Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

In the forests, there were trees, naturally, and there were animals and insects, naturally, and there were also skeletons, zombies, giant spiders, and the things called creepers—naturally. These types of forests were often densely packed with overgrown trees and vines and shrubs, making it difficult to walk through or even establish a colony within. Most townships would exist on the edge of such forests, but more commonly they’d establish themselves on the plains, along the coasts, in the deserts next to the oases and underground aquifers. The only people who would ever consider living in a forest would be the odd nomadic trader, looking for rare items to trade with. And also the witches. But no one who considered themselves an upstanding citizen would ever associate themselves with a witch.

Witches were masters of spells and potions and all that was seemingly unnatural. The monsters of the forests could be dealt with. They had always belonged to the forests in recent memory, but witches? They would never belong to upstanding society. They were the reasons why maggots rotted your bread and locusts ate your crops. They were the reason why boils blossomed on your skin and crows followed you wherever you went. Everyone knew witches were vindictive and spiteful and that was why they chose the isolation of the forests.

Now Ryan wasn’t born a witch—were witches born or were they created?—but he was something else, something special.

When he was born, he was pronounced to be a healthy babe from the beginning. A good weight and size. All ligaments and appendages. Clear blue eyes. But six months after he was born, he began to change. It began with just an eye. The colour began to change in his left eye to that of a vibrant purple—the mark of the endermen.

No one knew how he gained such a mark. His mother had never come into contact with an endermen and neither had his father. It was posed that perhaps one came in the dead of night, stood over his baby’s crib and gave him the mark. Whatever the reason, the mark wasn’t a good one.

His parents, attempting to right this apparent wrong, started to give Ryan potions—ones that dampened the endermark and made him appear as his normal human self. But this would only delay the inevitable as the mark took root not only in his physical appearance but his soul, changing him first from the inside and then the outside. And if his parents were to truly understand what an endermark meant, they wouldn’t have tries to repress it as they did. But they had only the best intentions.

(It was an enderman that stood over baby Ryan’s crib and touched him then. That was the truth. A soul recognizes a soul, one might say. A connection between a babe and a creature like an enderman that would change this babe’s life forever.)

It was a slight misstep in Ryan’s life that was easily covered by dampening potions bought off of well-traveled merchants and potion masters. And for years they did well. They hid Ryan’s monstrous half from himself, claiming the potions and drafts were for a simple yet lifelong ailment. And he believed them until he was in his teens until the potions no longer began to work.

With the potions failing as he grew—his endermark growing stronger with age—he began to have terrifying and realistic dreams. Seeing things from a different perspective. Feeling as if he was in someone else’s body. They were not dreams but real occurrences, he learned later on. Endermen had the psychic ability to see through each other’s eyes, and as he was marked by one, he too could share their minds. As a young man, this thought terrified him. So he told his parents of these dreams and they looked for answers to further repress what was still growing inside their own son. But it’d be all for naught.

After his parents’ passing, Ryan sought out advice and information on his apparent affliction. He took to the libraries and scrolls and wise men and learned of the endermen. Endermen were other worldly beings, not like the monsters of the forests, but something else. Something mystical. They could teleport. Their minds were supposedly linked to one another, for if one was in pain or being attacked, others in the area would arrive to defend it. It was warned not to look them directly in the eyes and no living person who’d seen them lived to tell the tale. And while the rising sun didn’t harm them, water sure did. But normally they avoided humans, so why was Ryan so special?

He decided to stop taking the potions and let this part of him grow. The drafts made him feel quite ill and considering he had to take them with increasing frequency, he decided to stop them altogether. The changes weren’t immediate, but when his eye began to bleed purple, when black veins made their mark alongside his eye, people began to suspect and gossip.

“Is that the Haywood child?”

“I heard he practices Dark Magic.”

“He must’ve been cursed by an enderman!”

“I wouldn’t trust him anywhere near my child.”

Slowly, he was shunned by his own village. The books and scrolls and wise men offered him had no answers to his own nature, and when the librarians and wise men began to see him for who he truly was, they too turned him away.

“Freak.”

“Monster.”

“Half-thing.”

“Witch.”

These terms followed him around. These names and insults. Ryan refused to be moved by them for the longest time. He was born with this mark. He would no longer hide it, but the people feared him for what he could do. For his potential that he didn’t even know if he had himself. And this sort of treatment he internalized and it solidified into hatred until he became something to be feared.

They want a monster? They’ll have a monster.

He studied magic. He learned witchcraft. He made potions and odd things in his home. And what was the one thing people fear most on their towns? Witches. So they casted him out to wander and be houseless.

For a while the isolation suited him. He learned much in his travels and learned more of his endermark and what it enabled him. And through the eyes of another, he learned of another like him. Not in the same manner, perhaps, but one that might understand his own positioning. The creeper boy. The one who called himself Gavin.

Ryan made a cave his home deep within the forests. His endermark frightened most other monsters away from him, or they at least kept their distance. He made a cave into a home. He built his own furnishings. He learned how to hunt and craft. He became completely self-sustaining. And in this new period of his life, he came to meet the creeper boy.

Now, Ryan had heard of Gavin in bits and pieces. He picked things up of an archer dressed in forest greens, his cloak mimicking the hide of a creeper. He saw through endermen’s eyes how he moved through the trees and thick shrubs to get from one vantage point to the next. He truly was a child of these woods.

They met one fateful day when Ryan was returning from his foraging. He was skeptical of the newcomer, prepared to toss a potion at them and scare them off, but when they stepped out of the cave, he held back.

Gavin dressed in the patterns of creepers. Skin covered in splotches of various green shades, which made it for perfect camouflage. With the way the hood of the cloak was patterned, when pulled up it made Gavin very much look like a creeper. It was his disguise to get in and out of bandit camps when necessary. But it was so much more than that.

“Who are you?” Ryan asked, one hand deep in his satchel, clutching a potion bottle if need be.

“I could ask the same thing,” the other said.

“Well, that’s an odd thing to say considering you’re trespassing in my home.”

He looked over his shoulder to the cave. “This? This is your home?”

It wasn’t a bad home. He was simply getting to know the area and pick up new skills. It wouldn’t look this ramshackle forever. Incensed, he crossed his arms over his chest. “Yes. My home. Which you are now walking through. So please leave.”

The man lowered his hood, showing himself to a be a youth with unruly, shaggy light brown hair and a clean shaven face. Could this child even grow a beard? “Home? Well! Welcome to the neighbourhood then!” He grinned and as he got closer, Ryan could see the bright forest green of his eyes.

“Wha—what do you mean?”

“Don’t know if you’ve noticed yet, but I’m the only relative human around these parts. Not every day I get to meet a . . . witch?”

Ryan shrugged. “Witch is probably the easiest.”

He strode closer and when he was within arm’s reach, Ryan could see the greenish tint to parts of his skin, the almost scale like texture. It was as if he was part creeper after all.

“I’m Gavin.” He held out his hand, rough and worn from the countless bowstrings he’d pulled against to which Ryan shook upon it.

“Ryan.”

“I could guess what brings you here, Ryan,” he said. “But I’d much rather hear it from you. As you can guess.” He spread his arms out wide. “I don’t get much company. ‘cept for the zombies. But they’re not as conversational as I would like.”

It was odd. He was odd. Here Ryan was preparing to do whatever it took to keep what he had—which wasn’t much—safe, and here Gavin was, acting as a friend who didn’t flinch at the unnatural purple of his eye and the black veins that seemed to grow each day. But then again Ryan was odd himself. And accepting his oddities and the oddities around him would be the best way forward.

He and Gavin formed a fast friendship. The creeper boy had lived in the forests for as long as he could remember. He was raised by creepers, he said. And when Ryan asked how, Gavin only shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine. They’re not that stupid or slow, you know. They’re quite intelligent when you get to know them.” But not to Ryan, because whenever he came next to a creeper, it would hiss and flash in warning until Ryan had to turn and run. For Gavin, however, he could pull up his hood and he’d be just an oddly shaped creeper among them. He could hide from the other monsters. He could scare off any bandits and avoid any witches. Whatever he was and however he came to be might always be a mystery to Ryan, but it was nice to have some company.

He lived among the trees for the most part. He kept a nomadic lifestyle, travelling among the vast forest in search of treasure which he either hoarded or traded for supplies. He had a heart of gold in trying to protect any passing travellers from waiting bandits or monster mobs. Ryan often admired him. He was a conundrum, an enigma in this deep, dark forest. A creeper boy with the body of a human. Or a human with the looks of a creeper. He wasn’t sure how to classify all this, but the more he got to know Gavin, the more he began to understand.

“I don’t really know if I’m part creeper or anything,” he said. “They just like me and I kind of like them. In their own way, they’re really sweet. And they’re more than just spark and powder. They make their own little families. They like to drift off in pairs or trios. And they love the rain and water for that matter. Not the fastest swimmers but at least they can swim.”

“Do they . . . do they talk to you at all? Or at least communicate?”

Gavin turned to look at him and watched him curiously. “In their own way, I guess. They don’t vocalize at all ‘cept for the hissing. More in their body language? They like bumping into things they like. But what about you? What’s your story? Not easy to miss the whole.” He gestured to the left side of his own face to indicate Ryan’s face.

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out,” he said.

