The Story So Far...

From the journal of Henri Lemark

[henri-lemark]

The Secret Lives of Endermen 54

Year XXXX December 27 We had not gone very far before seeing the Raiders and their flat faced beasts.  The sheer number of raiders wouldn’t be a problem with the size of the wall that village has even if you took into account the crossbows they carry. But the beasts?  They're huge, with horns and thick armored hides and while they look slow moving once one does get moving quickly it seems impossible to really stop without a great deal of effort. The Raiders have Evokers and witches to weaken the defenders and to strike from a distance. I don’t envy that village, even if their hospitality was shoddy, the defense they will have to mount will need to be impressive and sustained, These pillagers had only the barest attention to spare the Endermen and I, with only a pair of witches pointing as they marched through the night. Maybe we did that village a favor by riling them up at a time they’d normally be sleeping?  One of the Evokers laughed at the witches and sent a pair of tiny flying sprites our way.  While fast moving, they could only really dodge an aggravated Enderman for so long before being knocked out of the air and I was able to collect the remains for study.

Regardless, that is not a thing I should worry about, not with what I’m hearing from Sven and Tiny.  Not quite sure what it is but this splinter clan are all acting twitchy, watching the horizon and sticking to the strips of land one does not normally see Endermen traveling on their way to somewhere. They describe it as a place of monstrous trees with strange creatures, it could be any place though it makes me think of the snowy forests with their ancient pine trees or perhaps the jungles though the only strange things there are brightly colored birds which the clan have not seen really.  Or perhaps it’s something else entirely that I’ve never witnessed, so far from home it is likely. Wherever it is, it worries this band of young Endermen. Mel is reasonably calm and seems to be nudging Sven and Tiny along.  I would be lying if I said I wasn’t worried at the chatter of another doorway between worlds, the Nether is enough of a problem without the added challenge of Herobrine.

Now that I think of it, haven’t seen him in a while and the noise box I’ve had for a while is gone. I wonder if the village elders took it. If so, have they managed to get it working.

  Henri Lemark

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Chapter 53

Year XXXX November 27th

 Not sure how I got into a town with a snapped collarbone, last thing I remember was laying broken under a tree and staring into white eyes.  I was apparently found just outside the front gate to the village with my pack wrapped up in old bandages and shards of glass littering the ground about me.  It’s hard to make out what they’re saying outside the room, though when I see out into the hall beyond there’s always someone with armor and a sword.  I think I’ve heard them talking about pillagers though no one will speak on that topic when I ask. I wonder if they think I’m one.  Not sure how I’d convince them otherwise though there is one young lass who brings in my meals who has taken to reading the books I have with my observations on Endermen. According to her, I’m not the only one writing about these fascinating creatures that wander our world. Perhaps I can ask for a copy of the book so I can compare my findings to figure out what misinformation Sven’s given me and make corrections. Perhaps if I can find a way to meet this Soren we might combine our efforts to understand them, and their origins in a far more effective manner.  Solitary research is well and good but collaborations open he way to new creative ideas, theories, and pursuits toward a shared goal.

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December 14

th

I don’t know what those people have gone through but spending time in their prison for an assumed association with Raiders is more than enough for a lifetime.  I’m just thankful Sven, Mel, and Railey came to rescue me from another interrogation.  It’s hard to Enderman proof a place, especially if you’re dealing with a hybrid the size of an average person.  Harder still to stop an Enderman Archer who makes up for his lack of aim with a great deal of enthusiasm and appropriately sized arrows for his size which are very intimidating to see embed themselves in walls and ground.

Railey must have made Sven more arrows because he didn’t have that many and he can’t really craft anything other than to strip long branches in the hopes that one might be usable once he rips off all the leaves and twigs.

Other than the sling the only good thing that happened was learning about Soren  That and getting my pack back, Railey had found it with nearly all my things, save for that magic metal box from another world that made scratchy sounds.

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Decembar 26

We have not gone back to Effars clan. Sven won't say why but he has some injuries that look Enderman made.  The group is small now, him, Tiny, a few stragglers from the lowest social circles, Mel’lank and her Endling, Sasha and her small family who seem quite worried about something and tend to Sven’s wounds, and Railey.

If I had to guess I would say perhaps Sven was ousted by his father over a squabble for leadership but that doesn’t explain why Sasha is here instead of back with her mother and father, Svens older brother was kicked out without Sasha running off with him and Sven is lacking in the same raw muscle his father has though he is a bit more clever than most his kind.

Railey is clammed up about the incident that lead to the separation, perhaps in time I can get her to talk with me about it. For now though I must let my body mend, and observe what this splinter of a clan is up to.

                                   Henri Lemark

A/N  Ouch, that’s gonna take a while to heal

[henri-lemark]

Chapter 52

Year XXXX November 2 This has been a hard weel, It seems there’s not many fruit bearing trees in the area we’re traveling through and I find myself wishing dearly that Kefka was around to hunt for us. Fishing is out of the question unless I was to do so when it’s daytime and while Mushrooms are plentiful I’m loosing my taste for them. Stewed, cooked, or otherwise. Sven thinks rotten flesh can be usable and that I ought to know a way to make it less gross and edible.  To be honest I do but I lack salt or a drying rack to make it that way and it would take time, which I’m not sure id’ have.  Not to mention the thought of eating any kind of Jerky from zombie flesh makes me feel a bit ill. Speaking of zombies, there’s a new type I’ve been seeing in the water, they gurgle and occasionally have a throw able weapon in hand I’ve not seen in some time, certainly never seen one used before this. After one began chucking their trident at me Mel grew alarmed and put me on her shoulders to carry, presumably for safety, and hissed at the thing as it poked it’s head out of the water for another shot.  Its aim was pretty good too; it’s going to take a while to heal from where it clipped me in the arm. Now the youth that hangs onto me thinks the bandage are some sort of toy and gets his teeth and claws stuck in them while try to pulling it off. He seems averse to the bits that have blood on them, will have to figure out why later. For now though, I will have to hope for the best as there are no doctors to tend it. Mel however has been rolling her Pearl along my arm when we stop traveling. I have mentioned it before but for me at least it numbs and tingles so the process is worth it based on simple pain relief regardless of any accelerated healing.  Sven has not come near enough to translate what she’s saying  exactly but given his little prank I have to wonder how much of my information is invalid now.                                    Henri Lemark        

