Chapter 5 – The Kings Return

Something held him back. 

Gameknight, if it was possible, was in between the waking world and the Land of Dreams. Something seemed to snag onto him as he left pulling him back. Gameknight felt himself twisting, turning, and he saw the mist of the dreamland. He wasn’t in the Land, but he could see it. He was looking at a desert, a Mesa Plateau. In the distance, he could see insanely high treetops covered with vines. A jungle.

     In all the haze, a small stone bench sat on the brown clay. It was not made out of slabs and fence posts like the kinds users make, but a real bench, like you would see in the physical world. It was ornately carved, with spirals and roses and abstract shapes he couldn’t make out. There was no back to the bench, causing its occupant to sit up. The smoky form of an old woman that was not completely there rested on it, staring at him. “Who are you?” Gameknight croaked. He could feel his consciousness returning, his body becoming restless. “This must be fast,” The old woman rasped. “I am the Oracle, in a spiritual form.” Gameknight opened his mouth, a million questions rushing through him. “Not now,” The Oracle said. “You have heard about the Four Terrors of Minecraft and the Blood Sorcerer?” Gameknight nodded. “You must know. After all these hundreds of years, the Blood Sorcerer is finally rising again.” “What?” Gameknight gasped. Even from the tiniest bit he knew about the Four, he knew how bad this was. “Do not look in the strongholds or old villager diaries to learn more,” The Oracle said. “It will not work. Right before the Great Zombie Invasion, all of the villagers were part of the Great Wipe. All of their memories were taken and replaced with a few hazy ones that led them to believe they were not truly alive then. If you would like to know more, you must seek the few communities of the humans.” “The who?” Gameknight asked. “The humans. Many of them were killed by the Four and the shadows, but there are a few left. They were also somewhat affected by the Great Wipe, but they were much more dedicated to writing down all of their history. It is because of this that we know about the Twelve Years.

    “What twelve years?” Gameknight cried. “The twelve years in which the Dark One tried to take Minecraft for his own. He used the Four and the shadows to destroy village after village and town after town.” Gameknight trembled. “So I have to fight the Blood Sorcerer?” “NO!” The Oracle yelled. “Never! He would destroy you! He already almost has, many times! And that was only with a fraction of his power. No.”

    She grimaced. “I cannot hold onto you much longer. Listen, and do not interrupt. No one is sure why the Four worked for the Dark One. Some say they were forced, some say they were offered many riches. The Blood Sorcerer was the leader, the most powerful. Although no one is sure what it was exactly, there is thought to be a prophecy that talked about the Sorcerer and the Dark One. All that is known is that the Sorcerer challenged the Dark One, but was defeated. He escaped and fled, and was never seen again. The other three, the Panther, the Snake, and the Shark disappeared. You must do something, but do not try and face the Blood Sorcerer in combat.” 

    “Well, this will be a piece of cake!” Gameknight said sarcastically. The Oracle looked at him sadly. “I’ve thought long and hard on it, and truly stretched my power. The Dark One is the most powerful being, although he has been gone a long time. He is the only one that can fight the Blood Sorcerer, and the Blood Sorcerer is the only challenge to the Dark One. I think the prophecy says one is destined to destroy the other. This is all I have been able to see. Now, you must go. But one last thing.” 

    She stared at him, straight into his soul. “No matter what she says, do not kill my daughter.” Gameknight felt a wave of pity as the old woman’s voice cracked. She swallowed and continued. “She- I can feel that she has more to do. She can not yet pass on.” She locked eyes with him. “Promise me,” She said. “I promise,” Gameknight agreed. And then she was gone.

  Gameknight woke up on the ground under a tree. He had dozed off there earlier. He instantly jumped up. Feyd was next to him, staggering to his long feet. The enderman glared at him. “You.” He rose to his full height. “Yeah, me,” Gameknight said. “I set you free…” His voice trailed off. Feyd had begun to laugh, a high cackle that pierced the air. The realization hit him like a train going full speed. “Your not Feyd,” He whispered.

   “That’s right,” Erebus said, his purple eyes blazing. The enderman walked closer. Gameknight started shaking. His nightmare had literally risen from the dead, and he was doomed. 

   Erebus took another step forward and shoved Gameknight to the ground and held him there. “I’ve been waiting a long time for this,” Erebus said. He raised his purple fist. Gameknight closed his eyes. He couldn’t fight anymore. He waited for the pummel of punches on his defenseless body. 