His cave slowly became a home. He furnished a proper door for it. He constructed a fireplace and lanterns. He built a bed, made wardrobes for storage, and indirectly also made a bed for Gavin in the process. Gavin’s presence in his life continued to increase, and he wanted to have a place where Gavin could stay the night should he need it. It was only logical.

He built a proper brewing stand outside so he wouldn’t burn himself inside his home and with enough light so he could see what he was doing properly. When he needed supplies, he would take up his cloak and pack and head out down the old footpaths of the forest to the roads into town, and during these journeys Gavin would sometimes join him.

Whereas Gavin had a more positive reputation with the local people, Ryan didn’t. He’d pull up a cowl and cloak to hide most of his face, but it seemed rumors of his condition had passed beyond his hometown into neighbouring areas.

“The monster.”

“The half-breed.”

“That witch.” (Not to be confused with other witches. Those witches, they were okay in comparison to Ryan. Ryan was not a normal witch.)

It made Ryan uncomfortable, but these were necessary trips to make. At least they were bearable now with Gavin at his side to keep them away from him.

“Why do they call you that? Monster and half-breed?”

“I’ll give you three guesses,” he said, self-deprecatingly. He was rather tired of trying to give explanations for something he didn’t truly understand himself.

“I’ve met endermen before,” he said softly as Ryan puttered about his home and placed his supplies in the appropriate places. “Not a chatty bunch. They don’t normally stay long, though. Here one moment and, poof, gone the next.”

“Do you always speak so lightly about this?” Ryan’s sudden outburst changed something in Gavin.

“About what?”

“The monsters. All of them out there. Me. You of all people should know what this.” He gestured to his face. “Should mean. How people would treat me. Why I’m here in the first place. What it is I’m searching for.”

“Me?” Gavin said. “Are you asking why I don’t see you like they do?” He pointed to the exit of the cave, meaning the people on the roads and in the towns. “Because we’re alike, Ryan. Both a part of both groups but not really existing in either. Making our own path, our own home out of both of them. Doing what we need to.”

“But we’re not alike. The people in town see you as, like, a hero. A figure to be praised and talked about. They get one look at me, and they cower. They douse me with potions to pray it doesn’t spread. They turn me out because I’m not one of them and I’m certainly not like you.”

Gavin took all this in calmly and replied rationally. It only served to frustrate Ryan further. “Just because part of you is ender doesn’t mean you’re not like me. You think people always trusted me when they first met me? They were afraid I was going to explode or something. Which I can’t do by the way. If you’re curious at all. They trust me because I wanted to do good things because I knew they were good to do. I made myself and who I am.”

Ryan huffed and sat down on his bed heavily. He buried his head in his hands and heard Gavin move around him, sit down next to him. “I’ve looked and searched for such a long time. To know what all this means. To get an answer from people who understood endermen and their powers. But there’s nothing there. I see things through their eyes and I get their thoughts, but I don’t understand what it means. At least you had something. Parents, I guess. Or at least a sense of community here.”

He felt Gavin lay a hand on his shoulder. “I don’t want you to think you’re some impossibility or some abomination. You exist. You’re here. There’s a part of you that’s special and not to be feared.”

“What if it is? I don’t even know what this means or what it does and what it’ll become.”

Gavin use his other hand to grip Ryan’s and it was such a soft, kind touch, something that Ryan didn’t know he was missing. And then he moved his hand from his shoulder and gently touched the black veins from his neck upwards. He gently turned Ryan to face him. “I like you the way you are. And if you want to look for answers, I will go with you wherever you want. And who knows? Maybe I’ll learn something about myself on the way.”

“I don’t know where this’ll take us.”

“Good thing for you that I’ve got an adventurer’s spirit.”

Gavin became a more or less permanent fixture in Ryan’s life. Sometimes he’d go off for a day or two, come back to the cave worn and weary, and rarely did he speak of what he did whenever he came back from these times. He’d sleep like the dead and wake to ravenous hunger, but Ryan would always offer him refuge here with him. In fact, he was starting to grow fond of him.

Gavin taught Ryan all the special, secret places in the forest of that he knew. Old ruins. Deep caves and abandoned mines. The creeper groves. The spider dens. It wasn’t as bad as Ryan had first assumed, and there was something captivating about the way Gavin spoke of this place. The care and fondness in his tone.

The ruins held the most for Ryan. They had old tomes and scripts, some damaged and crumbling, some remarkably preserved. He’d take whatever he could carry back to his cave and begin pouring over the ancient texts. He’d read by daylight and then by candlelight as the sun fell and the monsters came out to play. He’d take copious notes, find references to other texts and authors of what they knew of the endermen and their abilities. He could get very deep into these texts. He wouldn’t notice when the candle next to his texts was replaced with a new one. He wouldn’t notice the freshly brewed tea just sitting up and to the left of his pile of papers. Gavin moved around him with ease, hardly disturbing his progress.

He would repay the favours in the next day or two, learning how to enchant certain items for Gavin’s protections, making his bowstring out of spider’s web rather than the inferior horse hair. These small gifts, these small favours, they grew into something more, something that’s always been there since Gavin first moved in and Ryan made a place for him.

A touch on his shoulder jolted him from his sudden slumber. Ryan had slumped over his books at some point, too exhausted to read further, but he thought was getting somewhere.

“Thought I might save you from a sore back,” Gavin said. “Come on. Up we get.”

Ryan needed little convincing, tired as he was. He was pulled up from his chair and directed to his bed.

“Think I’m getting somewhere,” he said, stretching his arms up above his head as Gavin bustled about and turned down the lamps, blew out the candles. He felt a blanket be draped over him, tucked in around him. “You don’t have to.”

“Yeah, but I . . . it’s nice. Shut up.”

Ryan smiled and curled up on his side closer to the edge of the bed. He felt the bed dip behind him as Gavin settled himself onto the open spot of the small bed. He had removed his creeper skin, dressed only in light fitted clothing. He stretched out languidly, taking up the rest of the space on the bed and seemed intent to stay. And Ryan would never ask him to leave.

In the coming days, Ryan made progress with his research. There were some rare texts he was interested in acquiring, but that would require a visit to a black market or some extensive library collection in a larger urban area. Either way, it meant travel which Ryan was still apprehensive about. Extensive travel at that, but with Gavin at his side, a more permanent fixture in his life now more than ever.

"Would you come with me? If I asked?" He posed the question one morning innocently enough. Ryan was planning a trip to a larger market with a promising enterprise of books and scrolls. He offered Gavin to come with him because he was loathe to travel alone and Gavin just made things more enjoyable.

"'course I would. I'm always going to be there with you." The way he said it. His tone and the soft expression of his face. He was meaning more than he was saying and it wasn't hard to pick up on that. Gavin cared about him in a way few people ever had for Ryan. He was excited he was willing. Whatever gave Ryan peace, answers, a reason.

They set out the next morning on their journey, purchasing two horses from the nearest stable to quicken their pace. The market space made a home in the ruins of a large castle. Ryan, of course, had his hood up to hide the most of his endermark while Gavin had his pulled down. Many people would look at the green scaling of his skin, but it kept the attention off of Ryan and for that he was grateful.

They stopped in at shops and stalls to ask questions, get directions, and be distracted by trinkets and oddities along the way. This was a day for them, not just for Ryan and his endless quest.

Gavin became beholden to a treasure map, one that depicted his forest, and decided to drop a few coins for it.

"I doubt that map is of any use," Ryan said.

"You just don't like to have any fun," Gavin said. "I'm keeping it."

They continued on until they came to the remains of the castle's library which was still being used for a shop shop. Ryan approached one of the merchants and laid out the titales and names he had gathered. The merchant kept looking to Gavin, however, distracted by teh creeper colours of his skin.

"We, we might have a few of these entries, but it will take time to find them. Please, have a look around."

They freely browsed through the shelves and took in the massive collection the merchant looked over.

"Oh, must here," Gavin muttered. "Lot here though. WE should be able to find just about anything." He trailed after Ryan as he ducked between two sections and glanced over their titles with ease. He stepped up on his toes and pushed back his hood to read some obscure titles , settling back down when he saw nothing he needed.

"I'm surprised they have this all here," Gavin mused, never one to lapse in long silences.

"They probably do trade-offs. One book for another depending on value."

They moved deeper into the library where the books were less organized and more just stuffed away. Here Ryan dug in and began his search in earnest. Gavin acted as his eager assistant, pulling him along to more direct compilations of subjects. He found a rather heavy book that was held together with two iron clasps which needed a key to unlock it. But upon the cover it was an ender-pearl. Or at least the design of one. Ryan tried to pry off the clasps but they wouldn't budge.

"That's beautiful," Gavin said, peering over Ryan's shoulder to get a good look at it.

"It's not even on my list. I don't even know who wrote it." It looked real. Like in the way that old ruins do. That this meant something when it was first crafted.

"Makes it all the more fun then. Come on. Let's get out of here."

They ran into a slight issue when attempting to purchase the book. Forgetting that he'd pushed his hood down, Ryan was given an intense look when he came up and nearly lost his nerve. Gavin effortlessly took the book from his hands and said, "Got what we came for," he said, dropping several coins on the merchant's desk in the process. "That should take care of it." He nodded and smiles his thanks and began to head for the exit, Ryan following him in tow.

Once they were out of the library and back on the paths of the castle landscape, Gavin handed him the book. "There," he said. "Nothing bad. Should be all right then." He was smiling and Ryan felt comforted by it. Yes, nothing bad happened. He was fine. It was just a moment.

