Book Three

The Virus Returns

 

Chapter 1

WonderWriter2000

 

Rakier paced. “What do we do, what do we do, what do we do?” He said over and over. Gameknight was in a wool chair, face pale and mumbling. Crafter, Hunter, Digger, Stitcher, Herder, and Monet were also sitting in other chairs. They stared at the two, annoyed looks on their faces. “Are you ever going to stop that?” Monet whined. Neither looked at her. Crafter gave an exasperated look at a girl sitting in yet another chair. “Any ideas?” He asked desperately. The girl shrugged. “I don’t know, you guys are the experts!”

Crafter opened his mouth to say something else, but she interrupted before he could. “And yes, I know you’re talking about making them stop acting like that.”

Crafter’s eyes drifted up her face to the area above her head. The girl raised her eyebrows at him. “How many times are you going to do that before you accept I’m not a mirage?” She asked. He shook his head. “Sorry,” He apologized. “I’m just not used to seeing someone else with a username.”

The girl smiled at him. “It’s alright,” She said. “I would be shocked, too. Especially since I didn’t exactly show up normally.”

You are probably very confused right now.

Or maybe not. You might have thought about the chapter title and the girl and put two and two together. But some people might not have. I also, however, understand how boring it is to have to here, like, a teacher explain something that you already know. Like if the class is reviewing test answers. So you can skip this part.

But I wouldn’t recommend it.

 

Herobrine slowly advanced, using Sky’s powers to levitate just off the ground. Not for any particular reason. He just thought it was cool and maybe didn’t like all the rocks on the ground. I mean, he hasn’t felt them in months.

“So,” He purred. “I see the whole gang’s here. Perfect.” Gameknight was so pale, he was almost see-through. This was it. He had nothing left. No more armies, no more tricks up his sleeve. He still felt drained from all the sudden need on his muscles after Herobrine had left his body. If the virus attacked now, he would be completely defenseless. Herobrine kept coming closer and closer, Sky’s once beautiful eyes now a flat white. He gave a fake gasp. “Could it be?” He mocked. “The great Gameknight999 is truly speechless?” Gameknight whimpered and tried to back up. Herobrine laughed, and even though it was technically Sky’s laugh it sounded very much like his own. “I’ve been waiting for so long,” he growled. “Sitting there in that STUPID machine you trapped me in, plotting for when I finally, finally, got to come and unleash every bit of anger and emotion I slowly collected in that awful place on you. And now I can. So, before I really do take Minecraft for my own, do you have anything else to throw at me? Any more famous User-that-is-not-a-user plans?”

Gameknight opened his mouth, but nothing came out. Herobrine smiled, getting ready to strike like a cobra. Then, at the last moment-

“Excuse me?” Asked a voice behind them. Everyone turned to stare. A girl was standing behind them, looking confused. “Um, am I in the right place?” She asked. “I’m supposed to be in the Dragons Teeth mountains, with Gameknight999 and Herobrine facing off… this is it, right?” No one spoke. She broke into nervous laughter. “That would be so awkward… ending up in the the wrong world domination plot area.”

Herobrine was first to move. Slowly floating toward her, his face was stuck in the same horrible grin. “Do you know who your speaking to?” He said slowly. She shrugged. “I don’t even know if I’m in the right place.” She peeked around him. When her eyes landed on Gameknight, she relaxed. “Oh, good, so I am in the right place!”

Herobrine was obviously becoming annoyed. “Who are you?” Sky’s body growled. She stared at him. “Isn’t it obvious?” She said. “At least, I think it’s supposed to be obvious. I have no idea, this is my first time in Minecraft.” She pointed upwards. “Doesn’t it say my name up there?” Gameknight’s jaw dropped. It was WonderWriter2000, the girl that was supposed to be watching the Digitizer. “What are you doing here?” He asked, getting to his feet. Wonder waved cheerfully. “Your dad woke up and found me.” She laughed. “He totally freaked. I almost got hit in the head with a hammer and some kind of hot dog shaped gum machine.” She wrinkled her nose. “A piece flew in my mouth. It tasted like ketchup.”

Herobrine slowly drew Sky’s sword, the crystal blade gleaming in the daylight. Gameknight drew a sharp breath. Wonder just stared. “You poor, poor thing.” Herobrine said softly. “You just don’t get what’s happening. Your so clueless.” Wonder smiled. “I don’t think I’m clueless,” She said happily. “And why’s that?” Herobrine said, drawing even closer. She grinned. “Because I know how to do this!” She said. Quick as a flash, she kicked his feet out from under him. He was floating, so she shoved him to the ground as she sprinted past. “NOW!” She screamed. There was a pause, during which everyone thought she was crazy. Then, a explosion went off. Then another. And another. Blocks of TNT were going off under ground. Gameknight suddenly felt his arm yanked as she sped past, grabbing him. Next thing he knew, he and the rest of the villagers were running through a tunnel of dust. There were explosions all around, creating a path. Bits of rock and dirt spewed around them, but they kept running. Wonder was still pulling him along, and suddenly they emerged between two mountains. The horses were standing by, scared and bucking. The sudden chaos had spooked them, interrupting their grazing. Wonder shoved him onto one, and sliced the rope keeping it there. She leapt onto her own, and the rest of the village followed suit. They all took off, the explosions still ringing in their ears.