   “No!” Erebus suddenly screamed. “No! No! No!” He lurched backwards. Gameknight scrambled away. and grabbed his sword. He looked up. WonderWriter2000 was in the tree! She was holding something above Erebus’s head. At first he thought it was an iron sword. Then he looked closer and realized she was holding a bucket. A water filled bucket. But Erebus was acting like it was death itself. “What are you doing?” Gameknight asked. Wonder carefully slid off the tree, keeping the bucket above the monster. “I’ve actually thought of this a lot,” She said. “This is how he died. You know, water getting poured on his head. So I thought, you know, the water would probably scare him.” She looked down at the cowering enderman. “I wasn’t expecting this, though.” Then she glared at him. “And might I ask, why is he here and not DEAD?” She looked ready to attack him with the bucket. “Umm,” Gameknight said, pushing the dirt around with his foot. “Well, I sorta went into the Land of Dreams, and came face to face with Herobrine.” “You WHAT?” WonderWriter yelled instantly. “Hold on!” Gameknight said quickly. “I got away, but then I found this place. All the old monster rulers are getting held there. So I, I tried to bring Feyd back. Except I think I Erebus instead.” “Why?” Wonder asked angrily. “Why would you want to bring Feyd back?” Gameknight stuttered. “Because he helped us before! I thought maybe… maybe he was different now.” Wonder was still fuming. “So you just waltzed over there to bring back the dead without coming back to TELL US first?” He shrugged. “But if I had come back, there was no way of knowing if I would be able to find it again.” Wonder huffed. “I guess,” She said sulkily. “Well, smarty pants, now what do we do?” Gameknight opened and closed his mouth. “Uh,” He mumbled. Erebus was still cowering on the ground. “I’ll get you for this!” He screeched. “What in the name of Notch?” Digger shouted in surprise from behind them. “I thought he was dead!” Gameknight sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “Digger, go get Crater. Tell him we have a, ah, situation.”

Flashes of light. Screams of terror. Snatches of conversations long gone. Herobrine was trapped deep in the recesses of his own mind. And it wasn’t about to let him go.

“You won’t get away with this!” Erebus screeched. He banged on the bars. “Let me out!” “I would be careful, unless you want that bucket to accidentally spill!” Wonder called back. Erebus was in a quickly made prison cell in the crafting chamber. It was five blocks tall, and at the top a full water bucket was hanging precariously from a iron bar in the wall. A rope was connected to the bucket, the other end tied around Erebus’s arm. “We have to figure something else out before he remembers his powers of teleportation,” Gameknight whispered to Wonder. She grinned at him. “Don’t worry,” She said. “I got it covered.” She took off  through the passage. “Come on!” She yelled. Gameknight followed her through the crafting chamber. Villagers paused their work for a moment to wave and smile at the User-that-is-not-a-user. He smiled and waved back. He finally caught up to WonderWriter2000 at the mouth of the tunnel leading to his castle, Castle Gameknight. “Where are we, going?” He panted. “You’ll see,” She said. They walked for a few minutes until Gameknight saw the familiar obsidian walls rise up around him. A door appeared on their right, and Wonder pushed it open. “Hey, Morgana!” She called into the empty space. Gameknight walked inside, shocked. He was in a type of basement, but it was way bigger than his at home. The ceiling was seven blocks high and the room was thirty blocks long. The huge space was also at least twenty blocks wide. The ceiling and walls were made of dirt, but the floor was cobblestone. One wall was almost completely covered in a messy array of barrels and chests. At the far end, the containers were more evenly spaced and signs had been used to show what was inside, as if someone was trying to clean it up. On the other side, cauldrons gave off different colored spirals from the potions within. All the way down the middle, there was a line of brewing stands two deep and almost every one was bubbling and steaming. Torches were everywhere- on the walls, scattered across the floor, and lanterns hung down from the roof of the cavern. And at the very end of the room, Gameknight saw the purple glimmers of a Nether portal and two staircases. One was full of sunlight and most likely led to the surface, while the other was lit by torches and probably went to one of the castles upper levels. 

  “Hi Wonder!” Called another voice. Gameknight looked up and saw Harvester, the girl he had accidentally brought back from the Far Lands, clinging to the wall while sorting glittering melon into a double chest. She grinned down at them. “Long time no see, Gameknight!” She said, jumping off the wall. “Careful!” He shouted, sure she was about to break an arm. But she landed and rolled like an expert and jumped right back up. “What brings you here?” She asked. “I need to talk to Morgana about a new potion,” Wonder said. “Well, she will be back in a minute. She went to get more nether wart.” Gameknight looked around, but he didn’t see any of the red fungus. “Where?” He asked. Harvester smiled again and pointed to the Nether portal. “She’s in there by herself?” Gameknight asked, horrified. Harvester laughed. “Relax!” She said. “We’re used to it now. We don’t need a battalion every time we go.” 

