You Versus The Universe

20.

><>3rd person POV<><
::: Previously: Null, the humanoid void, befriended three human children: the oldest, Stephen, the second oldest, Naya, and the youngest, Toby. With great excitement following, Null learned that there were not only those three remaining survivors.. but an entire village, or more!.. All hiding beneath the ground, away from Herobrine: it's new target. :::

     "Come on! It's just this way!" Naya guided the dark and mysterious figure with zero fear through the forest, her young and older brothers right behind her. Null watched the three with a joy it hadn't felt in years.. maybe even ever. Not only did it now know that the humans were okay, but that it was trusted by such adorable children.

     "Naya, are you sure you want to show this thing where our home is?" The oldest and most skeptical of the three asked. The youngest mostly just followed along carelseely, looking around at anything that moved in the peaceful sunshine gliding through the trees.

     "Really, Steph?.. I would have thought after that zombie attack, when you tried to run back home on your own last night would have been enough to know he is on your side." Naya pointed out.

     "True.." The oldest mumbled, looking up through the corner of his eyes apologetically at the void in the form of some humanoid being. "...Just, how do we know how everybody else will react? I am guessing it will be attacked, or worse. And we would be double punished for taking a stranger with us!" The youngest squirmed at the idea, but Naya stayed firm in her steps.

     "I am sure everything will turn out alright. He is pretty strong, afterall." The other two just shrugged. Finally, they came across a cliff face, which cut straight down the mountain's edge, and was immensely covered by shrubbery. Vines coated the very faint outline of a cave. A cave which the three children had no fear while entering. Null took a quick look around, scanning for any peering eyes as well as keeping track of the path it had taken. Finally, it pushed some vines aside, perfectly blending in with the darkness of the cave.

     Null used it's own eyes as a light source for a while, only able to hear the three children stumbling around. After some time, Toby found a torch, lit it, and lead the way further into the cave. The tunnel narrowed, then widened, then narrowed again. In several places the cave was intersected by mine-tracks and carts bring items from one place to another. An obvious sign of life forms somewhere near by. A whole civilization even.

     "Those are our mines." Naya pointed out as a minecart paused the group for a brief moment by it passing them. "They double as a maze, so we can escape Herobrine if he were ever to find us. Some of the tunnels even lead to Strongholds. There, we are figuring out how to build our own End portals, so we can escape there if needed. The only problem is that hardly any endermen teleport down here, which is probably a good thing, now that I think about it..." Naya then began some sort of tour, telling Null all about how they have managed to live underground for so long, how their farms work, both crops and animals; and the fact that the several railroads link up with other underground villages far and wide, all keeping in close communication with one another so that they can be prepared if needed. Good thing Null wasn't secretly on Herobrine's side, because then all the precious information the girl was sharing would only hinder her in the end.

     "Alright, Naya, I think you have talked enough to tire out the poor thing's ears. We're here, anyways." Stephen said, pulling away some more vines, revealing a wide, open space. It was beautiful...

     The whole village was built into a massive -- snaking and swerving -- cave. Running through it was a gentle creek, with wooden bridges intersecting it, some people using them to go fishing on. Lining the creek were patches of sand, dirt, and sugarcane. On some of the nearby patches of dirt grew carrots and potatoes, which were open for anyone to pick and eat. Up the little slope into the creek, stood little shops. Those shops and even a few houses had taller bridges which crossed over the bridges below. Little lanterns hung from the taller bridges, providing light for the while creek. The shops themselves were made with materials from all over the world. Living in a certain biome was no longer a factor. A little further from the creek, from the shops, were small patches of crops, as well as animal farms. Each was individually owned by a family or two. Some were owned by the  businesses. Even further outward from that were the fronts of houses and storage buildings literally dug into the walls of the cave themselves, leaving plenty of room for the trees growing around them. The little ecosystem of it all was just so wonderful. The humans never ceased to amaze Null. Even in a time of panic and having to retreat underground to survive, they had managed to make their survival bunker into, their home...