"Yeah, I guess so."

They took their new purchases home with them, back to the cave and back to familiarity. Ryan took the book and set it on his work bench. He worked a slim wire into the first of the clasps and as he unlocked the clasp gently, Gavin came to sit beside him. He watched quietly as the clasps were unlocked and opened and Ryan could open the book to the first pages and see what was there. Beautiful inscriptions and illustrations.

He felt Gavin hook his chin over his shoulder to look at what was there, and together they took in the knowledge the book held. And in this moment, Ryan was, for once, content with what he had and where he was.

Chapter Text

For as long as Gavin could remember, he lived in the forest. He knew of the trees. He knew of the brooks and ponds. He knew of the monsters and where they liked to roost. He knew of the magic of this place and the people that seemed drawn to it. This was what he knew and had always known and nothing in this forest caught him by surprise. It was his home.

When he first met Ryan, he was intrigued. There was someone else like him in the world. Part monster, part human. Only that Ryan hated parts of himself, the parts that other people hated. He was hurt and confused and wanted answers as to why he was here and why he was the way he was. And as Ryan made a life and a home for him in the forest, Gavin only became more and more smitten by him until they were living in the cave together.

While Ryan liked a simple and contained life—surrounded by his books and potions and doing what witchy things he had planned for that day—Gavin was the opposite. He could stay in one place only for so long before the forest pulled him back in with its endless secrets and mysteries. But he had to admit, he liked the thought of returning to a home where the fire was warm and the company was even better.

With Gavin’s presence, Ryan slowly became more emboldened to venture into nearby towns and market squares to get what he needed for his spells. He began to leave his hood down as Gavin often would, caring little for who saw the obvious marks on his skin. But around other people it was always a different story.

“The creeper boy brought the witch out for a walk.”

“Look! It’s the witch king of the forest.”

He understood now why Ryan would prefer to be by himself. Even if they never touched him or confronted him, the words acted like little barbs that built up over time. He felt the rage for Ryan but would never act on it. Ryan wouldn’t want him to. Seeing Ryan act more carefree among places like this was worth the restraint and glances from a few petty people.

They wandered through the market stalls, gathering food and provisions for their home. Gavin admired the trinkets spread around at some of them and became fascinated with an oddly designed crown. He pulled Ryan along with him when he saw it and Ryan humored him enough to follow him.

“It’s a blaze crown,” the merchant said, gesturing with her hands to mean wonderment.

“Blaze?” Gavin asked with a frown. He watched as Ryan turned the crown about in his hands.

“A legendary monster from another realm,” she said, adding on the wonderment in her words now. “Creatures of fire and terror. It’s said that from their bones you can create the elixir of life.”

Gavin saw Ryan’s physical reaction. He was smiling, but in the way one would smile when they were trying not to be condescending. Trying so very hard not to roll their eyes. He knew nothing of blazes, but he knew Ryan probably did.

He watched as Ryan turned and set the crown atop Gavin’s head. “At the very least, it’s a nice decoration,” he said with a fond smile.

“A nice one at that!” the merchant parroted. She was trying hard to make a sale. If not for its inherent magical properties, than at least for something decorative.

Gavin grinned and took the crown off his head and admired it. It was an oddly shaped crown, not the typical thing made for kings and queens. The points seemed rather jagged. There were no jewels pressed into it. In fact, it looked as if it were made of a poorly constructed mold. Molten gold simply poured into something made out of sand and wood perhaps. It was odd.

“I’ll take it,” Ryan said, admiring the way in which Gavin turned it about in his hands. He bartered a bit with the merchant for a bit, but judging from the price, she was happy to be rid of it. It was probably a fake then. She must’ve been duped into buying it and simply wanted to profit off of it.

They walked away from the stall and back to where they had their horses hitched. Gavin settled the crown atop his head once more. “What do you think?” he said. “Am I a king now?”

Ryan tucked away his recent purchases into the saddle bags. “Yes. You are very much a king now,” he said, his tone dry and teasing. He turned from his horse and performed an exaggerated bow. “My liege.”

Gavin laughed. “Does this make me king of the forest now you reckon?”

“Of course. Everyone knows the only thing that separates the common folk from the stately is groovy headgear. Now come on, King Gavin. Home awaits.”

For added effect he helped boost Gavin onto his horse. Gavin awarded him by letting him kiss the back of his hand.

“Kiss,” he said, thrusting his hand out.

Ryan chuckled. “Of course, my liege.” And then proceeded to ruin the moment by licking his hand instead.

Gavin whined and jerked his hand back. “You really suck at this game.”

Ryan mounted his horse and guided it back onto the path. “And there are things I suck less at at home. Now come on. Let’s go.”

The crown did interest Gavin more than he thought. The roughhewn texture of it and fine points intrigued him. It was an oddly made crown. Maybe it was for a bandit king or queen. Maybe it was from a very early king.

“What do you know about blazes?” he asked once they were settled in the cave—Gavin upon the bed, Ryan resolutely at his work table.

“Very little,” he said. “They’re from a realm called the Nether. They’re monsters there. Castle guards if I’m interpreting the lore correctly. Don’t know what they’re guarding, but largely creatures from the Nether are made of something fire related.”

“Has anyone ever been there?”

“In the Time of Kings perhaps. But not in ages. I wouldn’t even know how they got there.”

Gavin hummed and put the crown aside. “I thought you’ve had enough excitement for one day. Why don’t you put that scroll down and come over here?”

Ryan sighed and started to shuffle his papers together. He extinguished his candles and came back to the bedside. He pushed and prodded at Gavin until there was enough room on the bed for him to join. Gavin turned into him and stroked a finger down his nose, watching as Ryan’s eyelids drooped with the movement.

“Any dreams?” he asked.

“There’s always dreams,” he mumbled, hardly able to keep his eyes open.

“Well, here’s hoping they’re good ones.”

In the time that they’d come to know each other, Ryan had learned much of endermen and their abilities, but was no closer to learning of what it meant to be half ender. Gavin was comfortable not knowing why he was made the way he was. If he had human parents or if he was a witch’s experiment gone completely wrong. But that was his choice, his understanding. He never had the troubles Ryan did when growing up. He just wished there was more he could do for him to help him gain some sort of peace.

When Gavin was feeling particularly bored, he took up his treasure map and began to examine it in earnest. He knew the area it would be leading him to. A fortress sunk deep into the ground in an area infested with mobs and monsters. It would be treacherous, but the map detailed of what lay there. Treasure beyond imagination. Gold and silver and gems. And the Eye of Ender, whatever that meant. But if it had anything to do with endermen, then it would be a great gift for Ryan. Maybe it could tell him something, lead him somewhere.

He planned the journey for two weeks. It would take him a few days on horseback to reach the place the map spoke of. Another day or two in order to search this cache of supposed treasure. And then the journey back. He laid this all out to Ryan, wanted him to know that he didn’t want to sit on this any longer.

“It might be fun, if you want to come with.”

“Someone has to hold down the fort. Go. Have an adventure.” To solidify his point, he kissed Gavin on the side of his head.

So Gavin set out with his supplies and horse and trekked deep into the forest. He wanted this to be a surprise for Ryan, whatever he did manage to find in the fortress.

The fortress, upon his approach, was located in a densely wooded area with old, gnarled trees, covered and half eaten by vines and plush, green moss, and partially collapsed on one side. He hitched his horse next to a tree and pulled up the hood of his skin. He assumed he’d be walking into close quarters, so his bow would do him no use. He had a short sword with him—wasn’t particularly good with it, but it was better than nothing.

He walked towards the steps of the fortress. The main of which led underground with two thinner sets leading upwards on either side of it. He read through the scrawling letters on the back of the map.

‘Follow the steps downwards unto the central corridor. That which you seek lies in a chamber in the deepest part of the fortress. But beware! Before it lies a challenge that will burn the liars and trespassers should they try to deceive it.’

A fire trap then. He could certainly hope it no longer worked after all these years. Maps and poems always had the ability to be annoying and confusing when all they were hiding was some sort of clever configuration of gears, levers, and pulleys.

He descended into the fortress. Patches of light shined through the cracks and crumbling stone floor above. Narrow corridors branched off from the main one. They looked deep. Some were partially caved in, and he gave them no mind. His goal lay before him. 

Before him was a short case of three steps, opening up into a wider antechamber. He could just make out the silhouette of a large stone altar in the middle of the chamber. All around it were scattered corpses, skeletons of burnt and disfigured armour, littered in gold and silver and gemstones. They looked old, ancient even. No one had been here in a long time. He couldn’t believe this was all just sitting here for the taking. Surely by now any one of the roaming bandit groups in the forest would’ve taken this by now.

Just as he made the last step into the antechamber, light came from the altar. Torches mounted on sconces of the wall lit up instantly and presented a figure sitting calmly on the altar before him.

The figure was sitting cross legged. Their arms and feet were bare of anything, dressed only in a leather jerkin and black trousers, but it was what was on their wrists and their neck that caught Gavin’s attention the most. They were glowing bands of metal, steel perhaps. They were glowing with runes, something Gavin couldn’t decipher, and here in the light the figure—the man it appeared to be, for when he lifted his head, shaggy dark hair and beard, Gavin made out dark eyes that looked incredibly bored. In fact, he sighed heavily, rolled his eyes a little when he saw Gavin. He straightened his back, leaned back on his hands, and Gavin could now see he was chained to the altar. A guardian of some sorts. A human mage perhaps? A fire elemental of some sort? He didn’t know what this person could be before him.