    He was still confused. “But why don’t you just grow it here?” He asked. “We don’t have enough space,” Harvester answered. “We would only have enough for a few stands to be going. Besides, nether wart grows much faster in its homeland. Anyway, half of the supplies you need for brewing are from the Nether. But we’re pretty safe about it. The farm is right next to the portal and we have a path leading to the fortress.” “Why do you need to get to the fortress?” Wonder looked at him like he was crazy. “Um, hello? Blaze powder?” Harvester nodded. “Exactly. And lots of ghasts and magma cubes wind up there to, so thats a lot more regeneration and fire resistance. “That’s still incredibly dangerous,” Gameknight warned. Harvester just shrugged. “Herder likes our trips. We give him the wither skeleton bones for his wolves.” “Wha- How many people know about this?” Gameknight snapped. Wonder looked surprised. “You didn’t?” She asked. He shook his head. Harvester pointed at the sunlight filled staircase. “Up there is where we get our Overworld ingredients. You know, we raise rabbits and grow melons for-“

   She was interrupted when the portal began to swirl. Morgana, the witch who had helped steeped out, ghast tears in hand. “Morgana!” Harvester chided sternly. “You know you’re not supposed to fight monsters unless I’m with you!” Morgana smiled. “I’m old, not ancient,” She said in her raspy but kind voice. “I know how to use a bow. I have been going back and forth in the Nether since before you were born.”

   Harvester sighed. “Oh well,” She said. “I suppose we were running low. How many did you fight for these? Five?” “Seven,” The old witch cackled. She turned to look at Gameknight, the buckle on her purple hat sparkling in the flickering light. “It’s about time you came to visit me, User-that-is-not-a-user,” She said reproachfully. “Sorry,” Gameknight said meekly. “I didn’t know this was all here.” Morgana huffed. “In you’re own castle? Men these days.” Gameknight’s face burned as she turned towards Wonder. “What brings you here, child?” She asked. “I need a potion,” Wonder said simply. Morgana waved her hand around the room. “Which one? We have them all.” “Not this one, I’m afraid.” Wonder said. Morgana’s already pale face turned even lighter. “If this is about the Turtle Master incident, Butcher owed me emeralds!” Wonder looked taken aback. “Err… no. This is a potion I found on the internet. Turns out one of the Mojang programmers added in some weird ones that don’t show up in creative mode and that you can’t actually make because it requires doing things to the ingredients you can’t do as a user. But since we’re actually in the game, we should be able to do it.”

   Morgana eyed her. “And what does this potion do, exactly?” Wonder smiled. “It stops endermen from being able to teleport.” Morgana nodded. “I’m not even going to ask,” She said. “How do we make it?” 

   “It’s pretty simple,” Wonder said. “Just crush three Ender pearls until they become a kind of paste. Then add in a teaspoon of blaze powder. Brew that with a potion of weakness. The fresher the weakness is, the longer our potion will work. Then take a Eye of Ender and smash it, then brew the shards with the potion. We’re going to need about five of them for now, but we might need some more later. I’ll pay up front.”

    Wonder reached into her inventory and took some emeralds. Morgana smiled. “Keep the money,” She said. “I’ve been itching for a challenge. Just one question. What is this called?” Wonders face turned red. She looked at the ground and mumbled something. “Speak up, child,” Morgana snapped. Wonder took a deep breath. “Tartical Nartical,” she said louder. Gameknight snorted and Harvester laughed. “I wasn’t the one who made it up!” Wonder protested. Morgana just smiled. “I’ll have them done in fifteen minutes.” 

   “We’re in a rush,” Wonder said. “Ten.” “Not a chance,” Morgana said. “But I like you’re spirt.”

   True to her word, Morgana had the five potions ready for them in exactly fifteen minutes.  During that time Harvester showed them around. “When I first came here,” She began, “This place was a wreck. Morgana is pretty messy.” “I heard that!” Morgana called from the other side of the room where she was mashing ender pearls on a granite counter. “Anyway,” Harvester went on. “Right now I’m reorganizing the chests.” 

