Magic

All chapters, woohoo!

Magic

Jord watched the nearly-empty battlefield below him, feeling regret pluck at his heart. He hated what he had had to do. He hated abandoning his friends. But he had made his choice and there was no turning back.

He was floating in human form just behind a cloud, trying not to cry. He was right above James's body and Emira's low keen of sorrow was drifting up far into the air. He hadn't wanted to kill the wizard – he really hadn't. But nevertheless, it had been his spell that had struck James's heart. It had been meant for Emira... but he had been protecting her. Of course.

Jord sighed sadly, turning his back on his former friends and slowly flying away. He was striking out on his own now. Becoming a bad guy, as it were. Any decision he made, he would do, because there were no rules restricting him any longer.

The only thing Jord hadn't expected about becoming rouge was the fact that it wasn't quite as satisfying as he thought.

Jord shifted into a dragon, falling slightly before catching a wind current and soaring off. He never got the same delight out of becoming a dragon that the others did, but it was still useful for traveling long distances. And Notch knows, he needed to get as far away as possible. Maybe he could flee to Yulrukia, the abandoned kingdom, and stay there for a time. Or maybe the forests of Bedafare, where he could make a jungle castle. It wasn't like he was lacking in building talents.

Jord decided that he would stay in Yulrukia for now, just to lay low, then build his own kingdom in Bedafare. Maybe he would gather recruits. In fact, he had always been good at summoning. Maybe he could create his own recruits... from the earth and stone.

The dead will rise, oh yes they will. Richard had said that much. Rising to fight... Jord smiled. They would fight for him. He would make them.

A looming tower of the Yulrukian castle appeared in the distance and Jord glided towards it, catching an air current down. Rain streaked down his scales as he landed in front of the crumbing stone walls and shifted, strolling through the gates and grimacing in pain. Shifts were not pleasant in the slightest – especially the tail.

Jord shuddered. The bloody tail... it was always the weirdest.

But tails aside, Jord was here for a reason and that was to establish the first start of his kingdom. He would begin summoning here, maybe in the dried-up fountain. It would become a fountain of blood and of life, allowing those once dead to step out of its falls.

Jord muttered a quick spell as he reached the castle doors and they slowly creaked open, cobwebs trailing thickly from the edges. The stone archway crumbled a bit and a few bits of pebbles fell on Jord's shoulders. He flinched, even though they didn't really hurt, but shrugged it off and went inside. Being out of the rain was a slight comfort, but he was still wary of his surroundings.

The interior of the castle was as expected; dark and musty. Dust poofed up under his feet and Jord eyed the support columns suspiciously. He didn't like the cracks in the stone bricks. It made him feel uneasy and he stayed silent, fearing that if he spoke, the slightest sound could cause the building to collapse on him. He would have to fix this place up a bit, even if he was only living here temporarily.

Or maybe he wouldn't leave. Maybe he would renew this ancient and long forgotten kingdom from the very birth of Minecraftia, when the gods were still young.

Jord cautiously approached a pile of tinder in the middle of the room, pushed back against the wall. At one point, it might have been a majestically carved throne, but now – it was nothing more than firewood. With a quiet snap of his fingers, Jord had lit the pile of wood, which blazed to life almost immediately, the dry wood crackling and shifting. He sat down cross-legged in front of the fire and stared at the orange and yellow blaze. The castle around in was mostly made of stone brick, so he didn't have to worry about it burning down. Any scorch marks could later be taken care of with a simple cleaning spell.