 

When they had felt it was safe, they had paused and Wonder had explained everything. They reached the village sooner than expected, and Gameknight, still exhausted, had collapsed in an extra bed. His dreams were haunted by pictures of him with white glowing eyes, prowling through villages. Now they were trying to brainstorm ideas on what to do next. Although Gameknight hadn’t realized it at first, Rakier had followed them out of the mountains. The burn on his side from when Hunter had shot him was finally started to heal, but Healer said   he was going to have a scar for the rest of his. Lucky, he had called the monster. He had moved just in time, and the arrow had flown right in between his bones and he had been simply scorched from the flames.

Gameknight looked at his lap. “I’m a failure,” He whispered. “You’re not a failure.” Wonder said so forcefully it surprised them all. “Why would you even say that?” He felt awful. “He took over me,” He said softly. “I- I couldn’t stop him. It was so horrible. I watched myself hurt you guys, and, and…”

Monet walked over and hugged him. “It’s not your fault,” She said. “She’s right.” Stitcher said. “It could have happened to any of us. He just, well, chose you.”

Gameknight was still racked with guilt. He had watched it all. Everything he had done, everything he had said, had been Herobrine controlling him. It was even worse to him than when Herobrine infected his other victims, because then he simply became them. They’re souls would fade away, not having to see or hear anything. But with just the viruses mind controlling him, Gameknight watched in horror at everything.

When they had been interrogating Rakier, Gameknight had started to feel a little funny. He ignored it, drinking some water and  dismissing it as the heat. But it only got worse, and it slowly started to feel like something was trying to push it’s way into his head. He was really uncomfortable now, and tried clearing his throat, but no one could hear him over Herder’s ranting at the skeleton. He was shaking, and all his senses seemed to be on overload. Then he first felt the evil spirit reach him, and realized exactly what was happening. He was terrified out of his wits. He tried to move, but for some reason he could no longer control what he did. He was so dizzy he thought he would be sick. He opened his mouth to yell for help, but nothing came out.

It was too late.

Now Sky was under control, Herobrine was coming back for revenge, they had no idea what to do, and the entire village was still wary of him.

He didn’t know what to do! He was just a scared kid. What could a kid do? No, he thought. Kids can do stuff. Look at Wonder! She looked so smart, so strong. He didn’t know if he could look like that.

“So, we don’t have any idea what to do?” Digger asked. Everyone shook they’re head. The stocky NPC sighed. “Great.” He said. “So now Herobrine is back, he already has a entire army at his disposal, he’s in his daughters body so now has magic powers as well, and we are just sitting ducks. The best we can do is make sure the village is ready and protected, and we already have soldiers on all of the wall and three Watchers up in the tower. And we have people working overtime in the crafting chamber.”

They could all hear the banging of tools outside their room door. “So…” Hunter said. “We’re all good?”

 

Chapter 2

Phantom Spies

 

Gameknight walked quietly through the passages that led from the crafting chamber. He couldn’t believe how much work the villagers had put into it- besides the tunnels leading from village to village they had made store rooms, extra bedrooms, underground mushroom gardens, and even an interrogation room. After what happened the last time he interrogated someone, he hoped he never had to go in there. Everyone, even Wonder, had found something useful to do. Stitcher and Monet were hunting, so the soldiers would have plenty of food and they would all have something to eat if the village went on lockdown, which Crafter said could be a very serious possibility. Herder was with his wolves, who were patrolling the walls with their keen sense of smell. Hunter was making sure everything was running smoothly in the crafting chamber, where armor and weapons were being cranked out in overtime. Digger and Crafter were in Crafters bedroom a ways down the hall, going over previous battle plans and deciding if they would work again, trying desperately to think of a good strategy. Wonder was practicing her archery skills with Stitcher and Monet.

But Gameknight was alone, and even though there was more than enough to do he had no idea where he was supposed to go. So he just walked, his head swirling with awful thoughts.

But right before he turned a corner, he stopped. Up ahead, a scratching sound bounced off the stone walls. He heard something else as well, a sort of whispered hissing. He silently and cautiously peeked around the edge, and then jerked back. The stone was cool as he plastered himself to the wall. His breath came in quick gasps, as he blood ran cold. Two phantoms were crawling around the ground, their claws clicking on the floor like a evil dogs. He had always thought the white down their back had been their spine, but now he saw that they were white scales. Long tails swished behind them as the crawled along. He then realized they had been talking to each other. They defiantly didn’t look happy about being in the two block tall passage. He strained his ears, listening to their words.