    “What’s with the pattern?” Gameknight asked. “Huh?” She asked. He pointed at the cauldrons. “There. There’s a water filled cauldron in between every one with potion. “”Oh, that?” Harvester said. “That’s for safety.”

   “What does that mean?” Wonder asked suspiciously. Harvester led them to an empty cauldron. Taking a bottle out of her inventory, she filled it with healing potion. “This is healing potion,” She said. “Yeah,” Gameknight said. She dumped it into the empty bowl. “And this is healing potion,” She said. “So?” Wonder said. Harvester dumped it into the cauldron again. Then she reached over and filled the bottle with poison. Then she poured it into the cauldron of healing. It was like an explosion had happened. All the potion disappeared and a huge cloud of steam filled the air. “And that,” Harvester said, coughing. “Was not.”

Morgana had gone far enough to make the Tartical Nartical into a splash potion. Gameknight and Wonder were walking back to the cell. “Okay,” Gameknight said. “We are just going to walk up and-“

   “CHARGE!” Wonder yelled, then skidded around the corner. She threw open the door and threw the potion at Erebus. “GAH!” He screamed, and leapt up. The bucket tipped dangerously, but didn’t spill. “What was that?” Gameknight gasped. Wonder shrugged. “We had to do it fast. If we had just walked up and tried to do it, he would have realized and tried to escape.”

    “ARE YOU PEOPLE TRYING TO KILL ME?” Erebus screeched. “No,” Wonder said, at The same time Gameknight said “Maybe.”

   Erebus glared at the User-that-is-not-a-user. “Listen,” Wonder said with a sigh. “The reason my good friend here brought you back was so he could get someone to help us. “We’re fighting against Herobrine and could really use the endermen. My guess is that you’re holding a grudge against Herobrine for locking you up, am I correct?” Erebus was silent. “If, and only if, you agree to help us, I’ll let you out of there. Understand?” Erebus cackled, and Gameknight’s blood turned to ice at the horrible sound. “That’s not enough. I’d rather rot in here than help the NPCs. 

  “There must be something we can do to make you help us,” Wonder said, leaning against the bars. Erebus hesitated. “Even if I did have something, I would never say it in front of him,” He snarled at his old nemesis. “Gameknight, go back to the chamber.” Wonder said immediately. “What? No!” He said. “Trust me,” She said, locking eyes with him. “Fine,” He snapped, and turned around and followed the sound of tools banging. Honestly, he was happy to get out of there. He was still terrified of the Enderman king. 

    A minute later, Wonder walked out of the tunnel stony faced. “Well?” He asked. 

“It’s all settled,” She said. “We’re going to Aquaspear.”

Chapter 6 – Aquaspear

   The sounds of tools banging onto wooden surfaces rung in the loud crafting chamber., but Gameknight barely heard. “Aquaspear?” He asked. “What is Aquaspear?” Wonder shook her head. “Not what,” She said. “Where.” “Well?” He asked. “Are you going to tell me?”

    “Apparently, Aquaspear is an Enderman prison. I just learned about it.” Gameknight’s head spun. “Why is it called Aquaspear? And, I mean, I don’t really think we can squeeze in a trip to the End right now. Just look at what we’re going through…”

   Wonder shook her head again. “It isn’t in the End,” She replied. “What?” Gameknight asked, caught off guard. “I said, it isn’t in the End,” She yelled. “I, but, how? I mean, are you sure? They’re Endermen.” She shrugged. “I guess that’s the point. Why hold someone prisoner in their own home? That won’t be much of a punishment.”

    “Well where is it?” Gameknight asked. “The Nether?” Wonder laughed. “Yeah, they’re locked up in Charibydis’s fortress. No! The ocean, silly! What other place would endermen be so scared of?” Gameknight sighed. “But how do we get there?” He pondered. “There are hundreds of oceans in Minecraft, maybe thousands. How do we know which one has Aquaspear?”

     “Erebus said that the river next to the creepers volcano flows right into it,” She said. “Just follow the river north-west. He said…” “Wait,” Gameknight interrupted. “You got all of this out of Erebus?”  Wonder chewed her bottom lip. “I know, it worries me too. He hasn’t always been known as very… trustworthy.” Gameknight chuckled. “Yeah, no kidding.” She let out a deep breath, blowing a few strands of hair out of her face. “I know. I get it. But what choice do we actually have? He said that he would only help us if we got him there so he could free some other endermen he used to know.”