“As the warden eternal of King Erasmus’s treasure, I beseech you turn back and, yada yada. Look. You don’t want to be here.”

Gavin softened his defensive stance. “Did you just—did you just say ‘yada yada’?”

“Look, buddy, it’s a long winded introduction I have and I don’t feel like making it. So just take my warning and get up on out of here. Or I’ll, like, burn you, I guess.”

“You guess.” His tone was throwing Gavin off. Was this the challenge that the map spoke of? He didn’t understand.

“Fine. A demonstration. Take a few steps in.” The person waved him in, the chains at his wrists clanking all the way.

“Why? What are you going to do?”

“Look. I won’t hurt you. Swear it. Now just take a few steps forward.”

Seeing as he had no other choice—he had choices; he could leave, for one, but he was always a bit too curious—Gavin took three steps into the antechamber. The person swelled up, sitting up straight, extending his arms to either side of his body and clenching his fists. The collar and manacles at his throat and wrists began to glow and sizzle. His eyes turned to that of hot embers and the heat, no, fire extended into the veins of his arms until his hands were engulfed in flames. Once the transformation was done, Gavin understood what the map was saying. This person was a guard. Behind him was the door that must lead to the chamber of treasure. Anyone who dared to steal from it was burned alive by the guard.

Gavin took three steps back, and the fire upon the man’s body dissipated until he looked like his normal, human self once more. “What are you?”

The man smiled. “That’s one thing I’m never going to tell you.”

“Right. Well.” He brought a hand to his chin and tried to think his way around this. “I doubt stealth will get me through. I assume it’s a proximity thing then? I get too close and you get all glow-y?”

“Perhaps.”

“You really are helpful now aren’t you?”

The man shrugged. “You could just turn back. Forget this whole thing ever happened.”

“Don’t make this too easy for me. I’ll figure it out.”

“Sure you will. Just as all the other people have tried over the past century.”

Ah. Century. He wasn’t human then. Just took on a human form if he was older.

“That speech you made at the beginning. Say it again.”

The man narrowed his eyes. “Why?”

“Just do it.”

The man looked skeptical but did as Gavin commanded. “As the warden eternal of King Erasmus’s treasure, I beseech you turn back and abandon your post, for the theft of his treasure comes at a high cost for those who cannot pay the full price. There. Happy?”

“Muchly. Thank you. Now for the next bit. Could I see your wrists?”

The man arched a brow. “Why?”

“Indulge me. I assume it must get boring here. Waiting for the next poor sucker to come in and try to steal some treasure.”

“Okay.” The man brought his wrists forward. “But you won’t be able to read this.”

Gavin stepped forward. “No. But I might be able—” He gently touched his fingertips to the manacles, feeling the grooves of the runes in the thick metal. They felt warm to the touch. Then he bundled the chains of the manacles together. “I just might be able to do this.” He held the chains together, followed them downwards to their mooring point at the base of the altar.

“And what might that be?”

The chains were rusted, but the manacles were not for they contained some sort of magic. The chains didn’t and were easy to bend and break until one of the links came free. Taking up the ends, Gavin stepped backward and tugged on the man to follow him. He sat resolute on the altar. “What are you doing?”

“Well, I figured since I can’t steal treasure while you’re here that I might as well steal you.”

The man’s mouth opened to a silent ‘oh.’

“And if I steal the warden eternal, then there will be no warden eternal to guard this treasure.”

“How do you know I won’t just burn you?”

“You would’ve already. The corpses. They’re littered with treasure, meaning they got around you, but as soon as they stole something, you burned them. Now you’re just warding people off so they don’t die. Whatever it is that’s controlling your powers has to do with the fact that someone needs to be guilty of the crime you say to them whenever they try to leave with treasure on them. This is just a loophole. Steal you, steal the treasure.”

“Huh. No one’s ever been that clever around it.”

“Well, I doubt any of them had my expertise on word play. Now come on. Up we go.”

He led the man out of the antechamber and back through the corridor, up the stairs, and out into the sun. The man squinted and blinked rapidly, but he adjusted in due time. He was transfixed on the scenery around him. To ensure he couldn’t follow Gavin back down, he fastened his chains to the same tree as his horse.

“There. Now here I go off to plunder.” He saluted the man with two fingers off his forehead. The man only frowned in response.

Gavin returned to the fortress and upon his arrival at the antechamber, found the torches extinguished. Maybe that meant the magic went with it. He treaded through carefully for any other traps and pushed open the door into the next chamber. The door immediately fell off its hinges and hung crookedly on one side. He passed through into the room, littered with chests and barrels and cobwebs. Gold and silver coins littered the ground. Jewels glittered from the cracks of the stone above them and in the center of the room, among all this treasure, was a throne. And upon that throne was a skeleton.

“King Erasmus,” Gavin said, judging by the crown on the skeleton’s head. The man must’ve come down here to die among his treasure then. Fat lot that did for him.

Without the fear of being burned alive presently, Gavin began his search through what was here. He wasn’t bothered by the treasure or other shiny prospects. He knew what he was here for. Sat upon the throne and clutching in its hand was an orb the size of an apple. It was like and enderpearl only larger and darker in colour. More purples and blacks than greens and blues. And within it took the shape of a cat’s eye. The Eye of Ender, Gavin supposed. He took it from the skeleton’s hand and placed it in his satchel.

Out of curiosity he searched over the rest of the skeleton’s body. The King who died here probably kept what was most precious closest to him. There was a ring on the middle finger of the skeleton’s left hand that caught Gavin’s attention immediately. It had a rune inscribed upon it that matched the same style that the manacles and collar held. He took it from the withered hand and slipped it on his own finger. It was particularly fetching. If anything, the magical properties it contained would be useful at the very least.

Leaving everything behind, he exited the chamber and was not consumed by any lingering flames. When he emerged from the fortress, he was surprised to see that the man was still there where Gavin had left him. He thought that now he was free he’d leave.

“Get what you wanted?” he asked.

“Uh, yeah. You know, you can leave now. If you were stuck there, I’m pretty sure King Erasmus wouldn’t mind if you left. He’s sort of—dead.”

“Yeah, I know. He went in that room like fifty years ago and didn’t come out.”

“So then why did you stay then?”

“It’s complicated.”

Gavin rolled his eyes and worked the chains off of the man’s manacles, leaving them in a bunch against the tree. “Fine. Be cryptic. You give a man his freedom and all he does it whine at you.” He collected the horse’s reins and mounted. “I’ll be seeing you. But hopefully I also won’t.”

Just as he turned his horse back towards the path, the man said, “You took the ring didn’t you?”

Gavin turned to look over his shoulder. “What do you mean. What—” The man pointed to the ring on Gavin’s hand. “Look. If it means that much to you, you can just—you can take—” He struggled to pull the ring off his finger. It was as if it was stuck there. “What’s this all about?”

“If you were able to read these runes, then you’d probably understand their wordplay. ‘He who wears the ring shall hold the powers of fire and life itself until death does he part and quest he imparts concluded.’ Yeah. Just another caveat the witch who chained me up gave to the King. He was really paranoid about his treasure, so not only did he bind me to him, he also bound me to his treasure. Since you pulled me from that and took the ring, ownership changes over and now . . .”

“I’m your master? What is this? The fifth century and holding slaves is popular again?”

“Hey, I didn’t write the rules. I’m just relaying them to you. So wherever you go, I go.”

Well, this wasn’t how he expected this trip to go.

The man clapped his hands together, delighting in Gavin’s misery. “So how ‘bout I just hop on behind you and we can ride on to the sunset?”

“Oh no. You’re not getting on this horse, buddy. She’s too small to handle us both. You’ll just have to walk.”

He crossed his arms and huffed. “Fine. I could use the exercise.” He headed off straight for the path and Gavin was left to follow.

Great. This was just what he needed. Well, safe to say Ryan would definitely be surprised now. Not only was he getting the Eye of Ender, he was also getting a strange ring and a chatty magic user of some sort. This was going to be a long trip back.

The man seemed content to wander from the path time to time. He never went far from Gavin’s side as if drawn back by the ring that Gavin periodically tried to slip off his finger. It was no use. There was nothing he could do and his travelling companion was of no help.

“Well, what kind of magic is it then?”

He shrugged. “I didn’t ask. I was more concerned with the fact that I was going to be chained in a pit for a century. Priorities, right?”

“Right.”

And then—

“What can the magic do then? Other than tether you to me?”

“Reduces my powers and abilities. Changed me.”

“Changed what?”

To that he wouldn’t answer. Or maybe he couldn’t.

“Does the magic prevent you from talking about it then?”

“No. Not really.”

“Well then—why won’t you just tell me?”

He turned to Gavin with the meanest of smirks. “Because where’s the fun with that?” He laughed at Gavin’s groan of distress. “I’m Adam, by the way. Thought I should introduce myself to the man who unwittingly became my next master.”

“Don’t. Just don’t with the masters, all right? This is weird enough as is.”

“Oh? Should I call you ‘sir’ then? Is that better, sir? Would you like anything more, sir?” He’d drop his tone with each ‘sir’ to add a sultry note to it.

“Just shut up. Please. Did you kill the king just by talking to him when he was in there?”