“I hate this place!” The smaller one, with a smattering of white scales all over its back. “We can’t fly here. Why would the villagers  make a tunnel where you can’t fly?” The bigger one looked down at it’s companion. “Villagers can’t fly, Hail.” “Oh.” Hail said. She wrinkled their nose. “Of course they can’t! Stupid villagers.” “Keep your voice down!” The bigger one snapped. “We have to finish the job.” Their voice became worried. “Otherwise we’ll get punished.”

Hail pouted. “This is so unfair! Why do we have to do this?” “Because we are smaller,” The big one pointed out. Hail scowled, not liking this very good reason. “First we have to sneak in here with all the people around, and now we have to squeeze through this stone.” Her voice raised. “I don’t want to find the village leader!” “Quiet!” The bigger one hissed, clamping a clawed hand on Hail’s mouth.

But the damage was already done. Gameknight’s heart raced. They were going to kidnap Crafter!

He knew what he had to do. They were almost at Crafters door, and he knew that phantoms were crazy fast. He knew that it would not be good. He took a deep breath, drawing his sword. Then he stepped out from behind the corner.

At first, they didn’t notice him. Then Hail happened to glance over her shoulder. With a loud shriek, she leapt up into the air, banging her head on the ceiling. The big one swung around, back arched like a scared cat. When they saw who it was, they growled and stood on their hind legs, front claws swiping at the air. Now that Gameknight could see them clearly, it was obviously a boy.

The sight of the white fangs was terrifying , but Gameknight stood his ground. “Stay back!” He yelled, both swords held at the ready. Spreading out his wings as far as he could in the tunnel, the phantom let out a inhuman shriek. Gameknight clapped his hands over his ears. A door banged open and Crafter and Digger ran out, weapons at the ready.

“What is it?” Crafter gasped. Both of them froze at the sight of the phantoms. The bigger one spun around, and his face turned from on of anger to fear. The three of them- Gameknight, Digger, and Crafter slowly took a step forward. At that instant, Herder turned the corner. “Hey guys, I got tired of patrolling so I-“

He froze, his eyes doubling in size. “Herder,” Gameknight said slowly. “I want you to go and get everyone else.” The boy nodded feverishly, then bolted off. They continued to walk toward the mobs, who became more and more frightened. Hail was now a shivering ball, curled up on the ground. The bigger one protectively out their wings around her. “Comet, I’m scared.” She whimpered. The bigger one, Comet, turned to look at Gameknight. His green eyes glowed with sudden confidence.

“Take me,” he blurted out suddenly. “What?” Gameknight asked,  surprised. Comet sat back on his hind legs, tail swishing impatiently. “Take me,” He said again. “Kill me, but leave my sister alone.” His sister whimpered. “No!” She said. Ignoring his sibling, Comet continued. “She’s just a chickling,” He said. “You wouldn’t hurt a chickling, would you?” He asked desperately.

Gameknight didn’t know what to do. On the one hand, these monsters were probably spies for Herobrine. But on the other…

Gameknight saw in Comet the same brotherly care for their younger sister. The willingness to die so she would be safe. Comet didn’t look much older than Gameknight in the physical world, eleven or twelve.

“So, do we have a deal?” Comet asked. “My life for my sisters safe release?”

Gameknight took a deep breath. “No,” He said. Comet looked horrified. He arched his back once more, ready to fight. “I’m not going to hurt either of you,” he said. Comet visibly relaxed. Hunter suddenly spun around the corner, followed by Herder, Monet, Stitcher, and Wonder. Hail shrieked as Hunter yanked her bow out of her inventory, an arrow pulled back in a heart beat. Gameknight grabbed her arm. “Calm down,” he said. “Their not going to hurt us. We are going to have them everything they know.” He looked pointedly at Comet, who nodded. “That might take awhile,” Hail piped up. “Daddy says I’m very smart.”

…

Herobrine, still in Sky’s/Voids body, stared proudly at his army. His daughter had saved him a lot of time by getting him a good amount of monsters, and now they were collecting even more as they went. They were taking a long way across the Overworld, going past as many caves and villages as possible. Caves gave them a fresh supply of mobs, and villages meant villagers. Villagers meant XP. XP meant strength.

Strength meant power.

Eventually, they would end up right where they needed to be- Gameknight999’s village. Then, Herobrine would finally be able to kill him in the most satisfying way- slowly and painfully. He did feel a bit sorry for that part. He had hoped to be able to do that as himself, but no matter. At least this way it would be easier. Before, it had been harder to attack him. Before, their battles had been like a cat fighting a fully grown rabbit. Gameknight was the rabbit, scared silly but still with frightening strong legs and quick reactions. Herobrine was the cat, sleek, strong, and the ultimate winner. But now it would be a breeze. With Void’s body, (what he still called her) it would be more like an eagle against a squirrel. Excitement was quickly building up inside him, and his eyes glowed brighter. He let out a harsh laugh. “What do you think, honey?” He asked out loud. A feeling swept through him, like he was drifting away from his own self. His eyes turned from a harsh white to a soft magenta. “You’re sick,” Sky snapped. Once again their eyes turned white. Herobrine had a cruel smile on his face. “Is that so?” He cackled. Once again magenta, Sky yelled “YES!!”