    “Free some people he used to know? That doesn’t make me feel a whole lot better.” Gameknight said worriedly. “Come on, lets go find Crafter. He needs to know.” Wonder nodded her blocky head approvingly. They walked across the chamber, careful not to trip over the mine cart tracks. When they reached the huge iron doors, Gameknight knocked for a moment, nothing happened. Then they creaked open slowly. They passed through, smiling and nodding to the guards standing watch. Gameknight was about to reach out and grab the first rung of the ladder, when overhead there was a explosion overhead. The tunnel rocked and dirt fell from the ceiling. It felt as if someone had put an electric charge into the User-that-is-not-a-user. He charged up the ladder, ignoring Wonders calls for him to slow down. The what-ifs swirled through his brain as fear nibbled at the edges of his soul.

    He almost hit his head on the cobblestone block. He grabbed his diamond pickaxe and with three quick blows the block shattered. He burst through the opening and into the watchtower. Rushing through the open doors, he had to quickly skid to a stop to avoid smashing into a huge mob of villagers. Wonder appeared a moment later, white-faced and panting. Gameknight didn’t waste another moment. He pushed and shoved his way to the front of the crowd, too scared to apologize. What he saw next seemed to suck the breath right out of his lungs.

      The blacksmiths shop was in ruins. Blocks of cobblestone and wood were scattered all around, floating up and down on unseen currents. Thin tendrils of gray smoke floated into the air and were quickly carried away by the constant east-to-west breeze. Waves of heat danced above a lava spill, the flames licking greedily at the iron bars that once held them captives. On the other side of the wreckage, Gameknight saw Blacksmith’s wife Sower press through the wall of bodies and instantly fall to her knees, tears making a path on her dirt covered face. Their son Chopper, who couldn’t have been more than ten years old, appeared from behind his mother. Crafter appeared out of the crowd, putting a comforting hand on both members of the distressed family. “Maybe he survived?” Crafter tried to reassure them, but his voice cracked and the words came out like a question. Sower shook her head. “He was- he was really busy,” She choked through sobs. “Last night, he- he said he would spend all day today working. This morning he was already gone. I never could say goodbye…”

    Fresh tears racked the poor woman’s body, and she could no longer speak. Everyone went silent.

             Digger hopped down into the crevasse. He studied the ground for a minute before his deep green eyes suddenly widened. “Builder! Miner! Get down here!” He yelled out in his deep booming voice. Two villagers walked toward the big stocky NPC, the crowd parting for them to pass. Digger pointed at the ground. “Look,” He said. “Somebody dug underneath the building, right here, see, there’s a sort of square!”

   Builder sank down onto the ground and scrunched up his unibrow so much it almost disappeared into his huge bushy black mustache. Nodding, he stood back up. “Digger is right,” He shouted to the towns occupants. “I built this shop. It appears that right below the floor, someone dug a block deep empty space.” Miner, a young man in his early twenties with pale skin, freckles, and hair almost as red as Hunter and Stitcher’s leaned over and grabbed a handful of dirt. Rubbing the soil in between his thumb and index finger, he said “And it’s very fresh. I would assume whoever did this did it last night, wouldn’t you?” The three men all nodded. Miner brought his hand to his nose and sniffed. He instantly started coughing. “Gunpowder,” He said, wiping his nose with his sleeve. “Someone packed TNT under Blacksmith’s shop.” His face contorted with sadness. Reaching into the chunks of rock, he took out a bent pickaxe with a piece of charred cloth stuck to the end. Miner slowly handed it handle first to Sower. She took it and picked up the cloth. “This is it,” She sobbed. “Instead of getting out his shield or running to save himself, he took out the blanket I made him for our wedding day.” Her red eyes refilled. “The same one we wrapped Chopper in when he was born.” She convulsed in the pain of the loss, barely able to suck in breath. A thick, sorrowful silence blanketed the community as the thought of the villagers last deed filled their hearts. The cows and horses and pigs stopped mooing and whinnying and oinking in their pens. The chickens in the henhouse stopped clucking. The leaves on the tree housing the village hive stopped rustling as the bees stopped buzzing. The only sounds came from the mother and son holding each other crying out their loss. 

      Finally, the wolf curled around Herders feet whined, obviously spooked by the quiet. Monet wiped her eyes, then lifted her hand into the air. Slowly, without making a sound, the rest of the village did the same. Gameknight stuck his arm as high as he could reach and closed his eyes. He forced his eyelids to go so tightly together that sparks danced in front of his irises. Only then did he squeeze his hand into a fist. He squeezed harder and harder until his knuckles popped and he was pretty sure he was bleeding from where his fingernails were digging into his skin. He held it there for a good solid minute, and when he finally stopped and opened his eyes only Sower and Chopper were still going.

