Separated

Epilogue

Xephos' recovery had taken about four months. After Skyhold returned from the final battle out in The Sands, he was moved to a proper hospital in Icaria, where Honeydew naturally visited him every day. On the flight back, Peculier had taken the time to properly explain his miraculous survival. As stated before, The Sentinels' lifeblood was not immediately deadly to humans. Instead, upon falling off of the tracks and into the strange neon green substance, Peculier had instantly blacked out, forced into some state of suspended animation. It was pure luck that his body had drifted out of the underground cave system and onto the shore of some green lake out in the middle of The Sands, or else Skyhold never would have seen him while passing overhead to recruit those at Swampy's oasis.

Israphel's influence over The Sands had faded upon his death. The sand that had burst through The Wall had retreated overnight, making repairs much easier. The odd desert had returned to its true purpose of keeping The Sentinels in check. However, this didn't stop a few curious scientists from exploring further. With The Sands safe to traverse again, they had snuck into one of The Sentinels to research the technological advances The Old Ones had devised millenniums ago. It was not long until they had reverse-engineered some of the machinery, and soon after that, Minecraftia had changed for the better. Factories were built for mass production of goods, upgraded crafting tables doing most of the work automatically. New ways to defend against Mobs came with upgraded armor, weapons, and security systems. Due to the sudden advances, many people became interested in exploring again, now that defending one's self was much easier. Indeed, Minecraftia was entering a whole new era of discovery and technology like none have seen before.

A month after arriving home, Peculier and Daisy were finally married. The ceremony was held at The Second Church of the Holy Record and led by Father_Braeburn. The Holy Record had been replaced by a second Golden one, the original lost somewhere deep within The Antioch Family Tomb in Honeydew's bag. The Dwarf partially felt he should have still been paid for keeping the thing intact for so long, but he did not openly demand it. Xephos had been well enough to attend the ceremony, albeit on a crutch, but he was there nonetheless. During the celebration afterwards, Honeydew and Isabel had slipped off somewhere with a bottle of wine. Xephos had jokingly mentioned that Peculier should get prepared to be in uncle, resulting in the older man spitting out his drink.

Templar_Adaephon had passed on to the Aether in his sleep two weeks after Peculier and Daisy's wedding. After his funeral, Peculier was crowned his rightful successor, the next High Templar and true Templar King. Shorty after that, just as Lysander had rebuilt the Skylords, Peculier had restored the Templar ranks. The man swore that he would do everything in his power to prevent another menace such as Israphel from ever rising until his final breath. He and Daisy were now living happily in Verigan's Hold. Despite her new title of Queen of the Templars, Daisy had returned to the profession she loved so dearly. Her weapons and armor quickly skyrocketed to the top of the market for their strength and quality. She had even forged Xephos a new diamond sword to replace the one that had shattered a few months before. The Spaceman said it was the best weapon he's ever had.

Now a total of five months had passed since Israphel's defeat. Xephos stood atop a small hill, overlooking the green pastures that rolled out for miles and miles around Icaria. The position of the sun suggested that it was just past noon, and not a single cloud could be spotted in the deep azure sky. The Spaceman absently adjusted his new adventurer's pack on his shoulder, lost in thought as Honeydew stepped up to stand beside him. His wistful daydream was broken when a voice spoke up behind him.

"Are you sure you have to go?"

Xephos turned to see Daisy with a frown on her face. The blacksmith stood amongst a group of the others; Isabel, Spacker, Lysander, and Peculier, all lined up to wish their comrades good luck. At the blonde woman's question, the Spaceman gave a firm nod.

"Yes. Us war heroes have to find a way to make some money during peacetime, right?" He joked with a small smile. Last week Honeydew had bought a strip of land from three odd-looking traveling salesmen that just happened to be passing through town at the time. Where the Dwarf had scrounged up enough money to afford the deed, Xephos had no idea. Honeydew then thought of the brilliant idea of building a factory of their own. They were going to mass produce his favorite cookies from back home in Khaz Modan and introduce them to the public for a profit.

"We already enlisted a scientist who lives out there to help us. We're supposed to meet him there in a few weeks time." Honeydew added. A smirk suddenly appeared on his face as he rubbed his gloved hands together greedily. "Oh, I can see it now! You and me, Xeph, rolling around in a pile of gold and Jaffas! We'll be set for life!"

The Dwarf swung an arm around his friend's shoulders and pulled him close as he said it. Xephos couldn't help but laugh a bit.

"Well, it's good to have ambitions." Lysander chuckled. It was then that Peculier stepped forward. He was wearing a similar set of armor to the one he had worn during the final battle, but now with the addition of a red silk cape draping his shoulders. The old man flashed his two friends a warm smile.

