull throbbing, him working for days on end (mostly to distract himself, but he would never admit that.) had caused the pain to return.

Not as bad as the initial impact had been, but more than just the dull constant pain.

He would take care of it when they were back at the empires.

As they walked, Katherine awkwardly said “Seems like there was some truth to the story you told us about, Pixl.”

The archeologist huffed. “Yeah, we found part of the truth-” He glanced at Scott “-but was it what we really wanted?”

Sausage wrapped an arm around the colorful man, pulling him closer when he could see Scotts gaze was just a little too unfocused. “No, but we went in search of answers, we got them. Now we just have to move on.”

Scott snapped at him. “And what? Pretend nothing ever happened?”

He felt bad as soon as the words left his mouth, his friends didn’t deserve such hostility. Especially not someone just trying to help.

Sausage's hand loosened from around Scotts shoulder for a moment before giving a reassuring squeeze. “If that’s what you want to do, no one would blame you. But I meant we don’t have to forget, we just have to find a way to live with it.”

Scott almost snapped again ‘easier said than done’ he thought, but kept his mouth shut. Yeah, Scott had his entire life turned upside down in a matter of days, but he didn’t need to be a dick to the others about it.

But in reality, Scott knew the other was right, that there really was no other option than finding a way to live with it.

That he had once been a king, he had once had a brother, a husband, Jimmy had a sister. Scott had faced his own death head on knowing there was nothing he could do.

But, was that really Scott?

It was a complicated moral question with no real answer.

One day, he might find it though.

Scott also was not ready for the implications that he only liked Jimmy because he was meant to and not because there was actual chemistry.

Yep, he was ignoring all that.

Scott was never one for healthy coping mechanisms anyway.

Not in the past, not today.

The next two days of travel went about as well as you would expect, Scott was completely ignoring Jimmy, shooting down every attempt at a conversation.

Most nights the Lord of Chromia would end up sleeping with Pixlriffs or Sausage, clutching their shirts, as visions of his own dead face staring back at him would flash behind his eyes.

Then they would run their hands through his hair and eventually he would calm down enough to fall asleep.

Jimmy would offer Scott his sleeping bag.

Scott would pretend he hadn’t heard the sheriff.

After another 2 days of travel they finally reached the campfire where all of the rulers had first met.

It felt great to finally be back in familiar terrain and in close enough proximity that they could actually text each other. (The mountains had been too far away for any messages to actually reach the lands of empires.)

They let all the other emperors know that they had returned safely and that they would take the rest of the day off, then there would be a meeting about their discoveries tomorrow.

Scott didn’t head for Chromia, even though he should. He had been gone for long, he probably needed to have a lengthy meeting with Gem about what had happened while he had been gone.

He just didn't have the energy to right now, not when his thoughts were so muffled and everything was confusing.

A break really was in order and he could take one later, but for now he went with Sausage to Sanctuary where the other offered him medical attention for his arm.

Scott was hesitant to accept, but did nonetheless.

As it turned out, the Guardian of Sanctuary was actually pretty good at taking care of injuries. He soaked bandages in healing potion, before wrapping them around Scotts arm gently, so as to not hurt him further.

They were both quiet as Sausage helped Scott get his arm into a sling - was it really necessary? Probably not, but the brunette wanted to be certain that Scott would not injure his arm further, causing permanent damage on what was already a nasty injury.

“Thank you.”

Scott eventually whispered, to which he just got a soft smile as a reply. “You’re welcome, now it’s getting late and the meeting tommorrow is here anyway, you wanna stay the night? There’s an empty room in the tavern if you want.”

Scott thought about it, Chromia was quite the flight and Scott was tired, both from the journey and the constant mental strain he had been under.

So he agreed, first stopping by Sausage's house to borrow some sleeping clothes. They were a bit too big for him, but it wasn’t too bad. So when Sausage had followed Scott to his room, they both split up with a hug.

For the first night in what felt like forever Scott was alone.

Needless to say he didn’t get a lot of sleep that night.

- - -

He had slept maybe an hour and had woken up from a nightmare about something he couldn’t remember in the middle of the night.

That also meant when Sausage came to wake him, he was doing his makeup, already in his normal clothes, the borrowed ones from Sausage folded neatly in a pile on the bed.

“Where did you get that makeup from?” Sausage had asked.

“I always have some with me sweetie.”

When Sausage smiled at the nickname, it felt some-what like Scott was back to normal. With the nicknames, the smiles.