They had little talks like that whenever Herobrine wanted to do something fun. His daughter’s frustration always cheered him up. He could never let it go on for long though, in case Sky got control of herself again. He took complete control again, making sure Sky was now completely gone from his mind. Shunned to the back of her own brain, Sky did what she always did, thinking about what Gameknight999 was doing with the others back at the village. she wished she could help them, but still she couldn’t regain control. No matter how hard she tried, her father remained firmly in place in her body. She remembered freeing Gameknight from Herobrine’s grasp, capturing Monet, Crafter, and Herder, and finally that fateful night when Herder had freed her. She sighed inwardly. Please, somebody help me. She thought. Please. Somebody. I need you.

Gameknight? Herder? Please, if you can here me… I don’t think I can hold on much longer.

 

Chapter 3

Facts

 

Minecraft was mocking Gameknight999.

Just half an hour earlier, he had hoped he would never have to go into the interrogation room. Now here he was, with two phantoms sitting in front of him. Hail was constantly shuffling her wings and whispering something to herself. She peered around curiously. Comet stood up perfectly straight. His glowing green eyes never left Gameknight. It made the him uncomfortable- it was eerily like Herobrines eyes. Wonder, Monet, Crafter, Herder, Hunter, and Stitcher were all crammed in the small room with them. Digger was up in the watchtower, making sure that no other monsters were on their way.

“So,” Gameknight said in an effort to break the awkward silence. “I’ve never really done one of these, so-“

Out of nowhere, Hunter slammed her hands done on the table hard enough to knock Gameknight off balance. “WHO SENT YOU HERE?!?!” She shouted. They all froze. Then, very slowly, Gameknight pried the angry red heads hands from the table. “What my friend meant,” he said slowly. “Is if you could please tell us who told you to come here?”

Hail instantly said, “Void.” Comet spun around. “Hail!” He yelled. She cowered under his gaze. “Sorry,” she said meekly. “I thought you were supposed to say yes when someone said please!”

“Not to villagers!” Comet snapped. “They’re the enemy!”

But it was to late. Gameknight’s mind was already whirling. “Void?” He asked. Comet sighed. “Yes.” The User-that-is-not-a-user smiled at him. “Did this Void have magenta eyes or white eyes?” Comet thought for a second. “White,” he said after a moment. Gameknight turned, giving a worried look at the rest of the group. “So we’re up against Herobrine.”

There was an awful hiss and gasp. Looking back at the phantoms, Gameknight saw that Comet once again had his back arched and Hails eyes had tripled in size. “What?” Gameknight asked. “Did you just say Herobrine?” Comet growled. “Yes…” Gameknight said. The phantom shivered. “But- but I thought-“

“What’s so bad about about Herobrine?” Gameknight asked. “I thought the monsters all liked him.” Hail was frantically shaking her head. “Oh, no.” Comet said, shakily sitting back down. “It’s the complete opposite. Monsters are terrified of him.”

Gameknight was confused. “But… what about the monsters will rule Minecraft and the creatures of the night shall rise stuff he always does?”

“The only way Herobrine has been able to rule the monsters is by controlling their rulers. That’s why he creates them. Every monster on the face of the Overworld hates him.”

Gameknight shuddered. “Not as scared as the villagers,” he said. “Phantoms have an actual code for if Herobrine finds us,” Comet said. “We call it “Code White”. Every phantom is supposed to shoot off on their own. Completely alone. Can’t even get in pairs. Then there are dispensers that shoot out lava so everything is burned before he can get there.”

“Woah,” Gameknight said, shocked. “Then there are the rumors,” Comet continued. “They say the skeletons have something similar to our code. And that the zombies hollowed out a whole mountain just to hide in. That enderman learned how to hide in the Void just because of him. And they say that there are secret monster rulers that Herobrine banished a long time ago, that are still out there somewhere. But their still running, because Herobrine sent another being after them. A shadowy figure with black eyes.”

This small piece of Minecraft history was a game changer for Gameknight. “Maybe we can get some monsters to switch sides!” Comet shook his head. “It won’t work,” he said. “Monsters hate villagers-“

“That can change!” Gameknight snapped. “And they’re scared of them,” finished Comet. “What?” Asked Stitcher. “They’re scared of us?”

Comet nodded. “It all comes back to Herobrine. He starts the wars, not us. Villagers are the ones that purposely kill our many kinds. You people literally go monster hunting! We don’t go villager hunting!”

“But,” Gameknight said slowly. “We act out of self defense! We don’t start the wars either.” Comet nodded grimly. “Neither sides are guilty. But villagers always win, because villagers have an unfair advantage. Your able to hold any object you want. You can run silently and ride horses. You have safe walls and tunnels for backup to come through and armor and you shoot better and swing better and jump higher and you don’t have Herobrine controlling you.”

