Chapter 4 - The End of Church

At church, they talked about exactly what Ett was wondering about: Endermen.

She also noticed Riley was there with her, and she winked at him. He winked at her back.

"Endermen must not be from here," they said, "because their name tells the End!"

"And the End must be the end of something,"

"probably the end of our suffering."

"But that means it must be out of reach."

"Which means that there are other places to be!"

"Which means that there are other places to be!"

"Which means that there are other places to be!"

"Which means that there are other places to be!"

"So, the endermen come from the End. The End must have a way to be the end of our suffering. So, there is a final objective. And after that final objective, the end will be reached. But the endermen must come from there, and the endermen must be minions from there. And that means that they are working to give our world its end, a worse end than the End: death. The ender pearls are the key to a better end." Everyone started clapping.

Ett and Riley nodded in unison at each other.

"Woah," said Ett and Riley.

Mom hung her head in shame.

"Mom, would you please stop being so secretive?" said Ett, a little loudly.

"I didn't want you to know this. I didn't want you to die."

"Mom! I'll do it when I'm more prepared! Like, really prepared!"

She sighed. "...You can't prepare for the Nether."

"The Nether?"

"The Nether. My dad knows about it, the blazes and their special powder. With it, you can turn ender pearls into eyes. The eyes can find and finish a portal to the End. We swore to never tell anyone," she whispered.

"So, what are the blazes? And why is" - Mom shushed her - "...the Nether so bad?"

"The blazes are made of fire. They shoot it. The whole Nether is fiery hell. My dad says he's lucky to be alive."

"OK, so... don't you remember what they said during church? 'The endermen are minions from the End.' So they must have a lord. The lord is a boss to be slain. Back to the Nether - did your dad slay some blazes?"

"My dad slew one, and he already says he's lucky to be alive."

"If this is so unbearable and urgent, then you still need everyone's help! You should tell people!"

"I'll have to talk to my dad first..."

"OK, fine. After you talk to your dad, we'll immediately talk about this again, K?"

"Pinky promised, dear daughter. But you're coming with me."

"Hello, Dad. I have something important to talk to you about," said Mom.

"Yes?" said Dad.

"My daughter, Etta, has something to say to you."

"I'm sorry, but Mom told me about your secret. I just can't understand why you shouldn't tell people about it. At church, we theorized that the endermen are minions of a Lord, and the Lord is trying to end all the other dimensions."

"Ah, smart one, I see? Well, if we told *everyone* about it, they would die or hog items."

"OK, you may have a point with that. But why couldn't you tell your own daughter? Have you even told any of your family?"

"No," said Mom and her dad in unison. "Well, other than my wife, of course," said Dad.

"Not even your cousin?"

"Not even my cousin," he said.

Ett shook her head. Not even his cousin?

Dad noticed and said, "I guess we're both just too overprotective at this age."

Ett nodded dramatically, and Mom let out a chuckle.

"Well, thank you all, and I was happy to have this conversation, but now I think someone might come to us and push us in a portal. Or I'll probably do it myself," said Ett. Dad chuckled. But then Mom got serious business.

"We're going to the Nether, tomorrow, by noon," said Mom. Ett twitched back in shock, and nodded in awe.

"What're *you* yappin' for?" said Ett as she started riding the minecart back to their house. Mom tried to keep up, giggling.

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