“Who’s to say?”

After a moment, Gavin returned his response. “I’m Gavin.”

“Hm. Suits you.”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?”

He shrugged. “Fits the accent. Of course you’d be a Gavin.”

Gavin shook his head and urged his horse onward.

Now that he was done with his questions, Adam seemed eager to ask his own. He asked what Gavin did. He asked him about the state of the world. He asked him what brought him out to these parts of the forest. He asked him why he was sickly coloured in some places.

“’cause I’m creeper,” he said. “You know. The green—”

“Yeah, I know. I’ve seen them before. But how do you exist then? Like, how did that happen? Part human part monster?”

“Don’t really know. Don’t really care.”

“It shouldn’t work though. Humans are humans and monsters are monsters. They don’t co-exist.”

“And yet, I do.”

Adam pushed forward in his assertion. “But you don’t get it. The monster part. It’s too strong. That’s why hybrids don’t work.”

“Then how do you get something like me, hm?”

“Magic? I don’t know. I don’t get the human part.”

“Wha—aren’t you human?”

“On the outside maybe.”

“Just what are you then?”

He was cut off when Adam held a finger to his lips. Gavin pulled up on the reins and listened out. It was quiet. No bugs. No birds. He lifted a hand slowly to his quiver and drew an arrow. He notched it against the string and waited to see what would cross their path. They waited and waited.

“Let me do it,” Adam hissed harshly. “Let me go after it.”

“If you haven’t noticed, mate, I’m not exactly stopping you.” He kept his voice low to avoid attention, but cast a glance back at Adam. He had his hands out, looked like he was ready to dash into the woods at a moment’s notice.

“You don’t get it. I can’t use my fire unless you command me. I can’t use my fire, and we both die.”

“You don’t know that.”

“What? Like I’m going to trust my protection in your wimpy archery skills?”

It was then that out from the trees came a zombie. It was alone, for now, and jerked towards the direction of Gavin and Adam, seemingly out for food. Gavin’s horse snorted in agitation as it stumbled closely, broken arms up like it was going to grab them until Gavin loosed his arrow. One shot to the head would leave anyone deader than dead.

Once the body had fallen, Gavin turned to Adam. “Not so wimpy now, huh.”

“Fire would’ve been better,” he muttered falling in line once Gavin turned his horse back onto the path.

“Yeah and so is burning down half the forest. Come on. Sun’s falling.”

They found a clearing next to a low cliff so their backs would be protected for the night. Gavin asked—or rather commanded in Adam’s sense—for him to make them a fire. Adam was very much pleased with this because it meant he could use his skills and impress Gavin with them. The fire wasn’t much, but the joy in Adam’s face when he held fire in the palm of his hand spoke volumes.

Gavin took the pack from his horse and spread out the bedroll next to the fire. Adam was staring intensely into the flames with an odd sort of fondness. He opened his back and dug out his preserves. He offered some to Adam first, but he got a head shake in response.

“I don’t need it.”

Gavin retracted his hand. “Right. I guess you wouldn’t.” Not since he survived a century chained to a slab of stone with starving. “What do you eat then?”

“Nothing. Don’t really need it. Don’t really have the taste for it.”

“By ‘it’ do you mean everything?”

“I guess.”

“Hey, since you’re a fire being or something, does that mean you eat coal?” Adam gave him an exasperated look, and Gavin only giggled to himself. “Hey, I’m not the one being mysterious here. With all your ‘guesses’ and vague allusions and brooding.”

“I don’t brood.”

“Then what are you doing now with looking into the fire?”

Adam huffed and planted his hands behind him, resolutely leaning away from the fire. “I don’t brood.” He was sulking now.

Gavin laughed. “Sure you don’t. And the sun surely doesn’t rise in the east.” He settled his pack as a pillow at the head of his bedroll and leaned back. “Well, whatever you are, maybe Ryan can fix it. Figure out how to get those things off of you. And make it so I’m not stuck with you for the rest of my life.” He held his hand over his face and admired the ring. The rune upon it constantly glowed, the same warm glow from Adam’s collar and manacles.

“Who’s Ryan? A wizard?”

“Witch, I think. He never got specific with the terms, but what he does is more potions than wand work. But, uh, he likes this type of stuff. Old forms of magic that aren’t common in this region. He can probably figure out what’s keeping us bound together and finds a way out to release us.”

Adam sighed heavily but he didn’t let on as to what weighed on his mind. “Well, that’s part of the problem, anyway.”

“Yep. ‘cause that cryptic bullshit will never get tiring.”

He turned over on his side and closed his eyes. He didn’t think he’d be sleeping much tonight, not when he was too paranoid his new friend might try and do something stupid.

But when he woke to early daylight, Adam was still there, lying out flat next to the remains of the fire. He opened his eyes when Gavin moved. Did this guy even sleep?

They were back on the road shortly and this time Adam didn’t stray from the path. He looked oddly tired, subdued. But as the sun rose higher in the sky, his mood improved and there was a sudden bounce to his step. Gavin looked to the sun and then back to Adam. Fire. Sun. The sun was made of fire. Maybe he drew power from it.

“I know we didn’t meet in the most orthodox of ways,” he said. “But it is a long trip back and I would prefer us more on speaking terms since we don’t know how long this partnership is going to last.”

“You seem rather nonchalant about having a powerful weapon chained to your will.”

“’s that how you see yourself? A weapon?”

“It’s how they saw me. What about you? What do people see when you’re running around dressed up like a creeper?”

It was a fair question, a question that Ryan had asked him when they were first getting to know each other. The question of what it meant to be half monster, to be seen only as that, regarded with suspicion your entire life. But Gavin never had that. He made a reputation for himself. Everyone knew what he was. Who he was. He didn’t fully understand his creeper nature, but that didn’t matter. He had no desire to know about it.

“That’s just a part of who I am. All there is to it,” he replied. “Creepers aren’t that malicious when you get to know them. They just spook easily. They mind their own business more often than not and I want people to see that.”

“Must be nice then.” He sounded more subdued, words more down turned than before and then he began to take quicker steps and overtook Gavin’s horse, effectively ending the conversation.

They made good time that day and found a bare hilltop to set up for the night. It wasn’t particularly ideal, but at least they had a clear view all around them as the ground sloped downwards towards the forest. It would do well enough.

Adam was of more help this time around than last night. He went out and gathered wood for the fire. He asked if Gavin needed any other help, but he was still distant and reserved. Gavin was too tired to strike up any sort of conversation. He took the Eye of Ender out of his bag and looked at it once more. He had never seen one before. He knew from previous experience that enderpearls were what endermen used to teleport from here to there in the blink of an eye. It was an experience he would never like to repeat again because suddenly going from one place to another was extremely jolting and made him incredibly sick afterwards.

Looking at the Eye made Gavin wonder if Ryan was following their progress. He’d spoken of his ability to share the eyes of endermen in the past. Unwillingly at first before he learned to control it and use it to his advantage. He really was something special and Gavin hoped he could see that for himself one day.

He settled in for the night, reclined back on his bedroll, one arm up over his head, the Eye a comfortable weight on his chest. Their passage through the woods was a calm one, but it was shattered this night when Gavin heard movement down the hill.

He opened his eyes and listened hard. He could see Adam across the fire, head up and alert. Then he heard it. A moaning of softs. A soft shuffle. But amplified as if there were many of them, of zombies. Adam stood and Gavin sat up with the book in his lap. At the bottom of the hill, illuminated by the scant fire was a mob of zombies. They must’ve followed them here, slow and stumbling through the woods until they caught up.

Gavin stood slowly to survey it. There were too many there for him to consider fighting, and it was much too dark to consider his accuracy with the bow to be of much help.

“I can fight them,” Adam said. “Let me do it.”

He looked to Adam and then to the mob making its slow progress up the hill. He had no choice. There was no way around it.

“Kill them,” he said and Adam nodded.

He stepped directly into the flames and they grew to consume him. He didn’t just control fire. He was made of fire. And as the zombies trekked upwards, Adam’s power only grew more and more intense until Gavin had to step back from the heat of it. What happened next astounded him. Fueled by the fire, Adam grew in intensity and strength until he was able to project massive balls of fire that consumed everything they touched when he launched them. And wherever the fire spread, it grew, fueled by Adam’s own strength.

He disintegrated the mob until they were but ash and charred bone. The trees behind them caught fire and it spread down the hill with alarming spread. When the threat had been dealt with, Gavin stumbled back, catching himself before he fell. The fire began to recede, creeping away now that the threat had been abolished. What was left of the hoard were just charred remains and a still few twitching zombies that would be dead come morning. Then Adam stepped out of the fire and his body returned to normal.

It was then that Gavin realized why Adam might be considered a monster.

They left before dawn broke. The forest fire had burned well into the night and scorched a considerable portion of it before dying down to a smoulder. It was an undeniable mark of a battle and Gavin wanted to be well on their way before some traveller put two and two together. The people in these parts of the forest had to know of a mysterious fire mage chained in ruins. It would’ve been a legend, a test of strength maybe to get past the guardian of King Erasmus’s treasure. What would happen if they knew the guardian had been freed? If what had killed their people for this past century was now free in the forest?

Gavin’s horse had been spooked in the night and hadn’t returned, so they would continue on foot off the beaten path. Adam was seemingly unaffected and unconcerned with Gavin’s urgency. In fact, he seemed sprightlier than ever since Gavin had commanded him to fight the hoard.