They were all silent. “And users are even worse,” Comet continued. “Oh, come on.” Gameknight snapped. “How our we any worse than the villagers?” “Hey!” Crafter said. Comet stretched out his wings, shaking the tips. “There are tons of reasons. Hail, got any examples?” The smaller phantom jumped up excitedly at her name. “Umm…” She squeaked. “What about the Ender dragon?”

Comet nodded. “Good.” He looked at the villagers. “Ender dragons live in a certain part of the End. In a place so far away, no user or NPC has ever seen it. But monsters have, especially the Enderman. Dragons of all ages and shapes live there. But even though many eggs hatch there, only two out of every ten young dragons are girls. But there is one dragon that is different. They are called the Mother. The Mother lives where users usually spawn. She feeds entirely on the power from the End crystals. Nine out of ten eggs She hatches are girls. This keeps the dragon population in balance. The boys she hatches are called Void Dragons. They go all over the End, collecting and crafting End Crystals. They are also dark blue in color. When the Mothers babies are old enough, they instinctively know how to get to the rest of their kind. But, every once in a while the Mother has another Mother. She knows this because the dragonling refuses the Chorus fruit the Mother tries to feed them. Instead, the baby tries to suck up the End Crystals magic instead. So, when the new Mother is old enough, the old one flys off to live the rest of her life with the rest of her kind. Rare red dragons, called the Alpha males, are the ones who breed with the Mother.”

Comet looked kind of sad. “But users come and kill the Mothers just for the fun of it.” Hail sniffed. “Right before the Mother’s die, they lay one last egg that always hatches as a Mother. But… users take that too. This stops the balance, and eventually the whole dragon race in that world is wiped out.”

“That’s so sad,” Wonder said wistfully. “I never thought about there being more dragons.” Comet nodded. “So wait,” he said. “That means Herobrine sent us here?” Gameknight nodded. “Just recently, Herobrine entered the body of his daughter Void. Or, well, Sky.” Comet shook his head real fast. “But how, but how, but what about Soar?” He stammered.

“Who’s Soar?” Stitcher asked. “Soar is our queen. Her mate is king Peregrine.”

“Peregrine?” Gameknight asked, confused. “You know, the Peregrine falcon?” Wonder asked. Everyone turned to look at her. She threw her arms up in the air. “You know… the fastest flying bird in the physical world?” “Umm,” Monet said. “What are they teaching you at our school, Gameknight?!” Wonder snapped. “You know. The ostrich is the fastest bird on land, the penguin is the fastest in the water, and the Peregrine falcon is the fastest bird in the air!” Her voice rose with excitement. “When they dive, they can go up to 240 miles per hour!”

“That’s us!” Hail crowed happily. “Phantoms are the fastest!” She opened up her wings, but she forgot how small the room was and ended up knocking herself out of her chair. “Anyway,” Comet said, picking his sister up off of the floor. “We didn’t know any of this. Of course, the phantoms knew about Void. How she was going to help and protect the monsters and stuff. But we just knew that she was Herobrine’s daughter and she was nice with glowing eyes. We just assumed they were white, so it wasn’t a surprise. We didn’t much care about her little scrimmage with the villagers, though. Phantoms are already plenty protected, and we don’t really care about villagers.”

“Because only users can spawn you guys?” Gameknight asked. Comet looked at him in shock. “Who told you that?” He asked. “That’s a lie!”

“But if you were so safe, then how did Herobrine get to you?” Hunter asked. “He must have done the same thing to Soar that he did with Void,” Comet said. “You know, control her.”

“Here’s what I’m wondering,” Crafter said. “How did Soar get you guys to come with her in the first place?” “Well, some phantoms were already helping Void.” Comet said. “But not that many wanted too. So, Soar tricked us. Phantoms are vegetarians, of course, although we do eat eggs. And fish. Anyway, Soar told us she found this large clearing. She said it was in a beautiful birch and oak forest, and it was totally covered with flowers. And that there was a pond filled with fish, and the trees were filled with apples. There were supposed to be tons of beehives full of honey and there was a whole flock of chickens. Soar even said there were sweet berries from the taiga right next to it.”

He gazed at his captors. “For the phantoms, this was very, very, very good news. There are so many of us now, and usually we have to go all over the Overworld for that. The only thing besides all that we eat are crops, melons, coaco pods, and leaves. It basically meant we had found a huge farm. She said- she said she needed help getting most of the food. At least a hundred of us went with her. We flew for a long time, but we didn’t see anything. Some of us started getting worried, but Soar urged us on. Finally we did come to a clearing, but it wasn’t like she had said. For one thing, it was kind of… small. And there weren’t any flowers. Or a pond. Or beehives. And none of us smelled any apples or sweet berries. Some of the older phantoms were about to ask Soar, when Void appeared. A bunch of monsters came out of the woods and ambushed us. And Soar just flew up next to Void.” His voice rose shrilly. “That’s all we know! Herobrine didn’t give us any of his plans or things or anything! Just please let us go!”