      Rage and grief shook the User-that-is-not-a-user, causing him to tremble from the sheer force of the emotions. He hadn’t known Blacksmith very well, but he was nice and friendly with a kind face. In fact, he had made Gameknight’s diamond sword, which was the best weapon he had ever used. It had saved his life multiple times from what seemed like an endless array of villains; Xa-Tul, Entity303, Reaper, Herobrine.

    Herobrine. Gameknight knew, deep in his bones, that it was Herobrine who had done this horrible deed. Gameknight had never been more scared of him, seeing how easily he had snuck into the once thought safe village and taken a life, but at the same time he realized he had also never hated him as much before. He had never hated anyone as much as he hated the vile virus in that moment. Before he had even thought about it, he had leapt into the scar Herobrine had inflicted upon the face of Minecraft. Placing a block of dirt under feet, he gave a loud shrill whistle that brought everyone’s attention straight to him.

      “What has been done here today is none other than the work of our enemy Herobrine!” Gameknight yelled. His voice echoed off the sides of the newly created pit. “He is trying to weaken us; to tear us apart. But what he doesn’t realize is that instead of hurting us, he has only brought us together. He has only unleashed the fury and the might within us. He has unleashed the beast!” Gameknight raised his voice. “DO YOU HEAR THAT, HEROBRINE?” He screamed. “YOU’VE UNLEASHED THE BEAST!”

     He glared around him. “I promise to myself and all of you that no one, EVER, in my life will place a SINGLE BLOCK or mine a SINGLE ORE from this spot! Anyone who dares to I will personally punish! We will remember and honor our friend and family member Blacksmith, who is the first but not last person who will give their life in this war we are now fighting! And their sacrifices will not be in vain! Sacrifices are never in vain! Those that die will die for this village! This community! THIS FAMILY!  And NO ONE hurts my family!” The crowd cheered, screaming at the darkening sky.

     Then, to everyone’s surprise, Chopper stepped forward. “My mother and I would like to say something!” He yelled. No one heard him. “HEY!” Gameknight yelled. He pointed at the boy and winked. Chopper crossed his arms and stared around as if he was twice his age. “We would like to donate the blocks and materials left from the explosion,” The boy called out. “We will take my fathers more, more personal,” He stopped and wiped his eyes. Gameknight gave him an encouraging smile and Wonder flashed him a thumbs up. Chopper cleared his throat. “We will take his more personal belongings, but his food and armor and other resources will be donated to those that need it during this hard time. The lava will be contained, but we will leave it so warmth will come to those who need help on cold nights. Blacksmith- Dad- would want us to make sure he helped people long after he was gone.”

     Gameknight smiled and clapped. The applause spread like a wildfire, until everyone was cheering once again. Gameknight let the people surround the family with love for a few beautiful minutes, then he raised his hands and lowered then to signal that he wanted quiet. “I have some news!” He called to the eager people. ‘I am not aware of how many know, but to those that don’t, earlier today our old enemy the enderman king Erebus returned. A murmur of shock and surprise rippled through the villagers. But it didn’t stay a murmur for long, and it quickly grew into a wave. “How is that possible?” Someone yelled from the middle, while another NPC screamed “WHAT DO WE DO?”

     Gameknight once again used his hands to calm the crowd. “Do not fear, this is actually good news. You see, Erebus has agreed to help us in exchange for a favor. The help from the endermen could be exactly what we need to push us over the top! They could be the key to winning the war!”

      This seemed to throw everyone into a battle of the wills. Most of the villagers listened to Gameknight, but the others still wanted nothing to do with the idea. “What do we need them for?” Someone yelled. “We’ve always been alright on our own. Why take help from a couple of scrawny purple monsters?” “Are you crazy?” Someone else screamed. “Did you see what just happened, or are you’re eyes as full of rotten flesh as you’re brain? There’s no way we’ll make it on our own!”

    It seemed like everyone in the village was arguing. Gameknight had to bang his sword against his chest plate multiple times. “ENOUGH!” He bellowed. A deathly silence settled over everyone once more, only this one was full of shame. “Look at me!” He added as some villagers tried to stare at their feet. “What are we doing? We’re falling apart, that’s what! We’re doing exactly what Herobrine wants us to do! We’re fighting like a bunch of chickens over bread scraps! This is what destroys us, what kills our neighbors and burns our homes! Not a bunch of disgustingly slow zombies and overgrown spiders! So put away you’re pride and help fight for. Good cause, one that will save your life, You’re children’s life, you’re grandchildren’s life, their children’s life, and you’re descendants lives forever!” 