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Chapter 50

Year XXXX October 19 Work notes:  Enderman Eggs and Fatherhood

Whatever the process is that creates new life for Endermen seems quite draining on humans.  Riley, UvVi, Sven and Theo seemed very concerned about my lethargy and I have not felt like myself until recently.  I want to say I had fallen ill with something, that I wasn't rendered feeble by the strange mating ritual that was rather chaste considering how most other creatures in the world propagate.  I am a father, I had always wanted to have a family but I never thought it would be like this.

Uvvi's been supportive, as has Riley and Theo for which I am thankful since I had no time to prepare myself for what I had believed to be a completely improbable occurrence.  Mel it turns out isn't a first time mother and for that, I am glad since I don't feel prepared for parenthood.  At least one of us knows what to do with active children that will eventually teleport away from me assuming that the hybrid survives that long.  I suppose until that time I will have to do what I can to raise the Hybrid to the best of my ability to fit into the world in whatever way it can. That is all that any parent can hope for.

It makes me think of my own family and of my parents specifically, when I was Sven's relative human age I was just beginning to apprentice under Master Hamilton as a scribe. Mother was heavy with my eldest sister at the time and father was very proud that his oldest son had secured what he considered a good position.  Gabriel, the next youngest of my brothers was always at  home, helping mother as it got harder to move about.   She never complained but we knew that she would be happy to birth our sister Titiana.

No matter how awkward or painful it was she always smiled when her belly was swollen, and she nurtured us all equally even with a baby on her hip though the older kids were expected to chip in when it came to caring for the baby.  I even went out to get a new nanny goat with what little silver I had from transcribing books for the Council whenever mother had trouble keeping up with the baby's appetite.

It takes a great deal of focus, attention, energy, and love to raise children properly for humans, wolves, mice, birds and any being that mothers their young. Children must be taught how to survive before they can strike out in a world; it ensures the survival of the species and among other things.  While they do not birth their young in the human manner, they still spend a great deal of time raising the little Endermen.

It is a trait common to many creatures in our world, to nurture a baby and show it how to live in the world.  For the most part animals mature quickly because their lifespan aren't terribly long in the wild/ I do not know how long an Enderman can live naturally but it seems that they perhaps can live as long if not longer than humans. They have no real concept of time or at least not the way we think of it. When a thing must be done, it is done at the time it needs to happen.  I cannot quite wrap my head about this but it seems o work for them.

Pearls, for all the differences do draw from their parents when held. To an Enderman I suppose the drain is negligible, or they know how to replenish what their egg takes from them but the drain isn't so forgiving to humans.   I can hold the egg for, part of a night before it feels as though I hauled a log   behind me at a sprint.  Even if I am human the clan is looking at me strangely for not holding onto the pearlized egg so I'll have to hope that either the egg hatches soon or I can find a way to reduce the strain from holding it in my hands.

I always wanted to be a father, wanted to be married; it is a dream I have had since I was a lad studying under my old Master.  I wanted to build my own house have a wife, sire a few children and raise them well with Kefka and her pups at my side. My dream has come true after a fashion but it is not the way I thought it would be.  

  Henri Lemark

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Chapter 49

Year XXXX October 4

This must be written while it is fresh, from the lap of my new 'wife' as we cradle our child, who at this point is just an egg, just like Sven and all Enderman were.

Yesterday, just before Mel'lank picked me up the clan started to make one of those breeding structures around the gutted remains of a house and the inside was predictably dark.  Before Mel had snatched me off the ground, Sven grabbed my arm and shoved a nearly burnt out Redstone torch up my sleeve so I could see while inside.   Mel proudly walked inside the structure with me in her arms and we sat in the middle with her cooing above my head and her legs creating a kind of barrier to keep me from going anywhere.

It toke some convincing but Mel let me place the torch after striking it on the ground to get the dust particles to start creating light, not much but enough to clearly see Mel's face.  Her eyes were a deeper purple than I have ever seen before I was gathered up with the diamond I had gathered to serve as the shell base for the life we were about to create.  She guided my hands so that we both were holding the diamond and she purred as the torchlight played of the gems rough surface.

For the longest time, nothing happened.  Mel sat there and I became more anxious when something started to happen, I felt a kind of heat rising from Mels' hands and a strange energy started to flow into the diamond.   I could feel her watching me expectantly, waiting for me to do the same and all I could think of was a time in that Istrisol city where I was recovering and spending my time in one of their pursuits to become a mage.

It was all about expectations, the possibility existed for me to cast a snowball from the end of the lacquered stick I held but if I expected failure, nothing would happen. It took nearly all the time I spent there to master simple things that the children there could do easily.  I tried that again, to let go of my reservations about this process and trust that it worked because Riley was alive and had mentioned her parents.

It was like that, her holding on as our fingertips touched the diamond until eventually I felt myself begin to grow hot and the same energy Mel had cast into the egg came from my hands.  A cool green to counter her violet one rose from my palms to dive into the diamond and before my eyes the same strange swirl that resides in Enderpearls began to form in the confines of the gem before it began to vibrate so much that I was afraid it would fall to the ground.  I was ready to grab it with both hands when the third hardest substance known to man pulled my hand to the surface and Mel's purring got louder as the rough edges popped out and rippled into a smooth, nearly perfectly round shape.