"It's been an honor fighting beside you both." The Templar told the two. His kind words made Xephos and Honeydew grin in returned.

"Consider the feeling mutual, mate." The Dwarf replied. He stepped forward and gave Peculier a hardy clap on the back, nearly causing the older man to trip and stumble forward. This resulted in the group sharing another laugh.

"Well, I think it's time for us to be off." Xephos spoke after the laughter subsided. The man turned to head back down the hill again, but he spared another glance over his shoulder. "Goodbye everyone!"

"Farewell, my darling Isabel! I'll write to you every day! This I swear!" Honeydew called. The pirate only giggled and blew him a kiss.

"Safe waters always be with you, dear dwarf." She replied.

"Goodbye, heroes! May our paths cross again one day!" Peculier shouted after them. Xephos and Honeydew turned and gave their final waves farewell before facing forward, focusing on the long dirt path stretched out before them.

"Well buddy, looks like we're on the road again." Honeydew mused. The taller man cast a glance at him, and another smile appeared on his face as he looked towards the bright sunny sky.

"Just like the good old days, ain't it?"

"Yeah, just like the good old days. ...Are we there yet?"

The Dwarf recieved a light smack to the back of the head, resulting in a hearty laugh. The Spaceman kept his wide grin as he faced forward again, placing his hands back into his coat pockets. The warmth of the summer sun bathed the two heroes as they continued down the path, eventually disappearing over the horizon. Their next big adventure had only just begun.

Somewhere within the blackest depths, cradled within a realm beyond the very fabrics of reality, it lay in wait. The ancient being was weak and broken, beaten and bruised by those tyrants of the light. It had been bested once again, banished back to the empty blackness from which it had first appeared.

Its first name had been Herobrine. It had taken a physical body in order to spread its chaos much more directly. But the light rebuttled, creating the ultimate diety Notch to protect those it terrorized. Years passed, and it had decided to take revenge. It used its influence to create The Old Ones. With such brilliant minds obeying its every whim, the physical world once again knew only terror. But its plan eventually backfired. The Old Ones grew too cocky, too selfish to remain as a single unit. They turned on each other and ended up destroying all of the being's hard, hard work.

For a few millenniums it simply spectated through the eyes of the Mobs. It still caused the occasional plague here, a mass extinction there, but otherwise it was relatively dormant. Soon it grew bored. It took another physical form, known only as The Dark Pharaoh Lehparsi. The bloody dictatorship of slavery and sacrifice was cut short by a holy agent of the light, one of the first to bear the name Antioch. More centuries passed, and it had begun to grow frustrated by failure after failure. After eons and eons of trying, it had still yet to assert dominance over that meddlesome light. It made sure that its next manifestation, Israphel, was the most ruthless and efficient of them all. That form had not initially been defeated upon its first outing; it had been banished in a different way. For one hundred years Israphel had been sealed within the Nether, only to be immediately slain after escaping by another Antioch and the two imbiciles that had accidently broken the seal in the first place.

As it began to reconstruct itself, slowly piecing the shards back together bit by bit, the ancient being began to ponder. How, it wondered, could it possibly try and plunge the physical realm into absolute darkness next time?

So many options, so much time to think. The possibilities were infinite.

Perhaps a human shape was too obvious, too fragile. It needed something subtle, something that could force the light to smite itself. Perhaps it should not corrupt people directly. Perhaps the earth should do the work for it.

Yes, that would do it. This scheme would surely work this time. The light would not be able to fight back if the world around it was pure darkness.

Ah, but the being still needed a new name, a new presence to spread across the land along with the new taint. The plants, the earth, and the life ensared by the dark soil would repeat this name for the rest of their miserable existence, their one wish only to serve their high, untouchable master.

In the coming years, Evil would rise again. It would come slowly, subtly, not detected until it was already too late. Soon a new name would become feared by all, making humanity too afraid to even speak it aloud. A new name to replace Evil's other aliases that had been defeated throughout the course of history.

And this name, this simple name, would be dear, sweet, Mother.

The End

A/N: HOLY CRAP GUYS. WE DID IT. SoI: Separated is at its official end!

I would like to personally thank everyone who has stuck by this little project of mine. If it wasn't for the massive support and kind reviews, I doubt I would have ever finished this monster of a fanfic! Now I can focus on working on my other current projects that I've unfortunately brushed to the side as of late.

Thanks again for all the follows, favorites, and reviews. Here's to many more fanfics in the future!

-DR

P.S. - If you're interested, check out my Tumblr, JadedTimberwolf. While I mostly use it for reblogging awesome fanart, I do occasionally post oneshots, doodles, and fic progress updates there. Follow if you want to keep in the loop of all my current projects! (I feel bad for advertising myself now...)