(A part of them wondered if there ever was going back to normal.)

“The other emperors are already here, are you sure you want to join? No one would judge if you didn’t.”

A deep breath.

“I’m sure, I need to- I want to do this.”

A nod. “Follow me then.” Scott picked his bag up on his way out as they walked to the meeting.

Sanctuary was as beautiful as ever, as they walked along the winding paths connecting the buildings. The foliage planted along said paths to outline them.

This empire was truly something magical.

As they walked, Sausage spoke quietly, as if afraid someone would hear them. "I have the Rivendell crown, I thought that one day you might want it. It's stuff like that which makes me remember things. Just so that you know it's an option if you ever want to, if you don't, I'll just keep it."

"I appreciate that."

It didn’t take long after that to reach the house where the meeting was hosted.

As soon as they entered the house, Scott paused at the entrance to see where his seat was.
“Scott, over here!” Pixl said, only on the other side of the empty seat was Jimmy.

Jimmy who Scott had tried so hard to ignore.

The very same Jimmy who Scott probably only cared about because he was destined to.

And if there was one thing about Scott, he had never been good with authority or destiny. He wanted to make his own choice, so if it wasn’t his own choice to care about Jimmy. He wouldn’t.

It felt wrong to only care about someone because you were meant to, not because they were actually a good person who made you smile.

That’s why Scott had decided he wanted nothing to do with Jimmy.

If fate wanted them to be together, Scott would do everything in his power to prevent that.

He felt someone gently touch his hand, it felt like a bucket of ice had been dumped on his head.

He looked into Sausage's eyes who seemed so concerned. “You were disassociating again.” He gently explained.

“Oh.”

Scott finally willed himself to move, sitting down between Pixl and Jimmy, although he didn’t even look in the direction of the sheriff.

“Scott, are you okay?” Gem asked from across the table. He nodded. “Yep, I’m fine, sorry about that.”

After that, the meeting carried on. He zoned out for most of the start, it was really just the other emperors catching them up on everything they had missed.

At some point Jimmy yelled something about him not being a toy, making Scott roll his eyes.

Eventually Pixlriffs started speaking, first explaining the story of the stag gods and their champions, then the two brothers found in the ice.

Scott sat there, tense and ready to jump in if his name was mentioned.

Pix luckily seemed to notice this and didn’t even make an attempt.

He pulled out the letter, folded in half so the text couldn’t be seen. He looked at Scott for permission who shook his head. “They have no reason to know.”

Joel was not about to let go though. “What is it?” He asked, attempting to reach for the letter. Scott was closer though and grabbed it first. “None of your business.”

Jimmy gently put a hand on Scotts shoulder. “Maybe it would be better if-” “No! They don’t get to pry, you don’t get to make those decisions for me! Fuck- you’re such an idiot.”

Was it very lord-like to have a tantrum and curse out another emperor? No.

Scott at that moment did not care as he pocketed the letter and left the room. He could hear people calling his name.

He didn’t look back.

If he did, they would have seen the tears building in his eyes.

So instead he just walked, with no destination in mind. He never left Sanctuary though. His bag was still in the meeting room, he'd just grab it when all the emperors had left.

He felt exhausted mentally as he sat down on the side of the road, just leaning against a tree. He closed his eyes in the shadow.

There were citizens walking on the path, luckily most of them ignored him.

Eventually, there was the sound of someone running, completely out of breath. They paused on the path, making Scott crack an eye open.

The sight could almost be domestic to an outsider, Scott relaxed under a tree and Jimmy in front of him looking super relieved.

The cyan haired man frowned.

“I thought I made it clear I want nothing to do with you.”

Jimmy hesitantly lowered himself down next to Scott.

“But why? What did I do?”

And that was a good question, because Jimmy hadn’t done anything but show compassion and patience with Scott, who just pushed him away.

“I don’t want to care about you if it isn’t real.”

Jimmy looked confused at that. “If what isn’t real?”

“Whatever I’m feeling- this friendship. I don’t want whatever we have to just be because of fate.”

The blondes gaze softened as he carefully clasped Scotts hands in his own.

“Scott, you are not that elf. You’re two different people, always have and always will be. And I know that's hard to believe right now. But I will say it as many times as you need to hear it. You don’t walk around in fancy clothing or a crown. You add small hearts to the end of your signature and more often than not sign important letters with colored glitter pens. You are so much more than just some reincarnation or copy. You are two different people and so are your feelings.”