An instant of paralyzing heat followed by stunning cold and suddenly I felt, a pulse or a heartbeat. I felt tired, like I had been running nonstop for the better part of a day and I was forced to slump into Mel'lank as she took our child in one hand with concern.  It fits in her palm easily and her curled fingers practically obscure it from view; our strange, mixed blood child.  Mel had to carry me out of the breeding structure and for the rest of the night since my body refused to respond to my commands.

Just moving the quill on the page is tiring.  I need to sleep,  I'm hungry, I miss Kefka.

  Henri Lemark

[henri-lemark]

Chapter 48

Year XXXX October 3

*a bit of ink is splattered across the first few paragraphs obscuring a few letters but overall it's legible and the calligraphy seems to have changed after the afflicted section.*

    Oh dear. They are making one of those structures that I've seen mated pairs enter.  I have no doubts who will be entering but I don't feel ready.  Mel brought back some kind of plant whose extract helped with my headaches and they've been absent for a few days now so I wonder if somehow the pain was making it impractical for her to try and make a child with me.  The prospect is daunting; she is so much larger and stronger than I am, than any human could ever hope be.  If I am unable to complete this energy requirement, I fear what will happen.

I suppose I have little choice but to try what Theo suggested and visualize emotions as a color and try and put that COLOR outside my body to see if it works.  If not, i have to wonder how long we will be in there, trying to make it work before we leave.  Somehow it does work I've seen hybrids as proof that the method of reproducing Sven told me about wor-

*the handwriting has changed to a larger, untidy scrawl*

Yep!  Henri's a bit busy now so I get to write again! Been so long I almost forgot how I hold this little feather thing.  I like Otherworld better it had little sticks that held ink so it didn't get all over you.

Yah so Mel'lank dragged Henri into the little hut we all made and his stuff got scattered except for a diamond that Mel took with her.  Riley helped me put everything back in my friends little bag since her hands are smaller and Uvvi's wolf helped us fine every last thing of Henris' that was scattered.  

Rileys taken a lot of the wool Henri had and is doing something with it and some brushes she has for his hair to make it all fluffy and soft. Says that human-Enderkids have a hard time staying warm so she was gonna make a blanket or something.  

I guess she would know she is a mixed Ender.

We passed by another clan today.  Well not really PASSED we could smell their passing on the wind but they couldn't smell us.  They had blood on their scent human blood and Dad led us away downwind so Henri wouldn't be put in danger.   Henri can't get away from troubles, he has to stick around and deal with it since he can't step into another world to escape.  

Speaking of Otherworlds Unkle said he was gonna take me Endermite hunting.  Him, dad and all the others are gonna go to that place where the parasity things live and exterminate them! This is good, they're itchy if they get in your skin and they hurt when they bite.  If we can get rid of them all then things will be better.

Theo's looking at me funny says I'm not writing right. He wants to teach me things called grammar and punctuation because I'm not doing it all right.  Just putting the letters in the right order is hard and writing so small makes my hand hurt.  Humans say the same world several times but write it different ways, and it means a different thing each time, it's confusing!  I don't want to learn new things when the old things are still hard.  How can they even write. Can't they talk and remember like us?

[henri-lemark]

Chapter 47

Year XXXX September 21

    Well, things have not changed much between Mel’lank and myself except that she's growing continuously more frustrated with me about mating.  There simply are not any dragons eggshells to use and those shells are harder than anything known to man except for bedrock, and obsidian and perhaps diamonds. Since bedrock is unattainable, I will have to try for diamonds and hope for the best, which leaves me with the energy portion of how Enders mate.  Lacking any diamond tools obsidian is out of the question and since some roughly hewn diamonds cam be the size and shape of an egg depending on the vein you find. I hope it is an agreeable surrogate for the shell of those dragons.

     Mel seems encouraged that I have found a substitute for the dragons shell and she excitedly disappears at night to dig through caves and ravines in search of those rare gems.  All that I have left to figure out is this externalization of energy needed to give this 'shell' life but all I can think of is that girl with purple hair saying that when she listens to the right music it feels like her emotions  are an energy that can be tapped into by others.  I suppose I understand what she means.  If one is truly moved by something, it can feel as though your emotions are tangible.

     On the subject of strong emotion, I find myself setting aside some cooked meat for Kefka or reaching out expecting to bury a hand in her coarse fur only to remember I let her go to raise a family of her own.  A few days after her absence I kept thinking that I heard the soft scuff of her paws on the mossy forest ground or the small huff as she nudged an Enderman for a scratch or food.  Even the Endermen seem confused that she is not here with me and the youngsters keep coming to me asking where she's gone.  I know Keffy is not dead but her absence is no less sudden or easier to bear.

      I have told the kids that ask about Kefka being a mom but they don't seem to understand that wolves raise their pups differently than Endermen parents.  I have tried to tell them wolves raise their pups the way rabbits raise their kits, in a den where the mother protects, warms, and feeds her babies, the end result is many harassed rabbits and a few bitten Endermen from sticking their hands into a cornered rabbits burrow.  We had the misfortune of harassing a rabbit with red eyes and it chased us relentlessly until the kids had run far enough for the rabbit to thump the ground growl and turned to hop back to its den.

    On a different note, the clan has been using stars as their guide and things have been getting tenser between Effar and his son.  Sven has been staying as far away from his father as possible and Knell is very troubled by it, she's trying to be a peacekeeper between her grandfather and uncle and I hope to Notch that she doesn't get involved.  I have heard of this kind of thing happening during divorces where children are involved, I just hope Sasha and Zephram can keep the girl out of trouble

    Those dreams of the man in the light have finally stopped but its' been replaced by headaches the likes of whish I've never experienced before.  I have tried several natural remedies I know of and I think I'll have to ask Theo if he think of any kind of cure, these pains are quite insistent but vanish after a few minutes.  I am not dehydrated, they come and go without warning and closing my eyes seems to help.