     No wonder Naya was so excited to show it all around the village. Speaking of whom, the young girl pulled excitedly on the void being's wrist, begging for it to walk forwards into the village.  Null simply wanted to look at the place however, and allowed itself just a couple extra seconds to soak it all in, before blinking itself back into a thinking state of mind, and allowing itself to be pulled onto the path in towards the village.

     Slowly, one by one, curious heads spun around to stare at the void being, guided by Naya. First a farmer, then a store keeper, then a fisherman, then a couple children playing, then an old woman, until eventually, it seemed as if hundreds had crowded around the four; not a single question having been asked yet.

     "Naya!" "Toby!" "Steph!" A young couple of individuals Null felt as if it recognized came rushing through the village to reach their children. There was a happily family reunion as the mother and father both hugged their children tightly, both saying how happy they were to see them and threatening them to never run off again. Null just couldn't place it's finger on the identity of the two just yet. It KNEW it had seen them before, but.. where?

     Once the parents had finished their attention being soully on their kids, the two looked up at Null, standing tall and straight immediately.

     "Null! H- how did you find us?! H- how are you even still alive?! Wh- we thought Herobrine killed you!" The woman spoke up, her lips curving up into a smile. She wore a green short sleeve shir, brown pants, grey boots, and sported bright red hair, and bright green eyes. Meanwhile, her husband wore a teal blue t-shirt, dark blue -- nearly purple -- pants, had darkened short brown hair, a little beard, and dark purple eyes. 'Wait... Steven and Alexa?!' Null's eyes shot wide when it finally remembered who the two were. They had been the two entrusted with the charge of Null's small army in that little attack on one of Herobrine's storage fortresses. They had been the ones it most trusted leading the humans by it's side! Without their attention or a warning, it scooped the two adults up into a hug as well, letting them both know right then that they didn't need to be so formal.

     Quite honestly, the void being had had no idea the two would end up together, especially with their almost opposing personalities! But, you can't just predict things like that, now can you?.. As soon as Null put the two down, it seemed as if the entire village relaxed. Then, the questions started flooding in. Apparently, everyone already knew who Null was and anxiously wanted their questions to be answered by the immortal. The three kids looked a little surprised. Apparently they had no idea that this character, was actually Null: the only immortal/sort-of fully on their side!

     "...Wait, wait, everybody QUIET!!" Naya jumped between the impending questions and the slowly being overwhelmed figure. "He can't speak! I don't know why, but you will have to wait patiently for answers." Thankfully, everyone listened to the voice of reason, and silently agreed on simply writing down their questions for later. As the crowds were dispersing, Alexa was the first to properly speak to Null about what Naya had just said.

     "Can't.. speak?... How...?"

     Null's head only lowered to view it's feet, kicking a small pebble aside. Spotting a stick, the void being picked it up, and sloppily wrote down on the ground, "torture." Once the adults spotted it, Null quickly smudged back over it with it's foot so the curious kids, Naya especially, would not read it as well. There was a small gasp from Alexa and Steven as Null covered the words back up.

     "No way.. Why?" Alexa then asked.

     Null answered a little slower that time. "He wanted to know what I was." Then it added a little afterwards. "..I am sorry. I am the reason so many of you have been killed..." Null looked away in mourning, only to feel a gentle hand rest on it's shoulder.

     "No, you aren't. The war was inevitable. We would have been sucked into it sooner or later. May as well have been sooner, since now, we get to live in peace." Alexa spoke softly. Even Steven came up to pat it on the back a little.

     "No." Null again wrote on the ground. "This is not freedom. You need to be on the surface...

                           I must KILL Herobrine."

====================================
Oooooo, both chapters 19 AND 20 ending on such a vital note. What do YOU think will happen? I would like to hear your ideas. (I've already planned everything out, though, so don't worry about me changing the story just to fit in your ideas. 😏) But still, hearing people's theories is MORE than fun.

Aaaaand, ta-taa! :]