17.

><>2nd person POV<><

::: Previously: After lifetime after lifetime, you have revealed the truth to nonone, so you were having understandable concerns when you had told Carter, a young boy, who was now a young man, all about your long life and your time as Cody. And he, took it rather surprisingly, still just thinking it all over in his head as you left; headed for your next target: King Notch. :::

You leave the large center building: Town Hall, as soon as you can. It is almost awkward staying in that same place after having finally told someone the truth about your past.

"Co- A- Andrea! Wait up!" Carter shouts from behind you. You turn around quickly to see him running out to you.

"What is it?" You ask inquisitively. Carter pants for a moment once he has caught up, and begins to speak right after.

"I- I'm sorry. I was still processing everything. I just have to come with you.. I mean, I want to help." He says. You smile a little by the offer, but then frown when you realize what you are up against.

"..Carter. It is too dangerous for you to come along. I know I will be alright because," you take a moment to look around for any snooping eyes, "you-know. But you? You aren't able to do what I can do, which is why I had traded my life for you in the first place." You speak much quieter.

"You clearly don't have a plan then. Not everything requires brute force and fighting. Maybe for this one, it wouldn't be a bad idea to put a little more planning into it." Carter suggests with a smile, tapping his own forehead litely. You think his words over. He does make a valid point. Your last self was much stronger and capable than this one. A one on one on fight would never end well, especially against someone waaayy, more powerful than you. Maybe, Carter's idea isn't such a bad one.

"Makes sense, but don't you still have responsibilities here? What will everyone do without you?" You ask.

"Oh, they should be just fine. I am only here to make sure everything runs smoothly. Besides, I already talked with my second in command, Kakay, and she said she would be glad to fill in while I was gone. I just.. I just want to repay you for saving me, I guess. Like, after you died, I wished for so long that I could have done something to save you. I kept imagining all the what-ifs and possibilities that could have happened in order to save you. Now that you are actually here, right in front of me -- looking different for sure but still the same person at heart -- I just want to, be your friend, I guess." He gives his speech a little shyly. Without warning you pull him into a tight hug.

"I will be honored to have you join me. Just, if things are looking dangerous; don't try to be heroic or anything." You thank, and instruct.

"Heh, got it. No heroism." Carter chuckles. Then, he pushes you out of the hug, not being mean or anything, and looks at you directly. "So, what is your next move towards world peace?" He asks with a smirk.

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"Ya-know, I think it is kinda strange actually going against Notch. I mean.. I was practically raised hearing about him as the literal symbol of good; Herobrine being the symbol of evil." Carter points out as the two of you lay on your bellies, scoping out the castle walls of Notch's kingdom. It had been a, maybe one week, long travel. Both your horses graze quietly behind you two. Carter had reintroduced you to Prince, who was doing well after all these years. The stallion didn't appear to recognize you, however, which made sense. But still, you had kind of hoped there was some magical connection between the two of you as is with animals and humans in stories.

"Alright, smarty pants, you want to go over the plan again?" You tease. He can tell right away and smiles back playfully. It has actually been nice just being able to talk with him along the trip on horseback.

"Okay flimsy. So, you already know the part where you disguise yourself as a maid to get in, right?" You nod, remembering when both you and him had worked that part out. "And, I am supposed to wait a few hours before entering, myself; giving you hopefully enough time to adjust to the new surroundings... I enter more as a stealthy bandit, at worst my punishment -- if caught -- would be prison, which if anything would just keep me out of harms way. Now. I know you wouldn't be able to sneak and potions in yourself," You nod for him to continue in his moment pause, "So I am the one who brings that potion into the castle for you and hide it somewhere only you know to look. What kind of potion was it again, because the last time I heard someone tried to poison Notch, it only made him belch."

"Oh, it's a special potion I have been putting together for the longest time. I have even managed to enchant it. It won't be strong enough to kill him, but it would either weaken him enough for someone to finish it themselves, or he just stay sick for a few centuries before finally dieing." You explain.

"Wow, that sounds horrible. Are you sure he deserves it?"

"Does Herobrine deserve it?"

"Pff! That is an easy question, yes, but he killed tons of people!"

"Well, so did Notch. History has just been written in a way to loop around all that. Remember that coliseum I mentioned earlier? He pretty much tore families apart for entertainment. If that isn't deserving, then I clearly don't know what is." You end the little debate with that. Carter is silent for a moment as he looks down at the castle with seemingly a new perspective.

"Wait, special potion? Where is that?" Carter asks you. You look around your person instinctively, before remembering you have died a couple times since then, and it is most likely still at your old base.. with that journal you had also left for... Right. It has been a while since you have had to think about that hidden place and all it's secrets.

"Oh," you face palm in embarasment. "that is the other reason I came here, isn't it?" Carter chuckles at your remembering a tiny bit as you scan the horizon even harder than before.

