A Path to a Different Happy Ending (Flower Husbands Empires Fic)

Chapter Two: Status Update

Shubble looked at her Nether portal. She'd done quite a lot of research on how they worked. She'd dimension-travelled through the nether to get here, and maybe she could figure out a way to find her people and bring them back to the Undergrove, maybe make it a safe haven for all gnomes. She refused to accept that her people were dead. They were out there, and she was going to find them.

She flipped through the old, leather-bound book of Nether lore she had on her lap. This one had proven to be rather reliable. She could get into the thing it called the 'Greater Nether' through a portal of crying obsidian, like the one hidden behind her normal Nether portal.

And the Greater Nether... Now that was interesting, and very important to her research. She believed she had gone through it to get here. It was like an overlay on all dimensions. You could use it to traverse between them.

She'd be there now, looking for her people. She wanted to come back, and find her family quickly. However... The only reliable way to use magic outside of the dimension it originated in was either enchantments, none of which would work for her purposes, or something called Watcher Magic. She'd have to find one of the few worlds with access to the True End to get that. Aaaaaand that was all the information she could find on that. No ways to find them, no alternatives, no information on how exactly she was going to get this Watcher Magic, or how to use it.

Shubble slammed her book shut with a huff. It was all very frustrating.

~*~

Gem was happy. Her academy was up and running, spreading the joy of magic into the world. She looked at it from her elytra landing pad, delighting in the business of it.

"It's wonderful, isn't it, Gandalf?" She smiled at her cat.

It really was... Gem had so much free time to study magic on her own, to expand her kingdom, to hang out with her friends, to do whatever she wanted... It was nice to not have any demons bothering her.

"Gemgemgemgemgemgem!" fWhip landed next to her.

"What?" If he had gotten some shenanigan going and needed her to be PR and fix it-

"I decided to host the monthly meeting. Eastvale gates, tomorrow at ten."

Well that wasn't what she was expecting, but her curiosity was piqued. "I'll be there." She said.

What happened to make him host the meeting? What did he and Sausage do?

~*~

Katherine was lying among the flowers. Her eyes were closed, the grass was soft, and she was just listening to the burbling of the river that was a few blocks away, drinking in the scents of her flowers and wallowing in spring beauty. Peace. None of her friends were killing each other, and nothing was killing her friends - except their own stupidity, but there was nothing anyone could do about that.

It was great.

Katherine... She felt the call of the Spring. A flash of worry darted through her. She opened her eyes and sat up, frowning. Why was it reaching out to her? Did it foresee something happening, like with that Life Seed it gave her? That still worried her. What was coming? How could anything ruin this peace? Of course, none of the emperors foresaw Xornoth, so... Anything could happen. Katherine hoped it wouldn't, though.

She drew herself to her feet to investigate the Spring's call. It wasn't actually very far from where she'd been lying, so she was at the little cave with the flower farm and the Spring within a few minutes.

"Hello, Spring." She smiled. It was so beautiful there. Then she went to the book that the Spring used to communicate to her.

Guardian.