“If we continue on as we are,” Gavin said, “we should reach my home by tomorrow evening.” And then he would be back with Ryan and he could put this entire thing to rest. It wouldn’t be so nearly complicated if he were just travelling by himself.

“Where do you live? Is it a nice place?”

“It’s a cave. But a nice one.”

Adam huffed a laugh. “I hope it’s better than the one I was in.”

“Less chains and more rugs,” Gavin said and he smirked when he heard Adam chuckle. It was nice having him in a more enjoyable mood he had to admit. Like Ryan in a way when they first met. Whereas Adam as just a grump most times, Ryan was uptight. That was until he was given a little freedom to not hide who he was. It was the same with Adam it seemed.

“So who is this Ryan guy to you anyway? What’s he like? If I am to be a gift for him still.”

Gavin rolled his eyes and looked back to see how Adam was smiling to himself. “You obviously aren’t the gift. It’s the orb thing I’m carrying. You’re just . . . a happenstance.”

“Happenstance.”

“Well, what else am I supposed to call you! You’re not exactly telling me anything.”

Adam shrugged. “Not even sure if it would even translate over.”

Gavin scoffed. “Now you’re just pulling my leg.”

He laughed. “Trying to see how much you’ll actually believe.”

“Well, now I’m not going to trust a word you say.”

They continued on their path, chatting idly as they went. Gavin would say more of Ryan. Who he was. How they met. What he was doing now and what they meant to each other.

“Makes sense now,” Adam said. “Why you two work together so well. I hope Ryan’s search goes well. Encountered an enderman a few times down there and they’re not easy creatures to understand.”

And maybe if Adam were to ever come clean about his origins, then maybe he could have something to share with Ryan. Maybe they could help each other.

His thoughts were cut off when suddenly the sound of feet dropped to the ground and he was just a smidgen too slow to block the blow to his head. He didn’t feel his fall to the ground. In fact, his ears were ringing when he was coming to. He couldn’t move. The blood was pounding in his head, and he was helpless to watch as Adam was efficiently subdued and bound in chains, left in a miserable lump on the ground across from Gavin. Without a verbal command, he could do nothing to help them.

The bandits—for that was what they were—chattered among each other as one was set to bind Gavin’s wrists and ankles as others searched his bags. Adam fumed, spitting curses and insults at their captors. Gavin just tried not to be sick or let himself fall unconscious. He knew that would be no good.

“Gag the creeper boy,” one bandit said, obviously the defacto leader. “He’s wearing the ring, which means he controls the fire-caster.”

A piece of dirty cloth, knotted at the front, was shoved into Gavin’s mouth and tied roughly off at the back of his head. The leader then crouched and got into Gavin’s direct line of sight.

“Seems you figured it out then,” he said. “Got yourself a shiny new monster to play with just like that other one. But this—” he pointed to Adam and shook his head “—we will not allow. The enderman one doesn’t cause much trouble. But this one is a scourge that needs to be dealt with. Enough people have died at its hands.”

“The fuck you will!”

The bandit smiled. “You won’t need to worry about it and neither will my people. So I should be thanking you, creeper. For finally getting to the monster that’s been haunting our forests for generations.” The leader then stood and barked as his people to head out. Gavin could do nothing but watch as Adam was dragged along the ground and into the brush, leaving him alone on the forest floor with an aching head.

Gavin knew that if he didn’t do something, he might die here. He looked about his position and saw his belongings scattered about on the ground. If he could make it to his knife, he could try and cut himself free. And he knew now that he couldn’t leave Adam behind. Not to a fate like that.

Chapter Text

Seeing through an enderman was not the most pleasant experience. Endermen were all connected to one another, so if Ryan happened to look through one’s eye, he might slip into another enderman’s vision without knowing and get hopelessly lost even though physically he wasn’t going anywhere. All he had to do when entering this state was blindfolding his human eye, and hyper focusing on the parts of him that were marked by the ender. And then it was like he was there. Albeit with less control than he would like, but it did give him the ability to see what was happening around him without putting his own neck at risk.

In the two weeks that Gavin had been gone on his quest, Ryan had begun to learn of his heritage from the many tomes and scrolls he had collected. They were old and often contradicted each other, but pieces of truth were hidden within the lines and pages. He learned of the endermen’s nature and what they would likely do in nature. They were, for the most part, benign beings, but were to be considered telepathic in nature. And seeing as Ryan knew their minds were connected, he could see why the texts would say that looking one in the eyes acted as a challenge the endermen didn’t like.

At first he would simply look through their eyes, seeing how far he could go, what he could glean from their visions. And then if he asserted himself strongly enough, he could urge the endermen to go in certain directions. The only downside to this was that he didn’t know if they could see through him, if at any point they could take over him. He would just have to wait and see.

As the days went on, Ryan became increasingly agitated. He’d grown used to having Gavin by his side, and while he would like for a few days, two weeks was an agonizingly long time to be gone. While Ryan knew he could take care of himself, he still worried that he’d been set upon by monsters or bandits or witches.

So one night when he couldn’t stand it any longer, he sat before his lit fire within the cave and tied a blindfold over his human eye. He could still see properly with his ender-eye, but when he attuned himself to his mark, his vision clouded over in a purple haze and then he was cast into the mind of another being. For a moment it felt as if he were lost, out of his body and no longer in the cave, but he spread his palms on the floor beneath him and the uneven rocky texture grounded him enough to figure out where he was. He was getting better at recognizing his surroundings by sight alone. When he figured he wasn’t near where he wanted to be, he would jump from one enderman to the next until he found the path Gavin should be on.

He did not find him on the path, but rather off of it into the deep woods. The enderman’s own spectacular senses sought him out in the deep, and Ryan urged the creature further in to see what was keeping him.

Gavin had his creeper regalia on, hood pulled up, crouched in the bushes. He looked ready to strike, and then Ryan saw why. Firelight in the distance. A bandit camp. Made sense. Maybe they'd been hostile towards him. Ryan urged the enderman further, and when it came into arm's length of him, Gavin tense. He looked over his shoulder in the general direction of the endermen. Not at it though. Then it seemed as if Gavin knew. As if he could sense it.

He looked up straight into the enderman's eyes. And when the enderman did nothing, he spoke. "Ryan?"

Ryan only had minimal control over the enderman. He didn't even know if they could emote.

"It has to be you, isn't it? You’ve found us." Gavin raised a hand and pointed towards the bandit camp. "There's someone there. Someone I need to save. He's a good man. He doesn't deserve this."

Ryan turned the enderman's head towards the camp and saw what Gavin was speaking of. In the midst of the banit camp was a huddled mass bound in chains. The bandits had pitched their gear for the night. A fire had been lit.

"We need to save him," he heard Gavin say. "Get him out of here. I'll cause a distraction." Gavin rustled off to his left. Ryan waited until the bandits began to shift and shout of an intruder before moving with the enderman into the camp. He came to the bound man who seemed to be desperately inching his way across the ground to the fire. Ryan extended the enderman's clawed hand and grasped the chains binding the man. The man tried to twist himself around and crane his head up to look at the enderman, face bloodied and mud covered. He looked a sight. How did Gavin come to meet this man? How did they know each other?

Gavin came crashing into the clearing with the bandits hot on his heels. He stumbled back next to the enderman. "Get us out of here," he said, imploring to Ryan to tap into more of the enderman's abilities. So Ryan stretched out his soul further, holding onto both Gavin and the man and tugging back on the enderman's mind until it felt like something snapped.

He pushed off the blindfold. He was lying flat on his back in the cave. The world spun above him and he brought his fingers to his upper lip, feeling blood that had gathered there. He held the blindfold under his nose and struggled to sit up. Grasping a nearby chair, he hauled himself to his feet and stumbled off to the entrance of the cave. When he came crashing out of the door into the cool nighttime air, he saw them. Gavin, the bound man, and the enderman a few yards off. It raised its head, held Ryan's gaze before blinking out of existence. Teleporting. Ryan had managed to force an enderman to teleport to him, bringing with it Gavin and a guest.

"Ryan!" Gavin said. "Come and help. Please." There was urgency in his tone that got Ryan moving, slightly unsteady on his feet yet.

When he got closer, he noticed the head wound near Gavin's hairline that had bled down into his beard. He raised a hand. "What happened?" Gavin flinched back and winced when Ryan tried to touch him.

"Got stuck in some trouble. Help me get him into the house?"

Ryan nodded and tossed the bloodied blindfold over his shoulder. He took the mystery man by the shoulders while Gavin stood at his feet. Together they carried him off into the cave and set him down by the fire as Gavin directed.

"Lock pick?" Gavin asked and Ryan pointed to his work bench. He himself set about filling a bowl of water and a rag.

They returned to bend over the man and begin working on his condition. The chains were bound tight around him, digging cruelly into his exposed skin. As Ryan washed away the grime and dirt on his skin, he realized the man had been dragged—abrasions littered his arms and legs.

Gavin delicately unwrapped the lengths of chain binding him. Together they sat him up gently and freed the man from his bindings. Ryan frowned when he noticed the manacles at his wrists and the collar at his throat, but they gleamed with some sort of magical register that was unfamiliar to him.

"Let's get you back down," Gavin said, easing the man back down in front of the fire. "There. Back where we should be."