"We will have to do this tomorrow. My old base isn't too far away, but still would take us a while to go there and back. So, I guess we should head that way now?" You shrug while still on your belly. Carter does the same, and you both stand to your feet at the same time. You both jump once again on your horses' backs and begain riding westward from the castle -- you two had arrived from the southern-western direction.

"Hey, what exactly is written in that book of yours anyways." Carter asks after a few minutes of trotting through the simple oak forest.

"Oh, nothing too much I guess. Just a bunch of memories, lessons I learned, formulas I put together, documents of the world around me as culture changed, and overall just a lot like some really old diary I guess."

"Hm, I bet that would be pretty interesting to mass-produce someday. Do you ever plan on telling everyone your secret; maybe when you have accomplished your mission?"

"No. I don't really plan... well, I guess I sort of am, actually. This secret has been bubbling up for so long, it was like carefully opening the top of a pressure-built volcano when I finally told you. I can only imagine the relief I will finally have when everyone knows. Maybe, I will even sell the book. It would be a great thing for all those who want to really know what has happened in the past."

"...Do you have any plans for once you have completed your goal. Or are you just going to let whoever take control again from what you left behind, and remake what you want to destroy all over again." Carter asks you thoughtfully. You think for a moment, recalling some old ideas you had once written about in your journal. You too had wondered the same thing. It would be pretty pointless to just kill a king and expect everything to go well from there.

"It won't be easy.. that I know for sure, but I hope to bring all the different kingdoms together and create some sort of democratic system or something, so there won't be any more bad rulers ever again. At least that is my hope. If something ever does go wrong, then I guess I will just have to go back to fix it." You answer.

"..Go back from where? Are you just going to retire or something?"

"I guess.. There is a nice little mountain range I found a while ago. In a little pocket of those mountains is a small, peaceful valley.. I hope to be able to go back there some day and live out my time there, maybe even finally die of old age... Maybe, that is how I pass permanently. I have never been able to test it, however, but maybe that is how I will end my story..." You answer with a peace washing over you that surprises Carter. Never before has he met someone like you; someone who has lived so long that they have pretty much seen everything; that their end goal, after everything else, is to just die, permanently. It sounds a little sad at first, but then again, immortals, including you, really never do get their chance at simply: passing away.

You two finally make it to your old base as the sun is slowly beginning to set over the treeline, casting pink and orange light everywhere. The two of you find a simple; beaten down, old wooden shack in the middle of the forest. Absolutely nothing around to signify it as a landmark. Outside the entrance are two rusted iron golems, sitting with their backs against the wall, absolutely lifeless; still awaiting their master's commands. The memories flood back in as you scotch between the two iron husks in order to enter through the remains of an old wooden door. Carter follows closely behind, looking even more uneasy than you.

"Okay, so this is one of the places where I died.. so don't freak out if you find a, bodyyy.." You trail off once you yourself see an old skeleton lying on the floor across the room from you. The skeleton wears a very warn version of your old rival's tunic and trousers. That must be where he died. You, however, can't find your own body. Remembering back, you never have seen your previous self in any state other than alive, but you were still pretty sure there had to be some corpse somewhere. Maybe it just vanished when you died? "Um, hey, random question, but, what happened to my body after I died?" Carter's eyes snapped from the dead body on the floor to you in a hurry.

"U- uh- um, you were buried. Why?" He asked as he was having a hard keeping his eyes off the skeleton.

"Oh, I am just wondering if it vanished or anything. Because, well, my older self ' s skeleton clearly isn't here." You point out, suggesting to Carter that there should be something right next to an old desk, which you quickly move over to to grab the series of journals, important and pointless, to shove into your inventory.

"So that skeleton right there isn't yours?!" Carter squeaks. You glance over and see he is still looking at your rival's skeleton.

"No. That was the man who killed me. It was kind of a life for a life situation." You answer plainly, opening a few drawers in search for that potion. Carter sounds like he is holding back some vomit.

"Ugh.. you keep looking for that, thing.. I should probably go check on the horses." He says with a sickened waver to his voice.

"Alright, but ditch now and you'll never hear the end of it." You chuckle as he runs up the stairs. You remember your first time seeing dead. You had had absolutely no idea what was wrong. Well, you are past that now. Far past. After some digging -- also finding a few other valuable items to take along, like an old totem of undying: useful -- your hand finally runs into the potion, and you pull it out.

Before you, in your careful grip, you hold a glowing milky white potion. Little waves of enchantments ripple in the liquid, silently testifying just how deadly this thing is. You would try to make it deadlier, bringing yourself up a few levels and spending a few more months perfecting the potion, but, you fear you are running out of time already. The Immortals are getting restless once again; you can feel it. Any longer and they might revert back to their old habits just out of boredom and start another devastating war. Herobrine has already been showing signs of this; breaking his promise to keep his control off the monsters, and completely ignoring the being nice to humans thing as well. It won't be long until everything crumbles once again. It won't be long. You don't have time for perfection.