Double update! I spent all day writing this since the previous update today. This is a WAYYYYYY better chapter and has so much more intriguing things happening.

I'm proud of this chapter, and the first half of the chapter is slightly different and mysterious ;)

Will you figure out what is happening?????? (Muhahaha)

~~~~~

GAME OVER

Chapter 23 [A Void Pool]

~~~~~

"Mother please, don't worry, Azmir and I have everything under control. So please get some rest," A young woman with a somewhat tan skin and hair the color of a navy sky held tightly to another woman's hand. The woman whose hand she held trembled as silent sobs wracked through her body.

Oh, how this woman cried in sorrow for problems she never foresaw. How could that man do such a thing to an innocent child? A child hardly 10 years old with eyes like two suns and hair like sweet, dark chocolate.

The navy-haired woman stayed by her mother's side until she fell silent in her bed. With a sad smile the woman left her mother's chambers and nodded to the guard posted outside the door.

She sighed, her eyes trailed the castle walls and looked upon the legacy her family has held.

She was Aurora, first princess of the Kingdom of Celean, and heir to the throne.

"Aurora, there you are. How is she? Please tell me she has gotten better?" Aurora turned to see her brother, a man with silver hair lined with purple streaks, his red eyes expressing fatigue due to the bags that outlined them.

"Azmir, you shouldn't be worrying about that, look at you," Aurora cupped her brothers face in her hands and turned it left and right, "have you even slept?"

Her brother smacked her hand away and sighed, "Slept? Slept? Our mother is bedridden and ill, our little brother kidnapped and missing, Rekrium, our sister kingdom, now wants to go to war with us and you want to ask if I have slept? You must be out of your Notchdamn mind Aurora!"

"Do not curse upon our god's name, it is disrespectful, and you know as the oldest I must look out for you. Please, get some rest, I will handle the negotiations with Rekrium."

"Aurora, wait--"

"Azmir, I mean it, get some rest," Aurora turned away and walked down the castle halls. Her hand unknowingly reached for the hilt of her sword and rubbed the leather grip for comfort. It soothed her nerves, it reminded her that she was strong in not only mind but in body too.

The King of Rekrium should be waiting within the throne room, and for today she would take her mother's place at the head of negotiations.

~~~~~

Azmir was wracked with hate and anger at Rekrium. It was as plain as day that those damned Rekrians had taken his younger brother, but the King denied all involvement and instead blamed it on Celean's negligence.

His mother was bedridden with grief, and his sister too stubborn to continue peace talk. He needed to take matters into his own hands.

Azmir paced around his chambers in the single light of a candle, dark shadows enveloped his face and amplified the bags under his eyes. No matter where his brother was he would go the extra mile to find him, Vengeance would be his and Rekrium will pay the price for messing with this holy kingdom. No king, nor kingdom, nor living soul had any right to mess with the Origin.

And should he need to, he would go behind his sister's back to launch war just to find his brother.

~~~~~

"Aurora, that's enough," the queen of Celean walked through the throne room doors where Aurora and the Rekrium King sat locked in tense negotiations. The queen walked slowly and with careful steps.

"M-mother, please, you are not--" the queen held up her hand to silence her daughter and Aurora bowed to her mother and let her mother take her place on the throne. Aurora was silent as she stood by her mother, things were going nowhere with the king, she prayed her mother could make peace with this stubborn mule.

"My son," Aurora perked up and looked at her mother in alarm, "I want my son!"

"Queen Celeste, we've been over this a thousand times, I don't hav--"

"Cut the damn bullshit, give me my son back! I want my son!" Her mother screamed in rage with tears threatening to spill." Her fist slammed the side of her throne and the king remained silent with only the slightest of smiles.

"Even if I knew where your son was, you already know what my condition would be for his return. Your power is wasted on such a peace loving woman, tell me what you did to receive such power and I may find a way to have your boy returned to you."

"You never learn, I did nothing to receive this power, I was born with it--"

"Now who is talking in bullshit--"

"My mother is no liar!" Aurora's hand went to her sword but the Queen hushed her.

"If you will not cooperate, then Rekrium will face the wrath of the Gods."

"Gods? Gods? You think I'm afraid of beings that haven't been seen for centuries."

The queen stood with an indignant look in her eyes, "I think you should be, the gods are--"

"I think we're done here. If you have anything meaningful to tell me, you know where I will be."

The Queen watched with fury in her eyes as the King of Rekrium walked away.

~~~~~

Long after the negotiations had ended and the Queen and her two children were eating dinner Aurora spoke up.

"Mother, what will you do now?"

Azmir ate silently and listened, the Queen sat in deliberate thought for several long minutes. "We have no choice, Celean will...go to war with Rekrium."

The sound of a spoon clattering and soup spilling as Azmir coughed, "M-mom, are you serious?" The young man was shocked, but this is exactly what he wanted. By any means necessary he would rescue his brother, even if Rekrium burned to the ground in the process.

"Yes," the Queen turned to Aurora, "Aurora, I want you to lead our soldiers, these are trying times and someone as skilled as you will be needed to lead our inexperienced men."

"But mother, we are a peaceful kingdom, there is no reason to resort to violence."

"I agree...but we have no choice. You are the most experienced in combat, and please with that sword by your side you must." The Queen pleaded.

Aurora nodded, "Of course, I accept."