      Speak of the devil I feel one of those migraine headache things coming on so I'm going to stop before it gets any worse.

                                                    Henri Lemark

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Chapter 46

Year XXXX October 13    Friday the thirteenth, an unlucky day for most men and I am no exception. Things just did not go right today with the exception of a conversation with Sven and the chance to learn a bit more about a young male of the clan whom I haven't had a chance to interact with.  He has kept his distance but always I thought he was watching me from the corner of my eye.  His lost an eye due to an accident with glass and for weeks after the incident, clansmen told him not to be Cveriss, which he reacted to poorly until the injuries scarred over.    The remaining eye is a curiosity, Endermen are capable of displaying many colors at once showing their emotional state and intent but this one can actually show off the complicated colors I had imagined on the rest. Three, even four colors at a time can be clearly seen in his eyes instead of a blend of two that fools me into seeing a third.  This oddity isolates him from his own family but it is not enough to have him exiled from the clan.  Vaess ran up to me with a tale of a village where D'ni and the others could go and I set off at once with Mel and Tiny close behind to check it out before I told the youngsters that their travels with Endermen was nearly over.    I am very glad I did wait, it took us forty-five minutes walk to the village and at first, I thought the residents were shuttered in their houses for the night to keep safe from the zombies.  Vaess looked at the windows and in the well to catch his reflection many times but I saw neither hide nor hair of the villages residents, just torn bits of cloth and debris of a fight and  a great many broken doors with bits of rotten flesh caught on the busted wooden frames.  I was about to see if there was an underground refuge when I caught movement from the corner of my eye behind one of the houses.    What was left of the villagers charged from a cave by the village farms with chunks taken from their bodies and shredded robes; they had all been zombified.  Even the children had been turned and they ran at me the fastest of all the zombies. One the little monstrosities ran across Tiny's foot and under better circumstances I might have laughed when he kicked his feet as high into the air as he could manage and teleport onto the roof of a house to check for any foulness or injury.  As it was, I turned tail and fled from the site of Testificate carnage until the walking dead could no longer see me and I was too short of breath to keep going.    The trip back to the clan was uneventful in comparison and Tiny was constantly scuffing is feet in the grass as though he had stepped in something he found distasteful.  On the way back, I asked Sven what Mel had been talking to him about, he smiled as he told me that Mel had told him how little Endermen are born, or are suppose to be born.  It is a process I could not have guessed at and given how hushed Sven behaved when he spoke; it must be one of their greatest secrets.    Normally when a couple is ready to have a child they seek out special foods that they use to help boost their natural energy level so they can externalize the raw power of a pearl without it taking on a form.  Then they take the hardest thing they can find. In The End, they use the cracked shells of Dragons eggs and those shells combine with the energy they create to make something I have never even considered; an Enderman Egg that looks so much like a pearl that from a distance humans can't tell a difference.    For obvious reasons this method will not work for us since we do not have a Dragons eggshell and Sven is less than helpful with helping me come up with an alternative.  Riley and Evalias' existence prove that it is possible for a human and Enderman to have a child but I'm at a loss of HOW it is accomplished.  We do not procreate the same way and with the news of eggs I am not entirely sure Endermen are mammals anymore.  They care for their young the way wolves, horses, cows, pigs and people do but they create eggs like chickens and Dragons, but I've never seen them carrying eggs, only very small pearls.    With such heavy thoughts leading me back to the clan, I mulled Sven's news over.  I have a lot of thinking to do since I now know what Mel may try to force onto me; the energy will be difficult since humans are incapable of projecting anything outside our bodies that comes remotely close to one of their Pearls.  Again, I am forced to look upon the alternative if I can't make this work I will find myself on the receiving end of a pointless mating ritual that is doomed to fail.  What will Mel do if she does not get to have the offspring she so desires?    I have to think of something and fast if I don't want to find out how far my 'mate' will go to get what she obviously desires                                                    Henri Lemark

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Chapter 45

Year XXXX September 28     Pearls and Flame    I never thought I would be married, not since I left Emilia behind when I started my journey to study Endermen. Suddenly being married, to an Enderman no less, is very disorienting and I find myself uneasy since I've entered a level of Enderman society I had believed barred to me by incompatibility.  Now I watch as Mel'lank hunts out the specific foods that I have witnessed females that are preparing to be mothers eat. Vine tips, cast off husks of fruit, and the occasional flower are what is usually sampled when they prepare to make a baby but as with humans each individual has their own specific dietary urges.  She is partial to the Alliums I first saw in Stargrain, rose petals and odd blue flower I have seen in swamps as of late.  Theo is in awe of the new plants and stares at the rosebushes we pass and I can see why, these rosebushes are as tall as a man is and full of impressive thorns unlike the single flowers that are common in Vendross.    Mel has been very open about her hopes to have me sire a child with her and I do not think she understands that it is imposable since I'm human for various anatomical reasons.  She gets frustrated when I try to explain this to her and insists that it can be done by pointing at Evalia and Riley, with such proof watching me every day I can't deny that somehow a hybrid human/Enderman can happen.  As long as Mel is willing to talk about it, I can be reasonably assured that she will not do anything to me to get what she wants but I've seen Endermen use force to get their way.  I do not want to be known for being forced to sire offspring against my will with an Ender.    With that said, Mel has gone to Sven to talk and I have not overheard what they talk about, Sven seems fascinated by whatever the topic is and I can see him memorizing every word.  Between conversations with Sven, Mel has been spending a lot of time with me and made a point of sharing food; to be polite I follow her example but I feel trapped by the exchange.  I am not a married man by human standards but the clan considers me so with the binding of hands with string, which complicates things. Endermen are marital monogamists and part only when one of them dies, there is no such thing as divorce for them.    On a different note, those without a child of their own have adopted our little survivors and are doing their best to keep their charges alive healthy and happy.  The little villager that fell in love with Endermen thanks to my writings is delighted by his new parents and is soaking up everything he can.  He caught onto the child's games quickly and is more than happy to be the miner in the Miner and Creepers game, and happily imitates the Endermen when he gets to play that role.  He even has a talent for Bobstones and his face really lights up when he wins a round.    Tiny has taken D'ni under his wing and together they get into trouble even more so than when Tiny and Sven get rowdy with Annalae's bow, most notably when the villager created flint and steel.  Tiny held the tool in one hand and was clicking it to watch the sparks fly from it; Sven passed by and observed the orange motes flying into the air before belching.  Sven has maintained his appetite for dehydrated watermelons and both Tiny and the villager threw themselves backwards when the sparks caught the noxious gas and turned it into a fiery plume that was shooting from Sven's face.  Even Sven looked startled and he threw himself backwards, flailed on the ground, and thrashed around as if he had been caught on fire himself.    What followed was both amusing and concerning as Underbite swatted the Enderman around until they squealed and he growled at the villager before knocking him down as well into a pile of dust and leaves where the young man stayed.  I worried about the lad as he lay on the ground until Underbite, satisfied with his discipline, turned and grumbled his way back to the clan Elders.  I really need to find another village for these refugees to live in, Endermen can get rough and the swat D'ni suffered was not meant to do harm but the boy looks winded nonetheless.    Pearls, villagers and, fire; this has been one hell of a strange week                                                    Henri Lemark