"You skipped out on the details where your partner could control an enderman," the man said and it garnered a slight smile from Gavin.

"Big surprise to me as well. Told you he was bright."

"Yeah. Guess so."

"Gavin," Ryan said, getting him to look up. "I'd like to see to that head wound of yours."

Gavin blinked. "Right. Yeah. You'll be all right?" He addressed the man.

"Yeah. You got me here didn't you? I feel like I owe you one now."

Gavin smiled softly. "You can rest on that one. Let us know if you need anything." He stood and followed Ryan deeper into the cave next to the beds where Ryan had him sit and settle so he could see to the wound on his head.

"You must've had quite an adventure," Ryan said, dabbing away gently at the cut to see how big it was.

"More adventurous than I would've liked," he admitted, wincing when Ryan pressed the cloth upon the cut. "Ended up with more than I expected."

"Who is he?"

"Says his name is Adam. Found him when I got to the end of my map. He's not exactly human. A witch chained him down there." His eyes were fixed on Adam. Then he looked at Ryan. "I couldn't just leave him there, imprisoned as he was."

"I'm not blaming you," Ryan said. He didn't want Gavin to think he was going to cast Adam out into the wild. That was the last thing he wanted to do. "Why don't you tell me from the start what happened."

So Gavin did. He told him how he went out after his map and came upon some ancient ruins in the northern part of the forest. There he found Adam guarding the treasure that was left behind after an old bandit king perhaps had died. After some trickery, he managed to free Adam from his duties, but in doing so had managed to bind the two of them together through an old magical ring.

But in the middle of his story, Gavin leapt out of bed. "Oh! My bag!" He stepped off to collect his bag and returned to the bed. He pulled from it what looked like a large glass orb. "Eye of Ender, I think. Like, I’m ninety percent certain that that’s what that is. I thought you could make some use of it."

It was new knowledge to Ryan and he hoped it would give him the answers he wanted. "Gavin, this is incredible. Thank you." Gavin smiled and leaned into nuzzle against him.

"I'm just sorry it took longer than expected. Didn’t know what I was getting into when I pulled Adam out."

"I'm sure we'll figure that part out." He set aside the tome and helped Gavin strip off his outerwear and slip beneath the bed covers.

"He's not bad," he was saying, movements growing more and more sluggish. "Just a bit lost. I've grown to like him. He's fun."

"I'm sure he is. Now go to sleep. You need rest." Gavin went willingly until he was buried up to his chin. Ryan then stepped back to begin dimming the lamps and blowing out the candles. He looked over to the fire pit and saw Adam there curled up next to it, as close as he could be without touching it. He was only lying on the threadbare rug that Ryan had covering the floor of the cave. He brought over a blanket and gently draped it over him. Adam opened his eyes and Ryan stopped, held himself still.

"You don't have to worry about me," he said. "I'm not going to do anything bad."

"Didn't say you were. But I'm certain I can find a way to help you."

Adam sighed and slowly closed his eyes. Ryan stepped away and retreated back to the bed with Gavin.

He was odd, Ryan thought. He couldn't figure out how to place him. But he believed Gavin. If he wasn't as human as he looked, then Ryan would do what he could to help him.

As much as Ryan wished to read the new tome he received, he put his focus into learning of the magic that bound Gavin and Adam together. From what he'd gathered. Adam was an unwilling prisoner that bound his life to whoever wore the ring. While the magic of binding was simple to Ryan (it was the easiest curse any magic user could do) he wanted to know what Adam actually was.

"I've never come across fire mages before. Only cheap parlous tricks."

They were outside of the cave, allowing Ryan to work in the daylight. Gavin worked on tightening his bow string and fletching new arrows. Adam found a sunny patch to lie under. Maybe he was some sort of sun worshipper.

"What can I say?" he drawled. "I'm unique."

Gavin scoffed. "Never said anything to me either. He was being all cryptic and shady."

"Not shady. You just wouldn't understand. It's not like it matters."

Gavin spread out his hands like 'see what I put up with these last few weeks?'

"I'd say it does," Ryan said. "Where did they find you?"

"Not from here."

"You are so unhelpful." Gavin got up and walked over to nudge Adam with his foot only to be pulled off his feet when Adam snatched his ankle and swept him off balance. Gavin made a sound of surprise and Adam laughed as he came crashing down on top of him. They seemed to have built up a comradery of sorts. Gavin had been nice to Adam and Adam grew attached to him. He trusted him. Ryan could see why. There was something about Gavin and his confidence that drew people to him, to trust him.

Ryan asked Adam to sit before him so he could study the runes on his manacles and collar. But as he sat there, he kept a near constant gaze on wherever Gavin was.

"A hundred years," Ryan said, to break the silence between them.

"Yep."

"Anything terribly exciting happen?"

"Other than being forcibly imprisoned and used against my will?"

Ryan swallowed hard and returned to transcribing the runes.

"I'm kidding," Adam said. "I really appreciate what you're doing here. It's just that . . . you can't do everything for me."

Ryan looked up from his notes. He noticed that Adam had a habit of always looking into his ender-eye. He wasn’t perturbed by it, but it did strike him as odd.

But instead of explaining what he'd just said, he switched topics. "I always liked it when an enderman would come to me. Even if they never said anything, it felt like they were trying to in their own way. Keep me company or something." Adam laughed a little and folded his hands in his lap. "I don't know why I told you that."

"I think I got it. People don't understand endermen. So they don't understand me. But if you're patient enough and wait for them to come to you, it's like you build a connection with them." He picked up his charcoal piece and wrote out the runic inscriptions. "I don't understand what I am, but that doesn't mean I can't reach out to them."

"It's hard to be understood," Ryan continued and he saw the way Adam bowed his head. "Being what we are. But Gavin showed me a different way of seeing myself. Of reaching out to my ender side. You don't have to tell us what you are. We just want to help you."

Adam deserved to have his secrets. He didn't need to tell them his whole life story. But as long as he knew that Gavin and Ryan understood him in most ways that other people couldn't, maybe that would give him a sense of peace.

"I've figured out how to break the curse," Ryan said to all of them one night. "All it needs is a potion. Gavin, come here." Gavin stepped up to his workbench and offered up his hand. Ryan had the potion at the ready.

"This isn't going to like melt my skin is it?"

Ryan smirked. "I would never." Adam watched from the back of the room as Ryan gently tipped the contents of his flask upon the glowing ring on Gavin's hand. It took a moment before the glow died and when it died, so did the runes on Adam's manacles and collar.

"That's step one," Ryan said. "Now all we need to do is remove the cuffs by hand."

Gavin was more delicate working with picks and locks than Ryan was. Adam was quiet and spoke in a somewhat nervous rhythm as Gavin worked quietly. The first manacle came off easily, clattering to the ground soon to be followed by the second and then gently the collar. Adam's fingers swept over the newly exposed skin, marveling at the feeling of bare skin, no longer hindered by the magic and steel that bound him.

"How do you feel?" Ryan asked.

"Amazing. Like I could do anything."

"Well, go on then!" Gavin said. "Do something. Show off a bit."

And he did.

Lifting a hand, he called all the sources of flame to him and held the combined light of which in his hand. The cave was dark except for the fire that Adam held in his hand, and he looked so proud of himself for doing something without needing an order to do so. He then blew on the flame and they dispersed to their original origin points.

"That was incredible!" Gavin said, shoving Adam playfully on the shoulder. "What else can you do?"

"Well, you've seen what I can do."

"Yeah, but not everything surely. You're a magical fire being."

Ryan would always love the way Gavin would gush about other people, their abilities and what made them special. While he knew Adam looked human, he probably didn't feel it inside and that must’ve been causing him some turmoil.

When Gavin was busy later that day, Adam came up to him to speak in private. "I know this is yours and Gavin's home. And I appreciate you taking me in as you did."

Ryan could see where his speech was going and decided to cut him off there. "I don't expect you to leave. You can stay as long as you want."

Adam sighed. "I appreciate it. I don't, uh, exactly have anywhere to go. Not like anyone would want to take me in anyway."

The bandits, Ryan assumed, were probably not the only people aware of the fire mage in the woods. He understood perfectly.

"Gavin likes you," he said then and caught Adam looking up at him. "He's fond of you."

"I thought you and him were--"

"Gavin can do what he likes. I'm still going to be here for him, but if he wants to pursue something with you, then I'm not going to stop him."

Adam nodded and lowered his gaze. "Thanks."

"Seriously, if you need anything, tell me. I want to help you." He did. He really did.

In the coming days, Adam settled into their home more firmly. He still slept next to the fire, but considering he was a being (of some sorts) of fire, it made sense. He'd follow Gavin around during the day, and the two were rarely apart otherwise. And if Ryan were simply passing by, Adam would take a second glance at him. He was settling in nicely and in doing so began to open up about his past that allowed Ryan to put the pieces together as to who and what he really was.

Ryan would listen in on them when they were inside for the night, loosely arranged in the space--Ryan in the back with his books and scrolls, Gavin mending tears in his clothing, sprawled out in the ground next to Adam before the fireplace. It was cozy, cozier than before now that they had a third living with them. But Ryan liked it this way. He realized he liked having Adam here.

"So then what's your home like?" Gavin asked.

"Lots of fire," he said and Gavin snickered. "Seriously, though. It's, uh, it's nice for people like me. Old ruins that we made our own. Fire, lava pits. Other dark creatures."