     He stopped and finally drew a breath. The crowd glanced nervously at each other, wondering who would speak first. Gameknight was starting to worry that no one would back him up with a loud banging sound appeared in the star-filled night. He turned to see Hunter, a determined look on her face as she thumped her bow against her chest plate. The next moment, Stitcher did the same. Then Monet, a smile blooming on her face as the moonlight sparkled on her glowing blue hair. Then Crafter, then Wonder, then Herder, the Digger, and suddenly everyone was banging on their armor or the ground and stomping their booted feet and cheering. Gameknight smiled as a seedling of hope somewhere deep inside of him stuck its green head cautiously out of the despair and fear. Then, as the cheering grew in volume, The seedling grew as well and the green leaves split apart and revealed a beautiful blossom like the Truffula tree seed in the Lorax. Gameknight’s smile got even bigger. He used to beg for that movie.

      He leapt off the block of dirt. Once safely on the ground, he placed another piece of dirt on top of the first. Placing a torch on top of the pillar, he then stuck a sign to the front. When he stepped back, the sign read this-

                                                              BLACKSMITH

                                                               A TRUE NPC

                                      DIED FIGHTING HEROBRINE AND HIS ARMY

                                              LIVED ON BY SOWER AND CHOPPER

                                              YOU WILL ALWAYS BE REMEMBERED

    

When the crowd read this, the cheering tripled. The glass windows in every house and shop shook. The water in the well rippled and splashed over the sides. The cows mooed, the horses neighed, the pigs oinked, the cats meowed, the wolves howled, the bees buzzed, and the trees shook. The sound of the NPCs spiraled into the air and bounced off the mountains in every direction. It caused the bats in the forest to screech and take off, their beady red eyes scanning the terrain for enemies and predators. In the next biome over, a group of zombies heard the cry. They took one look at each other and quickly headed back to the zombie-town, shuffling as fast as their feet could carry them.

     And, over the mountains, where the huge peaks were a few hours away on horseback, a late night Watcher in a distant grassland village craned his ears toward a sudden very faint sound. He leaned so far off the tower he almost fell and plunged into the wheat farm below, but the sound stubbornly refused to return. Shrugging, he returned to his job of watching for monsters. 

       Gameknight lifted his dual swords in the air, causing everyone to scream. Banging them against his diamond chest plate, he screamed “FOR BLACKSMITH!” The cheerechoed around the community, no, the family, spilling from their lips. Louder than he had ever gone, louder than anyone had ever gone, louder than humanly possible, Gameknight999 boomed “FOR MINECRAFT!!!!!!!!!!”

    Watcher spun around, his ears ringing from the obviously heard battle cry. He couldn’t help himself. “FOR MINECRAFT!!!” He screamed, hoping whoever had cried out heard him. A moment later, an annoyed and exhausted Cleric stormed up the ladder and hit him over the head. He then proceeded to lecture the boy for a good five minutes and; for the second biggest role model in the village beside the crafter; he was very loose when it came to swear words. Watcher finally got back to work, dazed but happy.

     Gameknight felt surrounded by love and happiness as the battle cry seemed to come from everywhere, even over the mountains. A grinning Crafter and the rest of his friends came and stood by his side. “Well?” The oldest NPC in Minecraft asked. “When do we get started?”

   Smiling from ear to ear, the User-that-is-not-a-user raised his arms and stared into the starry sky. “WE’RE GONNA MAKE THAT PATHETIC PIECE OF CODE WISH HE WAS NEVER PROGRAMMED!”