Hail whimpered. “I want to go home, Comet.” She whispered. The young phantom glanced around cautiously at the stone walls. “Can we at least go outside?” Comet begged. “I’m not used to being in places that are so… small.”

“Yeah!” Hail chirped for support. “I have just one more question,” Gameknight said. “It’s about the Ender Dragon. Why don’t the Mothers just fly away?” Comet looked at him sadly. “Have you ever heard of the Ender Glitch?” He asked. Gameknight shook his head. “I thought so. You see, when Notch first perfected the End and the dragon he had one of his programmers test it out. The man complained that the dragon kept flying away and wouldn’t go after him. So Notch “fixed” the glitch. What he didn’t realize was the dragon was alive and actually trying to get away. So what he did was create a barrier that kept the dragon from going more than five blocks from the island. He also kept it from going too high as well. In the end, the dragons only option is the fight. Either that, or it’s reported as a glitch and that dragon is instantly deleted.”

“That’s awful,” Gameknight said, horrified. He remembered fighting the dragon with a NPC army and once with just his friends. Both times, he had thought the dragon a horrible bloodthirsty beast. But know he knew it was just a sad creature who was constantly terrified it would be the one to destroy its whole race.

Comet nodded grimly. “It’s only allowed to leave once another Mother has been born.” Gameknight took a deep breath. “Okay. Let’s go.”

The two monsters hopped down from there upside down stairs and rushed to the door. Monet opened the door and Hail left out. “Fresh air!” She squeaked. As soon as she said it, she slammed against the other side of the passage. “Oh,” Hail said disappointedly.

“Why do you think Herobrine wanted me?” Crafter asked as the squeezed out the doorway. Herder shrugged. “Maybe he wanted something against Gameknight?” He suggested. “Or,” Gameknight said worriedly. “He’s trying to reopen the Source! He might be trying to get into the Physical world again!” Crafter looked confused. “But wouldn’t it be easier for him to just take other villages Crafters?”

Wonder laughed. “Yeah, Gameknight,” She joked. “You’re getting to full of yourself. Not every monster you come across is going to hate you.” Hunter snorted and high-fived the other girl. Gameknight felt his face grow hot and quickly turned away.

The group caught up with the two excited phantoms and walked cautiously back through the crafting chamber. Villagers were whispering and pointing at Comet and Hail. “More monsters?” Gameknight overheard. “Has the User-that-is-not-a-user gone mad?”

Rakier suddenly ran up to them, looking annoyed. “Where have you been?” He snapped. “And why do you have phantoms with you?” “Where have you been?” Stitcher asked. “I’ve been in the sitting room this WHOLE TIME!” He shouted. “But I obviously missed something!”

They passed through the two iron doors and went into the tunnel. Hail smiled and waved at one of the guards. He smiled and waved back, then did a double take. Stitcher and Rakier argued the whole long walk, Rakier doing most of the arguing.

They finally reached the ladder, and Gameknight broke the cobblestone block. Comet crawled out behind him. The rest of the group followed in suit. It was a nice day, so the watchtower door was wide open. Hail shrunk down into a pouncing position, ready to literally fly out the door.

Right then, Gameknight realized something. “WAIT!” He yelled. Hail already had her front legs in the air, and instantly crashed to the ground. “Won’t you burn up?” He asked worriedly. Hail and Comet looked at each other. Then, they burst out laughing. “Oh, man!” Comet choked out. “Users really don’t know anything!” Hail was laughing so hard she couldn’t speak.

“But you do burn up!” Gameknight said. Hail grinned and then something crazy happened. A set of light blue scales seemed to snap up over her back like armor. The same thing happened to Comet, except his were a different shade. “Sun protecting scales,” He said proudly. Then he bounded out the door. Gameknight winced and closed his eyes. He was sure that Comet was about to burst into flames. But instead, all he heard was laughter. Opening his eyes again, he saw they really did protect them. The phantoms were flying through the air, twisting and diving. Gameknight laughed as he heard Digger shriek when the mobs shot up past him. For a moment as he stepped into the sunlight, it didn’t seem so bad.

He was wrong.

He had barely taken a step when he suddenly fell onto his back. Confused, he sat back up and rubbed his head. “What was that?” Wonder asked, helping him to his feet. “You trying to get onto a YouTube Epic Fails video?” He shrugged. “I- I tripped.”

“On air?” She asked doubtfully. “I guess,” he mumbled. He had the strange feeling that someone had done it on purpose, but the only one there was Wonder.

 

 

Herobrine was annoyed. “Where are those stupid phantoms? How long does one kidnapping take?” He, of course, meant Comet and Hail. But that wasn’t why he was annoyed. Deep in his mind, he could feel Sky still fighting to push him out of her body. Usually the owner of the body he was in would be long gone by now. He wasn’t sure what was different about this one. It was either the lack of his XP, her magic, or she just had a very strong personality.