[henri-lemark]

Wilson: Wait what *zooms in on his face* what? *zooms closer* Kefy... *zooms even closer,* why ? *Floats away ;A; * Uvvi: ...

Kefka:  ?  *licks herself and lays down  to eat a freshly killed chicken*

Henri:  What just happened?

Sven:  I think he wanted to be her mate.  :/  *looks at Uvvi*

[henri-lemark]

Chapter 44

Year XXXX September 4    This past week and a half has gone so quickly that the days have all blurred together, it started with Mel being more protective of me than usual and carrying the emerald I gave her like it was the most precious thing she had ever held.  I had assumed it was because she loved the shiny gem but Tiny and Sven kept laughing quietly and shooting us glances, I should have known something was up since those two are thick as thieves and love to prank others.  What I noticed instead was that the old matron that had done the ritual binding for Sasha and her mate was once again unraveling a block of dyed wool and speaking to Knell in hushed tones as her great granddaughter watched.    I wondered who the lucky pair was that would be bound together in marriage when I noticed Kefka leaving searching along the riverbank we had stopped at to search out a small cave. Recently a small wolf pack has been keeping pace with us and this has slowed us down somewhat since the males do get underfoot of the Endermen.  One of the males is constantly by Keflas' side and has been grooming her, today the whole pack was excited as she dove into a cave and didn't come back out.  As I had feared ever since that odd white wolf back when we ran into that xenophobic clan in the desert, Kefka has finally become pregnant and was looking for a safe place to birth her young.    During my distraction, Mel grabbed my hand and I found that I had been walked in front of the matron and her milky eyes passed over us both as she spoke.  I was too stunned to pull away as she reached for our clasped hands and wound the string around them with the same solemn air that she had with Sasha.  Once our hands were bound together, the matron took out a strange oily paste and anointed our brows instead of rolling her mates pear across our chests.  I imagine this is because we are not related to her family but it was still unnerving to have her rough claws so near my face.    String is not that strong but the loops of it around our fingers and wrists keep us from accidentally separating should we should let go.  Her long fingers wrapped around my hand affectionately and I was forced to acknowledge that I made a mistake. I would have thought nothing of this union since it was doomed not to produce offspring, nor would I have believed that I would be chosen as a mate but after seeing Riley and Evalia the Enderwoman I saved from that Herobrine Village, I know the truth.    Somehow, humans and Endermen can breed together, and I think I'm going to find out how they do this though I had hoped it would be under different circumstances.  I never thought I would be directly associated with their mating rituals and it makes me uncomfortable to think that I can sire a half-breed Enderman with Mel.  She looks so happy though, wrapping her long fingers around my hand and helping me get Kefka out of the cave.  It is hard though, everything I do, I do with my left hand and that is the one that's bound to Mel, she is delighted to help me.  If the string had allowed it, I think she would have carried me all night and into the morning.    Between Herobrine, Effars' increasingly aggressive interactions with Sven, Kefka being pregnant and looking after three villager children my life has gotten chaotic and I'm not sure how the future will turn out.  If Sven were run out of the clan Tiny would likely go with him and I would be left in a difficult situation; follow Effar and all the Enders I've come to know or follow Sven who can talk with me? Whichever way I go I now know Mel will have a say since by the rules of their culture we are bound. On top of all this Kefka will not want to travel once she has her pups, they won't be strong enough to walk and too weak to protect themselves from threats.  I never thought I would have to make such a decision, whichever way I go I stand to lose something precious to me.    The rest of the week was spent with Mel'lank constantly at my shoulder with affectionately purple eyes; no one else looks like they are going to contest this and in fact Effar seems to encourage it by gazing at me in such a way that Mel feels driven to carry me in her arms.  Most nights I barely get to walk more than 45 meters without her clinging to me and at night, it is hard to write since she has a catlike ability to put her hands right where my ink sacks are and spill their ink across the cave floor.    To end this entry, I have had to give Kefka leave to have her pups.  I am sad to leave her behind but she is a good and loyal wolf, I'm sure she'll come back as soon as her pups are old enough to travel.  Tamed wolves have an amazing ability to track their masters no matter how far away they are and I've been working to train her to better that natural ability.  To my surprise she has been listening to Sven too though, he doesn't tell her to sit or find very often.                                                    Henri Lemark

  A/N  aww look Henri's married~!