By the end of it, Scott was crying again, his makeup fully ruined by that point.

But it wasn’t tears of heartbreak or sadness, it was Scott getting overwhelmed by happiness because Jimmy wasn’t pretending to understand what Scott was going through, but offering support and saying what he needed to hear.

“Thank you.”

Scott said, careful, quiet, as if speaking too loudly could shatter whatever moment they were having.

“Of course-” Jimmy opened his mouth as if to say something more. But promptly closed it again.

“Come on Jimmy, I know you were going to say something. I wont judge, I mean you have just seen me at my lowest, it would be hypocritical of me to judge.”

Jimmy hesitated for a moment. “It’s just- I wanted to offer that we could be something more than friends, but you’re in a vulnerable place right now and I don’t want to take advantage of that for my own benefit.”

Scott thought about it for a moment, just letting Jimmy's words sink in. “It’s clear you care about me. The fact that you even thought about it means a lot. And I think I would like you and I trying to make something work.”

The sheriff looked relieved, happy, ecstatic, excited all at the same time as he hugged Scott. “We can take it as slow as you like.”

“Thank you- for everything.”

The love they felt for each other was not due to fate, but thanks to understanding and patience they gave each other.

And for now, sitting in eachothers company, that was all that was needed.

Tomorrow would bring more challenges and conversations, talks and difficult moments.

Today they could relax.

And Scott would learn from his mistakes, don’t spend years searching for a solution, answers that may not exist.

- - -

“In the end, after my adventure to Rivendell, I didn’t find the answers I was searching for. In fact, there might be more questions now than ever which is why I’m writing down my thoughts to try and make some resemblance of order.

I only have loose threads to make theories off, most of which will most likely never be proven true. But I like to think that there might be a bit of truth in here somewhere.

What happened to the lost empire of Rivendell? Well based on the letter we found, the ruler, Scott apparently, knew the end was coming thanks to the demon.

Not only that, if the demon did have enough power to take down an entire empire by itself there must be some truth to the story of the stag gods that would each choose a person as their champion to fight in their battle.

My theory based on how we found the bodies is that the demon was the champion of the evil god, Exor. That leaves the question of “Who is the champion of the good god?” The answer might never be answered, but the only answer I could find is that the champion was Scott.

There is really no evidence for this theory, Scott mentioned in the letter how he would fight until his last breath to save the empire, but also that could easily be drawn up to him being king and seeing it as his duty.

But one fact stands clear to me, Scott did fight until his last breath.

The circumstances of his death are curious to say the least, had he been cornered? Why had he stabbed himself with the sword?

He knew if he died, so would the demon. (His brother based on the letter?)

But why not just go for the demon, Scott clearly had a lot to live for, a husband, friends (Who’s Shrub?). Family. (Jimmy’s sister?)

I’m not sure I’ll ever know. But I’m content with that.

A part of me doesn’t want to know why if I’m honest.

Speaking of Jimmy, shouldn’t he have found Scotts body? 

Did he too die during the destruction of Rivendell? Could that have been the reason Scott took the drastic decision he did?

Or maybe it was the opposite and Jimmy couldn’t stand the loss of Scott and just left.

Was Jimmy an elf too? He was called ‘Codfather’ in the letter, so it’s more likely that he was a hybrid. But that is an odd combination (then again my friends have never quite been normal) so it’s unlikely.

Another question I have is: What happened to the elves of Rivendell?

I don’t know. That’s the simple answer. If I’m honest there is a lot I don’t know.

They either went into hiding or died along with the empire. I think the latter is more likely though since there wouldn’t be as many questions as there is if their legacy lived on somewhere out there.

One thing I know for sure: Rivendell is lost to time, there is no bringing it back, there are no second chances, only the ruins of what once was.

This last part is more personal, but I need to get my thoughts out anyway and I don’t exactly have a diary.

I’m worried about Scott, him and Jimmy are speaking again, in fact they now seem closer than ever.

I’m glad he has someone to rely on.

Doesn’t stop me from thinking that he might not be okay though, he seems less for leaving the empire region in order to explore. It might be a good change that he feels comfortable enough to stay in one place.

I do hope that one day he can find joy in adventuring again. I haven’t seen him as happy as during the first couple of days of our travels in a long time.

Scott’s a good friend of mine, I’m sure with enough time, he will be okay.”

Closing the book, Pixlriffs finished another chapter of the story that was Empires. A story that would never be complete.

But as one chapter ends, another can begin.