"Would you go back if you could?"

"I mean, I would but they wouldn't take me like this."

"Why not?"

"I don't look like I should. They kind of took that away from me. The witches, I mean."

"Hm."

The descriptions of Adam's home were familiar to Ryan. He had come across other 'realms' as they said in his texts. Endermen were from one realm—the End. But there were others. The Nether came to mind for what Adam was saying. It was likened to Hell—fire and brimstone, but it was said there was gold there, enough to live like a king. Now to get to these realms, one would need a portal, and while Ryan didn't have the tools (yet) to crossover to one of these realms, it was a possibility. That if the people who imprisoned Adam took him from the Nether, then it limited the scope of what Adam really was.

"You're from the Nether, aren't you?" Ryan asked one day. He caught Adam alone away from Gavin. Because while Gavin was nice, he never wanted to make someone uncomfortable, so he avoided the harder questions that Ryan needed the answers to. And with how reluctant Adam was in giving his own story, it was left to Ryan to get all the answers and help Adam in the way that he needed.

"Why do you want to know?" Adam asked, crossing his arms and creating a shield between them. It must've been a sensitive subject then.

"I want to help you, Adam. If you want to go home, I will do whatever it takes to get you there. You went through something terrible. But Gavin and I can help with that."

But Adam shook his head. "That's not the only issue. Yeah, you gave me my powers back. Yeah, you can maybe cross over to the Nether, but that's not the issue here."

"Then what? Just tell me!"

"They took my form from me! Happy?"

Ryan blinked. "Oh," he said softly. "Then what?"

Adam sighed heavily. "I'm a blaze. I'm supposed to be this figure of smoke and fire. Terrifying in my own right. But they took that from me and I don't know how to get it back."

"How . . . how did they take it from you?"

"Blazes . . . we have this thing called a crown. It's where part of our form manifests, makes us that much more powerful. But they took it from me when they caught me. And I can't live like this in the Nether. I'd die. And the others wouldn't accept me like this. Not after how long I've been gone."

Ryan began to understand his dilemma then. Why he was so reluctant to give details. There was no hope for him like this. It was something he simply had to live with. Just as Ryan had to live with the parts of him that were ender and that very few people would ever understand him.

"And you have no idea where your crown might be," he said.

Adam shook his head. "They took it from me and hid it. Could be anywhere by now. Anything can happen in a hundred years."

So they were at an impasse then. Ryan had his answers, but no solutions to the current problems facing them now. Adam was just as out of place in the world as Ryan was.

 "I don't know what I can say to make this any better."

"You can't."

"But I do mean it when I say—stay with us. I didn't have a place in the world until I met Gavin. And he made me see that the way I look, the way I am isn't something for me to hate or fear. I know it might not be the same as what you're facing, but I want you to know that you have a place here. A home if you're looking for one."

Adam did not meet his gaze for several minutes before finally turning his face upwards and looking into Ryan's ender-eye. Ryan felt a shiver go through him, something akin to whenever and enderman would look directly at him. Ryan put his hand out onto Adam's shoulder and squeezed firmly. Adam then laid his hand on top of his and simply held it there. They shared a moment of silence before Adam huffed and nodded firmly.

"Thanks for, um, this. As you can imagine, there's not many people I can talk to about this." He laughed quietly to break the tension and it earned a smile from Ryan.

"I'm just glad you feel safe enough around us to tell us this."

The nature of Adam's blaze state came up again later that night when Ryan and Gavin were resting in bed together. Adam was deep asleep buried under his blankets which gave the two of them time to talk and whisper in bed.

Ryan had his endermen book open against his legs. He was merely paging through it, looking at the glyphs and runes.  Gavin had manoeuvered himself under one of Ryan's arms, fingers tapping out a secret rhythm against his arm.

"Said he was a blaze," Ryan said. He wanted to keep Gavin informed of the situation and he didn't think Adam would mind if he told Gavin.

"Really? What's a blaze like then?"

"Big smoky creatures. Not even remotely human according to my sources."

"Explains the whole fire thing then."

Ryan hummed and turned to the next page. He could feel his eyes get heavier and heavier.

"Then why's he still human even if we broke the curse between us?" Gavin asked, turning impatiently in Ryan's arms to look at him properly.

Ryan sighed and shut his book. "He said something about a crown. They took it from him and he became like that. And now that he doesn't have it, he can't go back home."

"Blaze crown," Gavin repeated, settling down quietly against Ryan once more.

He let his eyes close, dozing off to the silence of the cave except for the crackle of the still lit fire and Gavin's soft breathing beside him. Then Gavin shifted and jolted him from his fatigue.

"What are you up to now?" he asked, rubbing his eyes and stretching out on the bed as Gavin clambered over him.

"Don't you worry. Go back to sleep, love." A messy and rushed kiss was planted on his forehead before Ryan rolled over to one side and ignored Gavin as he searched for something deeper in their cave.

When he woke the next morning, Gavin was plastered against his back. He asked about his activities the previous night when he was awake enough for breakfast.

"Oh, I was looking for something," he said cheerfully.

"Looking for what?"

"Remember that crown you bought me from the market a while back?"

"The one that you promptly stored in a chest?" Ryan asked.

Gavin nodded. "The very same. Do you remember what the seller said it was when we bought it?"

"No."

"Ryan, she said it was a blaze crown, Ryan. Do you know what this means?"

"That we were duped into buying a useless trinket?"

"Or it could be Adam's crown."

Ryan didn't want to show it that he thought the idea was a bit wistful, but he felt the way his brow furrowed that had Gavin rolling his eyes.

"Fine. Be a nonbeliever." He pushed away from the table and Ryan turned in his seat to watch as he padded over to the miserable lump of blankets in front of the fire. He knelt down on the rug and gently touched the blankets, urging Adam to rise from his slumber and his safe cocoon to offer him the crown. He spoke gently enough that Ryan couldn't hear him, but whatever he did say got Adam to sit up and take the crown from him.

"A blaze crown?" Adam said incredulously.

"Gavin seems to think so," Ryan said with a shrug.

"Ryan's a stick in the mud when it comes to coincidences," Gavin said. "I say there's no harm in trying anything once."

"Yeah?" Adam said. "And how well has that philosophy worked for you?"

"Would you believe I've only seen him get food poisoning once?"

"I'm not going to have two pessimists in this household," Gavin said. "Go and try it on now."

Adam laughed at his surliness and began to rise from the floor. "If it works—and I'm not saying it will—I’m going to try it on outside so I don't destroy your home."

"At least he has common sense," Ryan said as Gavin passed by to follow Adam outside.

"Oh, hush you."

The three of them stood outside in the cave in the early morning light. Adam held the oddly designed crown in his hands, with its golden jagged points. Then, with little fanfare, he set it on his head and the change was terrifyingly immediate.

Adam was suddenly bathed in smoke, crown and all. His form began to shift and take shape and from the midst of it burst forth golden bars that seemed to partially serve as a protective cover around the form. And then it began to take more shape. A head, glowing eyes. It hovered there above the ground. Ash and embers floated off of it, swirling around in the hot air it generated. It was hot, so hot and scorching. Ryan's eyes burned and his lungs clogged with sulfur.

He could see now and so could Gavin what a monster Adam might be to some people. Something to be feared, to be destroyed, to be chained up and locked away. To be used for someone's own benefit. While neither Gavin nor Ryan would understand what it would be like to be a monster in the flesh, they didn't see one here before them.

A being of fire and smoke, yes, but one that would've been well suited to its home. It was monstrous here because it was out of place. But should they travel to the Nether, see Adam in his element, what beauty could he be.

Smoky arms merged from the mass of smoke, more claw like and spindly than anything. The claws grasped the gold bars and wrenched it free from itself. The smoke disappeared and before them stood Adam as they knew him, holding the blaze crown in his hands.

"Is something wrong?" Gavin asked. There were tears in his eyes from the smoke, rimmed red and looking sore just as Ryan was trying to blink furiously to handle the stinging.

Adam laughed and he sounded so relieved. "Nothing. Nothing's wrong. I've just been thinking of this moment for so long and I finally have it and I don't know how else to react, you know?"

"You looked incredible!" Gavin said, a wide smile breaking over his face. He stepped up to Adam a few steps, never one to back away from a challenge. "I can't believe that's your true form."

Adam looked rather bashful, and taking up Gavin as an example, Ryan came forward as well. They surrounded him loosely as he continued to turn the crown in his hands. Ryan stood at Gavin's side, hand on his shoulder, rubbing in an arc along his back.

Adam shook his head and smiled at them both. "I can't believe you found it."

"Call it coincidence," Ryan said.

"No!" Gavin protested. "It's fate is what that is. We were meant to find you. Just as I was meant to meet Ryan here."

"Why don't we go back in and have breakfast?" Ryan said. "Enough of this fate stuff. It's too early in the morning to debate about the divinity."

Gavin led them all off back to the cave, Adam following him and Ryan walking after him in turn. He held the crown the entire time, but as they sat down and had breakfast together, Ryan felt as if their life here in this quiet little corner of the forest was fuller now. For better or for worse, they had each other now, to ward off those who didn't understand or harboured some hatred against them for who they were.

And seeing Gavin with his creeper cloak and Adam with his blaze crown gave Ryan hope that one day he, too, could have something of his own that he could be proud of and that gave him a sense of purpose. But until then he had the two of them and that was all he needed.