[henri-lemark]

Chapter 43

Year XXXX August 25  Herobrine Cult    Waking up to a young woman standing over you should be a sign of bad luck when traveling with Endermen.  For a moment, I thought she was a part of the wall since her clothes where as gray as stone but there's no mistaking a diamond pickaxe when you see one, even if it is heavily customized to serve as a weapon as well.  She spoke harshly and told me to move after which she ignored me as I scrambled to get upright in favor of the iron ore I had slept on that night.  I cannot tell you how odd it was but I let it slide since Theo was hurriedly trying to get my attention to the clan who was setting out again.  I shot this pale-skinned woman a look and watched her flick some hair for her face to look at her ore, she was wearing an eye patch and I saw a scar peeking from under it. Whatever this woman has been through, I wish her the best even if she is antisocial.    As I hastened myself to leave this woman with called out, asking what I was doing in her cave with Endermen.  I answered and she laughed a bit as if it was the best joke she had heard in a while, before she turned to look at the emptying cave of ores.  With a careless flick of her weaponized pick, she dismissed me from her presence and I felt slighted as I retreated from the cave.  I am sad to say that Jon the Pumpkin Maniac is still the strangest person I've met, which leads me to the strangest place I have yet to see.    Never before have I seen such a thing and never again do I want to see it, an entire colony of villagers that appeared to worship Herobrine!  Before we were close enough to see the people wandering its' streets Underbite scowled and showed his displeasure about the village by kicking dirt and sand at it with his younger brother Effar doing the same.  Normally I would not leave the clan after such a display but Theo and I desperately needed fresh supplies so we struck out to it with Mel, Tiny and Sven following us, it seems to be happening that much more and more often.    The closer we got the more I could see that was wrong with it, every structure was made with Netherbrick and a milky white stone I have never had the privilege of seeing before in its refined state.  Everything about the place was wrong, even the church but worst still was the cemetery like place behind it.  There was heaviness to the air and a netherbrick fence that did nothing to hide the cracked tombstones, or the odd tomb that rested in the back.    There was a shrine made of netherrack, bricks and iron and in front of the shrine were stone slabs stained with blood, chained to that slab was an Enderwoman with very human eyes.  I wanted so dearly to run up and cut her loose when the villagers with their dead looking eyes finally took notice of my apprentice and me and mobbed us.  I had no fear of them killing us but there were so MANY of them that I felt overwhelmed as they rushed us into one of the family houses before the Enderman had any time to react.    In a corner of this house, a child played with blaze rods and his parents spoke to us in hushed tones.  Apparently, this village use to be normal until eight months ago when Herobrine showed up and defeated some horrible Enderman zombie creatures that were seeking out Iron and anything that related to Endermen.  Ever since, that devil has been 'protecting' the village in exchange for certain concessions.    Theo turned green as these poor fellows outlined the sacrifices Herobrine demanded such as villagers over a certain age begin offered to ensure that Herobrine never leaves them unguarded and to catch and detain any traveler that nears the village.  In this regard, Theo and I were lucky since the day before a group of Mob catchers neared and avoided capture, the group in charge of the golems took off after those unfortunate people so Theo and I were at least free of forceful imprisonment.    The boy in the corner turned to look at us finally and ran up to Mel with delight in his eyes and a book in his hands, one of my books.  I will never cease to be amazed by seeing my printed journals around the world and to hear that people are delighted by my adventures.  In this case, this young lad wanted very much to see the truth about Endermen since as a villager in the town of Lute Mardu he was doomed to grow up, have kids, and become a sacrifice to Herobrine once he turned thirty-five.    What his parents wanted, what the village wanted was for their children to be taken away from this place so they could live normal lives somewhere else.  Mel didn't understand what was being said but she looked at the young boy with  maternal intent and gathered the white clad child up in her arms as he squealed in delight, it must be that empathy I heard about while back in the Jita.  The boy, who introduced himself as D'ni, clapped with delight as his parents rushed to pack the child's things including his copy of my books.    I cannot believe there are thirteen volumes of my studies, I really can't. As the villagers herded us out to meet their children at the bloodstained shrine.  I had a mind to use my pick to destroy that Enderwomans'  bonds but Tiny and Sven were busy doing just that as a cry of alarm went up at the far end of the village, the Hunters were returning.  The families pushed their offspring at us and turned to distract the returning raid party while we attempted to escape; a Golem ran down the gravel street and swung mightily at Sven knocking him out of the cemetery and into a cactus.    After that, things became blurry as we were all picked up by the Endermen and teleported away from Lute Mardu.  The Enderwoman Tiny and Sven had freed kept up with us well enough but even with their help, we lost villager children as the hunters and their golems hounded us.  We spent a miserable night on a steep cliff face where a golem couldn't climb and I emptied my Enderchest of all food since teleportation takes a lot of energy.  We had lost almost all of the children to the hunters, only D'ni, a girl who has not spoken a word since her mother put her in my arms, and a young man on the verge of adulthood who called himself Atlas.    Given how things went I am amazed we got even three villagers out of that horrible place but I feel guilty all the same for not having saved more.  I doubt they want to travel with Endermen so I will be keeping my eyes peeled for a town or village that can take these orphans in and give them the kind of care I cannot.  I only hope that no one comes to hunt them down, I would hate to be the tool by which chaos and destruction was brought to innocents                                                        Henri Lemark

[henri-lemark]