~~~~~

Adam found himself lying on his back on rough, unfamiliar stone. The air was cold and there was hardly any light. He was sure he was in an enclosed space made of this unfamiliar stone. His senses came back to him and he heard excited whispers and hushed voices. Every few moments there would be a flash of light and a new person would appear in this closed space. When that happened, Adam could make out that this space was large and definitely underground, two Players were using pickaxes to mine away at the space to make it larger as more and more people appeared.

If this was the end, then it was certainly small and unremarkable--Adam wondered where that night sky like portal went, how would they get back if they could not find that portal?

Adam sat up and crawled out of the center of the close space and moved closer to the edge, he was afraid that if another person appeared hey would land on him and that certainly would not help.

He saw Seto and Jason appear second to last and then soon followed by a small group of Players carrying large machinery. They nearly dropped the machines and Jason almost threw a fit.

"Is everyone here?" Seto looked around, when no one mentioned any missing Players he nodded and said, "Good, everyone group up into your groups. Attack Team 1 will listen to my direct orders, Attack Team 2 will listen to Lieutenant Rudine, and Defense Team 3 will follow Lieutenant Evans, lastly Team 4 will follow Jason. Do not deviate from your team, remain as a unit, and whatever you do, don't try to play hero. This is no game, you die in the void, you never return, and if you die on land, you aren't guaranteed to be able to leap back into the End. Do I make myself clear?"

A chorus of 'Yes sirs' followed and everyone spilt into their respective teams. As he stated before, there were about 15 in Jason's team. There was O, and Ross, plus that Katie girl, and...Jin. Those were the only people he remembered or knew the names of, not including Jason of course.

"Teams 2 and 3 will head out first, be mindful of your surroundings. Remember, Endermen can teleport and the Ender Dragon regenerates at break neck speeds, our priority is to eliminate its towers and keep the beast distracted so that Team 4 may head towards the Resource Point."

The two lieutenants nodded and shouted commands and before long both Teams were mining out a staircase out to the surface. Even with the opening, hardly any light entered their little cubby hole.

Team 1 would head out in about 10 minutes and work to flank the dragon, if that was even possible since it could fly, but Adam didn't question Seto''s plan. A for Jason, everyone on his team was told to hold tight for half an hour. Enough time to set up one of these large contraptions Jason had insisted be brought along.

"Ross, you will stay behind with one other Player and man these machines. Use this to search for Void pools and send any coordinates you find over to my Drive Screen."

"Yes sir."

"And you! Whatever your name is will be the one to stay here and protect these machines with your life! They better not have a scratch on them when we return!"

For half an hour Ross worked while the rest of them sat back waiting in silence. Adam could hear deep thundering roars outside and each time he flinched. As time went on he grew a little unsure of his decision to come here, he still had not seen what the End truly looked like and sitting here in silence did not help his nerves.

In fact, one thing he had noticed was the slightly chilly atmosphere the End had.

"Now is the time we will head out, Players will guard while we head to the location."

Adam sighed thankfully, he was so tired of sitting, he pulled out his sword and let the weight of the object sink into his hands. He wasn't good with a sword yet, but he hoped it would be enough.

Adam stopped walking and stared up at the End with eyes like two suns and hair like sweet, milk chocolate, if he thought the mountain was spectacular, he'd never seen a place like this.

The sky was as dark as night with white specks that made him think of snow floating aimlessly around. The ground was barren of any plant life and tall pillars of obsidian stabbed the dark sky as purple crystals spun silently at their tops. Adam almost screamed when he was the monster covered in scales and flying with wings soar above and launch a purple, smoky breath down to the ground. Teams 1 through 3 were fighting and if Adam didn't snap out of it, he would get left behind, for Team 4 was hurriedly running in the opposite direction of the dragon.

Adam ran to follow, he could hardly believe how mysterious and beautiful this place was. Ahead of them was a large mountain range made of the same barren and pale colored stone as the rest of the land, Adam noticed how much this land lacked in plant growth and though it odd.

"This way, hurry, there is a void pool here. Adam help me collect the liquid, and careful not to touch it, the liquid, I hear, likes to pull people in."

Adam nodded and jogged to where Jason was, in the distance he could see a dip in the land and as they neared the area he noticed the dark purple surface that flowed in and out. It was a giant lake of dark purple liquid, almost as dark as the void. The land cut off to the right and merely vanished as if this side was surrounded by only void.