But this wasn’t why he was annoyed either.

The little other part of him was back.

When he had been trapped in the Digitizer, he had felt like he had another mind. That part of him hadn’t wanted to go after Gameknight999 again. In fact, that part despised the whole idea. And weird things were happening. For no apparent reason, he would suddenly become uncomfortable and nervous. He would feel like something much more powerful than him was looming above. Then sometimes he was sure someone was watching him. From the forest, he would swear that there was a person standing there. Watching. But there was never anyone there. Then, one night, he opened his eyes and saw a figure right next to him. He screamed and jumped up, but he was completely alone. All he had seen was a silhouette, so he put it off as his imagination. But he still made sure there were extra zombies guarding him at night.

Lastly, small pieces of memories seemed to float through his brain. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t seem to catch them. They were just out of his mental grasp. And, as soon as they appeared, the scared feeling came back and he could feel the eyes swivel back to him. It had already been cramped enough in the mind with Herobrine and Sky. Now the virus felt even more squeezed.

The other part of him was growing stronger every day. Soon, the dams between the two sides would burst, and then only fate could decide.

 

Hey everybody! Just wanted to say I’m sorry this chapter took so long. I’ve been busy and its not easy to write a chapter where they are just talking. Anyway, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

(Also happy Kwanzaa and Hanukkah)

 

Chapter 4

The Failures

 

Herobrine/Sky teleported away from their massive army. They appeared at the edge of the birch and oak woods that bordered Crafters village. “No,” Herobrine hissed. Comet and Hail were flying above the village. They laughed and played as the villagers pointed and cheered. Herobrines eyes glowed a harsh white. “The traitors,” he growled. Reaching into his inventory, he took out a potion of invisibility and drank it in one huge gulp. Gray spirals floated above his head. He teleported into the village. Everyone was watching the two phantoms flying overhead. Herobrine walked a little farther through the streets and saw Gameknight999 coming out of the watchtower. He was smiling and looked happy. Herobrine wanted to hurt him so, so, so bad.

But he couldn’t. At least, not yet. So instead he stuck out a leg and tripped the User-that-is-not-a-user. Confused, Gameknight sat back up and rubbed his head. “What was that?” The new user, WonderWriter2000, asked. She stuck out her hand and helped him up. “You trying to get onto a YouTube Epic Fails video?”

He shrugged. “I-I tripped.” “On air?” She asked. She sounded doubtful. “I guess?” He said.

Herobrine chuckled quietly. “On air? That’s a little far fetched.” He said under his breath. Then his expression turned serious. “I’m coming for you,” he hissed. Then he disappeared.

 

Silver mist surrounded Gameknight999. He blinked and rubbed his eyes. At first, he was confused. Then he realized. He was back in the Land of Dreams!

For he was a Dream-walker, one of the very few who could access this strange land. Although it was unknown to them, everyone came here for just a moment each night. This was the place you appeared as you went from consciousness to sleep. The in between. It was the Dream-walkers job to protect the people as they passed through the in between. If you die in the Land of Dreams, you die in the waking world as well.

Gameknight was in an oak forest. There was a lot of space between the trees, and behind him he could see a plains biome. He knew that this was a real place in Minecraft, but he would not be seen. He closed his eyes and imagined his diamond armor covering him. The armor appeared instantly. Then he imagined his favorite bow appearing in his hand, which it did. He knew from experience the Land of Dreams was not as peaceful as it looked. Notching an arrow, he crept forward.

As he went, the forest got denser and the trees closed in. He walked for what could have been minutes or hours, he wasn’t sure. He wasn’t sure why he was walking at all, just knew he had to. So he kept going. After a time, he froze. There were some faint sounds ahead. Closing his eyes once more, he imagined his diamond armor being replaced by iron. Looking down, he saw that now instead of being bejeweled he was covered with a steel coating. He drew his double swords, but kept the diamond blade close to the ground. Creeping forward, he heard the sounds grow steadily louder. It sounded like a clanking and thumping. The trees suddenly gave way to a large clearing, the ground obscured by fog.

Gameknight’s heart stopped for a split second. Herobrine was in the clearing. Not in Sky’s body, but his own. He was wearing his usual shadow crafter clothing, a black smock with a gray stripe down the middle. His sword was in his hand, and he was practicing attacking on a dummy. The dummy was made out of fence posts with a carved pumpkin for a head. There were scratches and gouges covering it. Then, with one last swing, the dummy’s head was sliced off. The pumpkin dropped to the ground and rolled. Gameknight could barely stop himself from being sick.