Chapter 42

Year XXXX August 19    I am starting to grow wary of being forced into caves in the early morning, especially when a strange man and the Enderman clan he follows with a small pack of wolves at his disposal.  My first impression of this youth was that he might be similar to the aggressive youth that attacked Theo, VALKYRIE and I the moment we left that other world with their technology and ways to cheat death..  Unlike that unruly man, this one showed Effar and the whole clan deep respect and spoke with them in their own tongue, not only that but he is able to look at them without provoking an angry reaction.  Tiny blinked in surprise and looked back at this man, who introduced himself as Master of Thieves, and touched the newcomer gently on the back as it to reassure himself that the human was real.    This self-proclaimed Master approached as the sun was rising and for the briefest moment, I thought he was on fire but it was just the glowing flames imprinted on his clothing.  Because of the timing of his approach and the fact that for the most part the clan has not desensitized to sunlight like Sven, Tiny, Knell, Enzi, and Mel, Effar and the other males became defensive.  There was a small standoff as the smaller clan approached but necessity and hunger kept it short, Adone growled at her mate and herded Uvvi into the cave with Riley and her granddaughter before any of the posturing became serious.    Grudgingly Effar allowed the strangers into the cave his people had staked out and made damned sure that the newcomers were closest to the entrance, which made the wolves happy.  The moment the sun was up, they left in search of food and my apprentice and I were left with Master,  Kefka whined after her kin and I felt obligated to let her hunt and socialize with her own kind.  Some of the males in that pack looked her over and I began to regret the decision almost immediately.  I doubt she would abandon me but I do not think I can look forward to caring for pups and keep up with Endermen at the same time, I dodged a bullet the last time she spent time with a male wolf and I can only be lucky a handful of times.    What I had thought were glowing flames on his outfit was actually a normal dye that had been treated by an invisible dye to glow in the moonlight. The glowing eyes that had deceived me into thinking of him as an Enderchild at first were painted onto a face mask that he never removed so his voice echoed oddly until I became use to it.  Despite an initial fearsome appearance, Master of Thieves is quite the gentleman and we had a nice predawn meal as we exchanged pleasantries and news.    We spoke about Enderman legends and I was thrilled to learn a few more tales, which I will put to paper later with proper annotations to Master of Thieves.  I would have liked to pursue the conversation but I fell asleep and I dreamed again, this time of a white Enderman with yellow eyes and gray markings on its shoulders and back.  During my travels, I have come across many variations but never have I seen an Ender that was white.  The albino turned and looked at me with dead eyes and wrapped blood soaked claws around my neck while hissing madly.  I woke as it killed me and I saw Theo standing over me looking worried, the clan had left half an hour before but he hadn't been able to rouse me.  These dreams are becoming serious if I cannot escape them.    That day did not get much better after we sprinted to catch up to the clan with limited help from Kefka and Mel who popped in to show us the way.  We emerged from a lush forest and into a plain with odd stone pillars standing in a broken circle like a monument of things long gone; Theo was able to stop before we entered the circle of stone.  I on the other hand, could not slow down in time and I ran into the strangest man I have ever had the dubious pleasure of meeting.    He reeked of pumpkins and laughed madly after we hit the ground before pulling his rotting pumpkin helmet on, the moment I got off he slammed a similarly moldy one onto my head (backwards at that) and laughed maniacally as it fell apart leaving me with rotten chunks of it all over my clothing.  Mwol’lank, the Endergirl that has attached herself to me, hissed and tried to see what had attacked me with a pumpkin and wouldn’t give up until I tossed an emerald to her (she likes shiny things) and she dove at the gem with a squeal.   Jon rocked on my torso and babbled about a substance found in pumpkins and carrots called rodsporin that helps rod shaped cells in our eyes, which is why night vision potions require carrots.  Since our vision becomes enhanced by looking through the pumpkin, we can see beyond the veil and see Endermen for what they really are though our minds cannot comprehend everything we see and filters out everything that we cannot accept as reality.    Jon's raving became increasingly insane to the point where he was trying to convince me that all things were connected by strings of invisible energy and that all things we see exist on multiple levels but we are incapable of seeing beyond the first few.  When I finally got a chance to talk I asked this stranger why he had not gone to the council with his theories and he promptly leapt off my chest and climbed a pillar to be on the same level as the Endermen's heads.   Then he started leaping from pillar to pillar, all while singing madly about being considered too crazy to be intelligent.    If he had gone to the council I doubt they would have taken him seriously at all, in fact they may have him committed if they ever catch wind of Jon's existence, they really don't like things out of order or uncontrolled and he is the height of what they can't stand.  Actually I'm surprised he has lived as long as he has.                                                    Henri Lemark

  PS: Sven has told me Mels name is said Meh-wol-henk. 

[henri-lemark]