"Jason, where did the rest of the land go?"

"It doesn't exist, the End exist within the void as a floating island of sorts, as such if you fall off the edge there will be nothing to land on."

"O--"

"Duck!" Adam ducked just as an Enderman that he didn't realize was beside him growled and swung his arms where Adam's head had been.

"H-holy shit!" Adam swung his sword but the beast vanished, they were more approaching and surprisingly surrounding them.

"Idiots, you're supposed to be looking out for the mobs." Jason grumbled, Adam was a little worried for the short guy. He was afraid that the Endermen would overp--an enderman appeared in front of Jason and raised its arms menacingly. Jason glared and ducked underneath the Endermen and spun to land a kick with his boots. The enderman stumbled and luckily another Player swiped and dealt with it as a puff of dust appeared.

Adam forgot that those boots of Jason were metal, and now that he thought of it, he remembered reading something online about Jason being a skilled engineer who had designed his boots for defensive and offensive purposes. Damn, he's been away from searching for such information for so long probably because he thought he was living the dream being with them.

"That's how it is done! Hop to it!" Jason skidded to a stop just before the void pool and kneeled down. Adam gasped for breath and stopped next to Jason. The Dragon was about 400 blocks or more behind them, and the Players here were having a tough time against the Endermen.

Adam's heart beat rapidly as the tall creatures growled and their jaws extended to show gaping holes and jagged teeth. Their purple eyes alluring but terrifying.

Adam turned his attention back to Jason, "J-Jason, how can I even help??"

"I want you to take this bucket," A bucket appeared in Jason's hand, darn Player inventory and being so cool, "and fill it with this liquid. I'm setting up a device that should purify it, if this pool is of the right consistency and containing the correct elements, it should change to the same color as the liquid in your amulet."

"Got it!"

Adam sheathed his sword and then took the bucket, "Don't forget to not touch the pool."

"Got it!" he repeated.

They hadn't even been in the End for that long but things were already way over his head. Adam glanced to see O standing over Jason keeping an eye out for Endermen as Jason fiddled with gears and machinery.

Adam turned to look the other way, to his left more precisely, Jin and 3 other Players were fending off a swarm of Endermen. Adam marveled at how smoothly Jin moved, simple ducks and weaves, in and out, the fluidity of his movements. He was a trainee, but Adam understood why Jin was chosen for such a mission as this, he was a natural born fighter. He was hardly breathing hard despite his teammates beside him struggling to keep up with his movements.

"Adam, focus! Ross has sent over new coordinates if this pool turns out to not be the one we are looking for."

"S-sorry!" Adam dipped the bucket into the lake and drew out a bucket full of the liquid, "Here," Adam waddled over to Jason trying to be careful not to spill.

"Good, it will take a few moments to have this purified, until them join the others and keep the Endermen away.

"Y-yes sir."

Adam drew out his sword and hurried over to the first Endermen he saw. He would not die, he would not die. He was determined to stay alive, because he realized he was not Player, nor was he a hero. And he would never be one, because he wasn't strong, he didn't have many lives, and he wasn't skilled.

The Endermen growled and raised its arms before slamming them down towards Adam's head. He reacted out of pure fear and raised his sword above his head, the sound of the stone like arms against his iron sword rang through his ears and the force shook his bones. He bit his tongue and hissed.

The weight was lifted and Adam barely had any time to shield his left as one arm swung in that direction. He stumbled and was met by an arm coming in from the right, he grunted.

His fingers held his sword tighter and he rolled away from the Enderman as it struck the ground he was just at.

He swung his sword and nicked the monster's side but his sword was yanked from his grasp as the monster pulled it with him.

Damn!

Why was he so weak!

Why did he have to be so weak! Why couldn't he have strength and many lives like a Player. Why did he have to be born as a Human rank!

An Endermen came up from behind and Adam looked to his front and turned to look behind him. He was surrounded and everyone else was busy fighting their own monsters, the thunderous roar of the dragon in the distance snapped Adam back to reality as he narrowly dodged two attacks from both Enders.

He didn't have a sword since the stupid Ender took it.

"Adam!" Adam saw Jin rushing over, he yelled and swung at one Ender, it roared and teleported away.

"J-Jin! What are you doing here?"

"What?" Jin looked at him like he was crazy, "You may be acting like a stubborn ass mule, but you think I'm going to watch you die? You're a part of this team too you idiot, come on, let's get your sword back...and Adam?"

"Y-yeah?" Adam answered.

"Quit trying to handle everything on your own."

~~~~~

Eyyy, this much longer too, wasn't it? I really hope this makes up for some of the missed weeks, it is a bit longer than normal too.

Theories? Please don't be afraid to share! And if you guys ever create any GO related art, or anything relating to GO or even my other stories, don't be afraid to tag me and share it with me. I'd love to see any of your creations!

:D