Chapter Text
The old crow spread his wings to their maximum width, letting the cold air of the void run through each of his feathers and hit his face.
He was standing on one of the huge obsidian pillars that had stood there for so long that not even the gods remembered it. It was the perfect place to look out over the entire main island.
The floor covered with yellowish stone, the circle formed by black pillars, the enderman wandering aimlessly, looking for something to steal and ignoring the presence of the bird as long as he didn’t dare to look them in the eyes. Never look in the eyes. Stay away from those shiny purple eyes. Never get close. (Look at them).
And in the center of the island, placed like a trophy, was a dragon. A huge dragon that in the past wreaked havoc throughout the place, leaving only chaos and destruction in its wake, and a desert where there was barely any life.
However, the time of the dragons had been left far behind, saved in the memories of a few, leaving only the bones of the last of its kind as a reminder of its existence, which lay on the floor of the End.
The crow had visited this place numerous times, and on each visit he found new details that amazed him, managing to see the beauty of this forgotten wasteland.
He traveled there again and again, driven by a strange force. Curiosity perhaps?
He was an explorer after all.
Curiosity had led him to discover great wonders of the world, although it also entailed facing great dangers. Don't forget, everything has a price.
Don't you think?
However, that wasn’t something the crow cared about. He was willing to pay the price to learn more about the world and its secrets.
The gods themselves had warned him several times, although they weren’t going to deprive him of his freedom. They would never dare to cage a bird.
The End had been a very dangerous place, previously ruled by a king who had attempted to claim the world for himself, claiming that all the treasure he obtained belonged to him (they did), a king who had filled much of the other dimensions with emptiness, a king whose body, now reduced to bones, rested alongside his treasures in the heart of the island. Although the latter was something that the other gods didn’t know.
Maybe if they had known, they would have insisted on the crow more.
Perhaps if they had known that he had explored that place, that he had come close, almost touching them, to the once-living bones, that he had observed those brilliant star-shaped eyes, stars that threatened to take the lives of those who dared to get too close, perhaps then they had planned to stop him.
Although that wouldn't have stopped him.
He had been warned before. Several times.
NEVER LOOK HIM IN THE EYES.
But the crow is too curious.
Or too stupid.
And he ignored the warnings.
And he looked.
(Look at me)
And he looked back at him.
And he never stopped doing it no matter how much he ran away or hid.
(You can't escape)
Poor crow.
What is the reason why you have returned?
What is the reason you always come back?
What are you looking for?
Or what is it looking for you?
Do you know it?
Or do you just try to ignore it?
(Observe)
The crow observed.
He had visited that place too many times, he knew every corner, every structure, every creature, every hiding place, every secret, except one (or maybe he pretended not to know it). He knew the story told by the ruins of what had once been the splendid city of Endlantis, told mainly by the gods who won the war, many, many years ago, before the crow took to the skies, a war against the one who had dared to claim his possessions, against a greedy king who wanted to recover what he considered to be his, those things he considered valuable enough to make his own.
(They were his, only his)
A king who wasn’t willing to back down.
Not even to give anything.
That's why when the gods asked him to stop he continued taking, when they dared to stand up to him he didn't stop, when they sent tons of water to his kingdom, he let the ocean swallow it just so they couldn't take away his treasures, destroying his city, agonizingly killing his subjects who tried to teleport away from the water until there was no land left to flee to, and making the greedy king disappear from existence forever.
Forever?
The gods also mentioned it to him.
Forgetful crow.
Or do you just not want to remember?
The gods don’t die.
The crow watched. He looked at that city that he knew so well and realized something important. Something was different.
There were endermans.
Hundreds of endermans walking along the bottom of that vast ocean, the perpetual reminder of the ancient war.
But the land was dry. There was no water.
There should have been water there, but there wasn't.
(Come closer)
The crow approached.
In the center of the island, invisible to his eyes, there was something, something important, something he felt he needed to see, but didn't want to.
(Do it)
The crow squinted his eyes trying to see what was there, a useless attempt, because what it had to see was several meters below the ground.
Waiting.
Waiting for the crow to return to where he belonged.
An intense purple glow filtered through the ground, calling urgently to the winged creature, even though his eyes were still unable to catch it. Maybe if he did he would remember the warnings.
Don't look at him, his body said.
Look at him, his mind screamed.
(Don't resist)
Poor crow.
His insatiable curiosity forced him to continue advancing, without retreating from anything, driven by a force greater than himself to discover more, to take all that knowledge for himself, without thinking about the price to pay. Because there always is, don't forget it.
That's why, regardless of the danger in the world, he continued exploring. When he discovered forgotten places and secrets, he didn't stop. When he was warned of the risk, he continued searching.
It's hard to resist that feeling. Don't you think?
But why should you do it?
(Don't fight)
(You can't do it)
The crow came closer and closer to the edge that separated it from the void, looking yearning at that new secret to discover, that new knowledge to take.
He needed to know, he needed to see it.
Greedy crow.
That's the reason you always come back.
No matter how high you try to fly or how far you try to run.
No matter if you cowardly try to hide behind other divinities.
No matter that you close your eyes pretending to ignore the truth.
You will always come back.
And I will be waiting.
The crow raises its wings, placing one foot in the void and leans down ready to dive into the place where the deep ocean should be.
---
"What are you doing?"