The Darkness

A room in the End Base

The Darkness is the ninth part of the Tree of Life map. It consists of the Edge of Lijos, Frozen Land, Cloud Castle, End Base, Order of Magma Plotting and End. It is preceded by The Death and succeeded by The End.

## Summary

After Ezen gets captured, the Legion of Life splits up; Cutie and Mmea leads most of the members to Myrkur for battle while Sven, Guard, Zoe, Dabsar, Chappal and Zian travel to the Frozen Land to go to the Cloud Castle and access Myrkur through the portal in the End. They discover many twists on the way, as well as an unlikely ally.

## Cast of Characters

Pilin

Ezen

Azen

Izen (flashback)

Ozen (flashback)

Baibee

Leethos

Vogana

Skinscraper (flashback)

Pozan

Magma Queen

Coo Coo Junior

Crazy

Waawa

Chappal

Sven

Guard

Zoe

Dabsar

Zian

Coo Coo

Zovan (through Coo Coo)

Mewi

The Deathmaster (flashback)

## Episodes

Edge of Lijos

Frozen Land

Cloud Castle

End Base

Order of Magma Plotting

End

## Plot

The stealth group Legion of Life go to the Edge of Lijos in order to get to Myrkur.

In Myrkur, Pilin asks to see Ezen. The guard is at first hesitant as he has orders from Skinscraper not to, but Pilin tells him that Skinscraper was executed. The guard then agrees to, and leaves Pilin with Ezen alone. Ezen is bitter to Pilin, berating him for his betrayal. Pilin explains that he had no choice, but Ezen disagrees, saying he could have simply left, come with him and his friends, or better yet tell Pozan face-to-face what a horrible person he is. Pilin ignores Ezen, and asks him about his past. Ezen refuses to tell him, but Pilin informs him that he knows Ezen wants to, and that he's never shared it to anyone before, and that he desperately wants to. Reluctantly, Ezen agrees.

Ezen tells of a while ago, when he and Azen were much younger; Skinscraper, who, at that time, was the admiral of the Order of Magma, had come to offer Ozen (Ezen's father) a place in the Order of Magma. Ozen is about to accept, but Izen quickly intervenes and refuses to let her husband join, saying that it's fascist and evil. Over the years, Ozen and Izen drifted apart, their love for each other slowly drifting away due to their differing opinions. One day, Izen was killed by humans. Ozen decided then to join the Order of Magma to gain revenge for what happened. He tried to convince Ezen to join him as well. While Ezen pretended to say yes, he truly had plans to leave, as he packed up that night and set off. Azen tried to convince him to stay, while Ezen tried to convince her to leave. Ultimately, he left without her. Pilin apologizes to Ezen for what he had to do. Ezen bitterly demands why Pilin would care, and Pilin replies that it's because he's been through similar experiences.

The Legion of Life travels through the Frozen Land to reach the Cloud Castle.

Pilin returns to the dungeons of Myrkur to see Ezen. The guard is hesitant to let him through, as he finds it suspicious. Pilin eventually convinces him, and the guard lets him, but remains extremely suspicious. He sits down next to Ezen's cage for a while in silence. Eventually, Ezen tells Pilin that it's his turn to open up and tell him about his past. Pilin refuses at first, but Ezen knows he wants to, so Pilin reluctantly tells him.

Pilin describes that it was only around a year ago or so that this happened, but he was much younger and more naïve then. He was playing tennis with Baibee (and apparently losing, much to the amusement of Leethos and the disgust of Azen), until Vogana came and told them she found out how to do a cloaking spell and spy on a meeting going on with the general, admiral and commander of the Order of Magma. They do so. However, in the meeting Pilin overhears Pozan's plan to wipe out a civilian plan, which he directly speaks against, saying those people want nothing more than to live their lives unoppressed. The Magma Queen is furious with Pilin for this, as not only did he interrupt a war meeting, but he also demonstrate "weakness", and a wish to spare innocent civilians. She wanted to have him executed, but his friends stood up to him. The Magma Queen decides to name Pilin a spy for the Order of Magma, an incredibly risky job. She warns him that if he fails, he will be executed.

Back in the present, Ezen is horrified to hear of such cruelty from the Magma Queen, as he admitted that he had thought that there was at least a glimmer of a soul inside such a monster, but he was wrong. Pilin scoffs, saying that the Magma Queen was awful, but his own father simply let it happen, and Pilin was expected to be fine with it. Pilin begins to question whether he is weak. Ezen disagrees, saying that having friends and compassion makes one vulnerable, but not weak; it lets them have something to live for, as despite the fact that a war needs tactical and strategic planning, it also to some extent requires at least some degree of morals and compassion, which Pilin has, but his father wants to get rid of. After a while, Pilin asks if circumstances were different, if the two of them could have been friends. Ezen has a confusing reply.