chapter 41

Year XXXX August 3 Temples    That dream still weighs heavily upon me and I have no one to consult about it unless you count Witches and they can be fickle at the best of times.  Since then I’ve been having other weird dreams with moving glyphs and runes dancing in darkness; I think it has something to do with that man from before, the one shrouded in light but I have no way to prove this other than a feeling in my gut.   As one can imagine such plagued sleep is not restful so I’ve been falling behind and my young apprentice has noticed it, Theo has been glancing at my dream journal though but he won't be reading that volume, I keep it locked and on my person at all times.    Since we left the future world behind I am delighted to say that there has been no sighting of Herobrine, mob hunters, or Mob catchers (a variation that VAL told me about that captures and sells their non-human captives to the highest bidders) which I find a great relief.  Recently the clan has been moving in a much more organized fashion and the individuals that usually search for food and danger have also been combing the land for signs of something.  What's more, Effar and Adone have been looking at the sky constantly and leading us to a distant point by using the stars, like sailors who cross the vast oceans.    The Enders we acquired from the future may have something to do with this new behavior since they can create some tools and come from a time far advanced of my own but it's still alarming to see how swiftly such a change has come about.  We have passed through routine landscape and a few quarries when I finally noticed that everything was bigger than I remember it being when I first started my travels.  We spent four days skirting a massive desert before we made it to an equally large jungle where ocelots ran around like leaves on the wind.    We pushed through it when we came across a ruined structure, I hadn’t seen a Jungle temple before but what I’ve read about them matched what I saw perfectly.  The Endermen looked at it and I was rather shocked to see Sven arguing with his father while Underbite herded Theo and me to the structures opening.  The young Enderwoman Mwol'lank that's been fixated on me followed us in and kept a hand on my head as Underbite continued to nudge us forward.  Today she was holding a rose and tucked it under the arm of my glasses as she hunched over to fit in the darkened passage.    Theo thankfully knows more about these temples than I do so we didn’t fall prey to the traps that fill the corridors, he disabled them as we were pushed forward but always my little escort was there, to protect us I think.  As traps were cleared, the clan funneled in and when we got to the last chamber Effar pushed his way past us with some blood on his claws, Ender blood.  He looked angry and Adone followed him looking very subdued with her pearl in her hands before it vanished into smoke, which she then inhaled.    My Notch there were symbols and runes carved in the stone in the last chamber, roughly and without the use of standard tools but I recognized them.  They were the glyphs from my dreams, as real as the light of day and completely incomprehensible.  Older Endermen crowded around the wall and touched the grooves, even licking them on occasion; when Riley, Uvvi and Sasha finally made it into the room, they looked confused.  In the end, Sasha picked up her daughter and examined the grooves carefully, even sticking her own short claws into them and pulling them out sharply as if they had shocked her.    Now I know there are a few old languages and I've seen them carved on sandstone pillars and the like but these were like nothing I had seen before.  Every time an Ender ran their fingers over the etchings, the whole thing glowed slightly like their eyes. Theo and I shared a glance when we saw it and I worked to commit what I was seeing to memory so I can recreate it here but I can only clearly recall a handful of the glyphs from both dreams and the temple.    Notch preserve us but Effar looked thrilled by what he saw in the jungle and left in considerably better spirits, Sven however was sporting a gash on his back, which explains the blood on his father's hands, and his mothers exposed pearl.  My self-declared escort snatched me off the ground and refused let me down after we left the temple and has been glaring about balefully with purple eyes.  The entire situation made me uneasy and I felt the same residual horror that I experienced after Herobrine had been banned from Shores of the Ancients.    There is something wrong in the world, I am afraid to ask what it is for fear of the answer.                                                    Henri Lemark

[henri-lemark]

Does anyone know of a diviner I can see?  I've just had the most alarming dream.....

[henri-lemark]

Chapter 40

Year XXXX July 20    Yesterday VAL separated from us after we met a nice lady with a hot temper named Lillian Sparks. We literally ran into Lilly and she gave us all a sound tongue-lashing until she cooled down and apologized.  She had eyes a lighter shade of blue than my own and scars on her left arm though I’m not sure why they're clustered only there.  Without needing to ask I knew she was in her upper teens but very wise for her years and insisted on calling us Sirs and Madame, which VAL didn’t like because it made her feel old.    Lilly was quite taken with my work and even had copies of my journals on hand which surprised me; I would be lying if I didn't take a certain amount of pride from reading the leather bound books with their gilt pages and neat handwriting.  A few things were changed here and there where my spelling variations differed from the norm but for the most part, it is practically identical.  They even had my signature after each entry, which I found eye opening since I was not around to transcribe it for the council.  I shouldn’t read much into that, it may have been as simple a matter as poor handwriting on some of the more exhausting nights so they fixed that and had to put my signature back in by some means of transference.    Miss Sparks chatted with us for a while as the clan made a breeding structure and she played Bobstones with the youths that weren’t helping and happily gave them food when she lost.  I joined the game and talked with her while teaching Theo and VAL the ins and outs it, I haven’t played Bobstones for months and it was a relief to do something normal with Endermen that wasn't fighting or running away.  Annalae joined us and we all made room for her as she learned, she is unusual for an Enderwoman, with no clue about her people other than what she's been taught by her adopted mother and no way to speak with her kind but she is trying to associate with the clan which I find encouraging.    After the game ended Lilly and I talked about our fields of study and compared notes, while I specialized in the area of the neutral mobs she kept her knowledge broad but she took a special interest in anything that involved Herobrine.  This intrigued the Moderator and the four of us started sharing stories of our encounters with the Lord of the Nether.   Lilly insisted on seeing the scar of my last encounter with Herobrine and I couldn't find a good way to say no, the moment she saw the red flesh she pushed some remedies onto me and like her request, I couldn't refuse.    After Enzi and Dhan finished doing whatever it is Endermen do in those patchy structures, the two women went their own way and Theo and I continued with the clan.  It was almost strange, to be with Endermen again but there is something to be said about having company, we followed Effar as he smelled the winds and struck out.  He has kept a wary eye on Sven with his new bow but Sven has been very meek around his father and displays submissive body language often.  If Kor had been that smart then maybe, he would have gotten to know his little brother.    I was puzzling over that as I went to sleep this morning and I dreamed the strangest thing, a man greeted me in a black suit, a white shirt and a hat with a sharp-toothed grin.  In the dream, I was in a black space, the shadows were made of light, and the brightest shadows of all came from the stranger.  Though his mouth moved I did not precisely hear what he was saying, not with my ears at least, I heard them in my mind.    This stranger told me that the Endermens' quest presents great danger if the God of Destruction manages to release the seals and that Hero's of the Land must do their part to prevent the shrines awakening.  I tried to see in the darkness and shadows that surrounded the man but everything about him was shrouded, I couldn’t tell you anything about him aside from his clothes and those teeth, which aren't as uncommon as one would believe.  He put a hand on my head and it felt like I had been struck with lightning.    When I woke the whole clan was looking around wildly and Theo was bolting back to us with several bundles of wheat in his arms.  The youth has taken to making temporary farms when we stop to rest and he uses the bone meal he gathers during the night to make the plants grow quickly enough to feed everyone.  I had the impression that I wasn't the only one who had dreamt of the black clad man in the bright shadows but I hesitated to bring it up to Theo, he might think me crazy.  Best to keep such things to myself until I can determine if he dreamed as well.                                                    Henri Lemark

[henri-lemark]

That moment when...

...you feel someone watching you or breathing down your neck only to turn around and see nothing.  Why am i so paranoid about beign followed these past few days?