     Herobrine watched from his perch on top on one of mountains as the scene unfolded beneath him. He had, of course, been the one who had put in the TNT while the rest of the village slept. Then he had safely teleported away. Then earlier he had returned, appearing behind the ugly shop and had flipped the lever that set off the explosives. Unfortunately, the blacksmith had seen him. Understanding flashed across his face and was quickly with fear. And then the weirdest thing had happened, further proving his strong belief that villagers were truly stupid. The man had grabbed a blanket out of his inventory. A blanket. As if that was supposed to save him. Anyway, he had quickly disappeared and then reappeared on the mountain peak. Now, shivering under his blanket that was draped over Sky’s shoulders, he glared so resentfully at his enemy, the annoying Gameknight999, that the powdery snow around him melted from being near the venomous gaze. “I don’t care what petty words you use now, User-that-is-not-a-user,” He yelled down the mountainside. He laughed a chilling laugh and teleportation particles started to surround him. But then Gameknight999 screamed twelve words that literally chilled him to the bone way more than the snow ever could. “WE’RE GONNA MAKE THAT PATHETIC PIECE OF CODE WISH HE WAS NEVER PROGRAMMED!” That one sentence bounced around and around his mind. He didn’t notice the villagers cheer. He didn’t notice the wolves howling. All he knew were those words. Pathetic piece of code… never programmed… programmed… pathetic… piece of code… code… code… code.

     A strange feeling rose up inside of him. It chewed at his insides, making him feel limp and useless. He had no idea what was happening. Of course he didn’t. It had never suppose to be part of him. But little did he know, what he was supposed to be had been left far, far behind. 

     Herobrine was sad.

    Blinking hard, Herobrine grumbled and shook his head. “Stupid daughter,” He growled. “Probably some weird hormones. That’s the last thing I need. Girl problems.”

 But this had nothing to do with Sky, and he knew it. Suddenly, Gameknight999 was in front of him, a horrible smile on his face. “You? A threat?” He laughed. “Yeah, right. You’re nothing! You’re a piece of code. Even you’re own creator abandoned you! He left you scrambling to survive on your own in a stupid video game! You’re nothing, I tell you! NOTHING!” Gameknight horrible friends appeared around him. “Nothing, nothing, nothing,” They taunted. “Just a piece of code! A useless piece of code!”

    Then they completely switched topics. “You’re just a weapon!” They screeched. “No one cares about you! Everyone hates you! You’re just a weapon! No one likes you! You’re an outcast! Pathetic! Pathetic! A weapon! A tool! Discarded, you piece of trash, you filth, thrown out as soon as you aren’t needed! A weapon! A weapon! YOU’RE NOTHING! NO ONE CARES! WEAPON! WEAPON! WEAPON!”

    Their images swirled, becoming a whirlwind of jeers and laughs and horrible glares. He had never felt so alone. He saw himself as a tiny, weak child, cowering from horrible things. His head was pounding, like someone was pounding his head with a hammer even though the nail was already in. No. Not a nail. A triangle piece of cold metal, sharp and painful. “IDIOT! TOOL! USELESS! WEAPON!” It wasn’t the villagers anymore. It was dark shapes, terrible dark shapes. His head, oh, his poor head. He was helpless. I am nothing, he realized. I’m a weapon, and that’s all I’ll ever be. The person was watching him again, their eyes boring into him. They were to be feared. They growled. They hissed. They swiped. He was completely numb. The thing in his head throbbed. He couldn’t breath. The person wasn’t a person. It was a predator. A cat. Slinking around him, licking its lips. A panther. Pound. Pound. Pound.

   Herobrine broke down and sobbed. He sobbed and sobbed and sobbed until he couldn’t anymore. He sobbed until the villagers went home, then to sleep. He wept long after the tears were gone. And as the first gray and then pink light of dawn blessed the pale perfect white snow, more perfect than he would ever be, with its presence, Herobrine passed out and became as limp as a rag doll.

Hey everybody! How’s it going?

I just wanted to say I’m SO sorry it took me so long to post. I feel awful. I always either forgot or was busy and I never had time. Anyway, there’s that. Ok. Wow, that Herobrine part took A LOT out of me. I didn’t know you could write so hard that you got dizzy. 

Alright, I promised Anti-Evil_88 that I would recommend his awesome stories THE GREAT PILLAGER RAID and ATTACK ON YHYSHKU. To find these, go to pages 7 and 8. Thanks Anti-Evil_88 for saying I’m so popular! That means SO much. I remember when I started looking at all the great stories by people like TheSnakeWhoKills and being like Wow. I wish I was that good. Like, everyone loves those guys. You were kinds of my role models. Anyway, those that want me to can totally ask and I’ll recommend their stories to and I promise I’ll read them to. I’m going to write as much as I can during this Spring Break (Like today- a whole chapter!) to make up for it. If you have questions, just comment. I MIGHT let some hints on whats up with Herobrine slide. Accidentally, of course. Man, I should have done more during Snowvid (Yeah, I’m from the South- Go Aggies!)

  Well, that’s it for now. Keep writing, keep posting, and watch out for Covid. 🙂