The Legion of Life arrive at the Cloud Castle, and go across the bridge and into the palace. After some time, they come across a large room and are suddenly confronted by Coo Coo Junior, Crazy and Waawa, who are all proxies of Coo Coo. They inform the Legion of Life that they are no longer part of Coo Coo, and that they had to lock her up in the Obsidian Palace, as she was getting out of hand. Dabsar tells them that they're looking for Tree of Life pieces, as well as a way to Myrkur. Coo Coo Junior explains that they used to have two, but one was taken away; they could find it by going through the Obsidian Palace. Crazy warns however that if they go there, they could risk freeing Coo Coo, and should that happen, they need to be ready to put her back in. The Legion of Life agree to this. Before they leave, Coo Coo Junior, Crazy and Waawa apologize to Chappal for the trouble they caused her. She accepts their apology and leaves.

Once they reach the Obsidian Palace and the prison room, Coo Coo is quickly released from her prison, and she proceeds to attack them. While Chappal prepares the spell to seal her back in, Coo Coo is quick to stop the spell. Dabsar attempts to charge at Coo Coo and her force her back in, but that fails almost instantly. As they fight, Chappal suddenly has a memory surge, and she remembers that something happened a while back in Painful Parkour. While Chappal's memory keeps coming back, Dabsar, Sven, Zoe and Guard keep trying to figure out exactly what it is, until finally Zian snaps and orders Chappal, surprisingly harshly, to tell them what's happening. Chappal blurts out that she remembers that the Dungeoneer had killed Coo Coo, but Coo Coo had been resurrected by The Void and by Zovan, but she was under their control this time. Coo Coo, sure enough, grew Zovan's voice, and proceeded to attack them, this time with the intent to kill.

During the fight however, Chappal continued to reach out to Coo Coo and continued to succeed, which finally, after some time of fighting, led Zovan to abandon Coo Coo's body and leave her to die. He strikes her and leaves her to die, and proceeds to leave. Chappal cries over Coo Coo's limp body. Coo Coo, with only minutes left in her life, wants to tell Chappal something. Chappal wants to hear it. To her shock and relief, Coo Coo reveals that she in fact wasn't dying, and that Zovan had failed to kill her, and the curse on her had been lifted. Delighted, Chappal embraced her friend — no, sister — and the two hugged for a while. Eventually, Sven said they should probably be going soon. Chappal asks if Coo Coo can join the Legion of Life, given that she wasn't truly a terrorist, it was merely The Void controlling her to be that did this to her. Sven agrees to it, as he would love to have a panda representative. They then set off and go through the next portal.

The Legion of Life stops by by their base in the End.

In Myrkur, the Magma Queen summons several of her minions to her throne room, including Pozan, Azen, Vogana, Leethos, Baibee and Pilin. She begins by saying that she finally has a plan to use Ezen to bring back The Void by forming an alliance with the Void Empire, by giving Ezen to them, but only if they pledge their allegiance to her. She then says that she plans to use their airships to wage war on Lijos and completely decimate it; but once The Void arrives, it will wipe the world clean, and she, alongside her minions, would remake it (though unknown to them, she plans to kill them all too and only keep herself alive). She then proceeds to give everyone promotions except Pilin and Vogana, making Baibee a captain, Leethos the commander, Azen the general and Pozan the admiral. By now, however, Pilin has finally made his decision on where he will stand.

The Legion of Life goes into the End dimension. They travel through for a while until they finally reach the mount of the notorious Mewi Fat Cat. While at first they cannot find him, Mewi reveals that he is trapped in limbo, therefore they cannot see his physical form, and his true form right now is Zovan, as The Void took his body from him and replaced it with Zovan. Mewi explains that the same was done to Coo Coo's girlfriend in the past, Komodi, who became The Deathmaster. He tells them that they formed the Void Empire, an extremely dangerous group beyond their comprehension. He tells them of something he heard a while ago.

Mewi explains that he was stalking Pozan and Azen, who mysteriously went to the Void, and asked to see The Deathmaster. Pozan explains that he is here for an alliance, that they will give them Ezen, an enderman who can bring back The Void. The Deathmaster simply laughs at this, but Zovan suddenly appears, and tells him that Ezen's power does, indeed, have enough to resurrect The Void if paired with his own. Pozan warns them that there are several terms to this, that they will need pledge their allegiance to the Magma Queen. Reluctantly, Zovan agrees. Pozan also adds that they must use The Void to completely decimate Lijos. Zovan very sadistically agrees to this, and forms this alliance.

The Legion of Life is absolutely horrified to hear this, and Mewi tells them they are definitely rightful to feel this way; however, they have bigger problems right now, and they should focus on that. He also tells them that they still have time to save Ezen and keep this from happening. Dabsar says that even if they save Ezen, they'll simply spend the rest of their lives running. Mewi replies by saying that they can rebuild the Tree of Life, which will keep away The Void for good, and defeat both the Order of Magma and the Void Empire. He tells them that there are about three pieces left; one here, one in Myrkur, but the last one in the Void. He tells them a way to get through the Void in a safe manner, by going to Mount Etheral, a mountain which has the piece. He tells them that everything must go exactly to plan, or else the world will be destroyed. He gives them the Tree of Life and tells them to hurry and go, as the fate of existence is at steak. They do so.