Herobrine smiled and turned. “I wouldn’t want to be that dummy. Would you?” He asked. For the first time, Gameknight noticed Sky was tied to a tree. She was sitting slumped, looking awful. Her skin was pale, her hair was limp and ragged, and her eyes were dull. She didn’t respond. “I wouldn’t want to be either,” Herobrine challenged. When she still did nothing, he scowled. “What, did you forget how to talk or something?” “Yes,” She said. Under different circumstances, Gameknight might have laughed. Herobrine scowled even more. “That sense of humor won’t make you anything but dead,” He snapped. Breaking the last of the dummy, he created another one with fresh materials. Gameknight watched in terror as Herobrine slowly got better before his eyes. At first it took him five tries to knock off the pumpkin, but he slowly reduced it to three. One time he completely split the dummy in half down the middle. After what felt like hours, he didn’t put the dummy back together. Instead, he looked around suspiciously. “We’re not alone, you know.” He said to Sky. She perked up. Gameknight did to. Did he know about him? Herobrine was still gazing out at the mist. “They’ve been here a while now,” The virus said. Gameknight was trying not to shake. “Just… watching.” Herobrine walked around the edge of the clearing. He was getting closer to Gameknight. Gameknight clutched at his swords, ready to jump out. Herobrine was ten blocks away. Eight. Five. Three. Now!

Gameknight suddenly stood up. Herobrine looked startled. This confused Gameknight. Wasn’t Herobrine looking for him? “You,” Herobrine hissed. “Yeah, me,” Gameknight said.

In a instant, Gameknight had his diamond armor back on. Herobrine slowly smiled. “I’ve always underestimated you, User-that-is-not-a-user.” He said. “But this time, you’ve underestimated me.” He suddenly clapped his hands above his head and let out a piercing whistle. At first, nothing happened. Then a roar of complete rage came from above. A huge beast dove down and hovered above its masters head. Herobrine grinned. “Meet my newest creation, Gameknight999,” He shouted. “Soar! Queen of the Phantoms!” Soar glared evilly down at Gameknight. She was easily three times the size of Comet and Hail, with huge wings the color of darkest blue. Her white scales were the color of the fog and she had strange gray patterns on her wings undersides. Her eyes were viscous green and her long tail swiped back and forth.

Gameknight shrunk back, but barely. “You didn’t create her!” He yelled. “You took her from the phantoms! You’re controlling her like you are with Sky!” Herobrine screamed in anger, “You don’t call her that! Her name is Void, and that was just what her worthless mother called her!” Sky screamed. “DON’T SAY THAT!”

Sky leapt up and fought her restraints with a horrible vengeance. “STOP!” Herobrine yelled at her. Gameknight saw his chance. He lunged at the virus, but with one beat of her wings Soar blew him backwards. Herobrine laughed. “You can’t even reach me! You’re the worthless one. You’re just little Tommy Feynman!”

Gameknight froze. How did Herobrine know his name? Fear crept inside him. The virus cackled. “That’s right,” He said. “I know a lot more about you than you think. You see, when I was in that machine of yours I saw things. Very interesting things. I could see everything the Digitizer saw, down to what they were saying. I could also look back, so I now know everything you ever did by it or with it.”

Gameknight was shocked. He’d always thought that whatever he did in the physical world was completely safe from dangers in Minecraft. Now he knew that was wrong.

Herobrine smiled. “It’s all connected to the hard drive,” he said. “So I can go back as far as this,” He said. His hands began to glow a reddish yellow. Sky’s did the same. They must still be connected, Gameknight thought. The color spread into the air. The strange smoke curled into two figures in the air. A voice that seemed far away came out of one. “This one will do just fine,” the taller one boomed. “Great! Now can you tell me what you’re doing, Dad?” The smaller one said. In Gameknight’s voice. It was equally distanced, seeming to come from miles away as an echo. The taller one, Gameknight dad, laughed. “It’s a surprise,” he teased. “Dad! Come on! You’ve been hiding it for a week!” Tommy argued. “Fine,” Monkeypants said. “I’m making a new invention that can take real things and send them into a computer.” “Oh,” Tommy said, obviously unimpressed. “What’s that for?” His dad asked. “Do you really think that will work?” Tommy questioned. “I mean, it’s just a little out there.” His dad chuckled. “Just you wait. I’ve got a good feeling about this one. Anyway, I’m thinking of a name. Which do you like, the Coder or the Digitizer?” Tommy made a face. “Digitizer?” He asked. “That’s the worst name I’ve ever heard. Coder please!” His dad smiled at him. “We’ll see,” he said. The figures blew away.

Gameknight felt sick. That had been over a year ago. The fact that Herobrine had been able to see all that was terrifying. Sky was still pulling at her chains. Soar circled around them like an evil vulture. Herobrine raised his sword, ready to swing. But he didn’t. There was a look in his eyes, a look of uncertainty. Finally, he attacked. Gameknight was barely able to get his blade up to block the attack. Herobrine had quickly became very good at fighting. Gameknight could barely see the blade as it swung towards him. Panic overtook him. He did not want to get into a fight with Herobrine. I need to escape! He thought frantically. I need to leave! I’ve got to get out! These thoughts built up inside his head and a unfamiliar feeling swept over him. For the briefest moment, he felt as if he was in two places at the same time. But then he was in completely new surroundings. He was still in the Land of Dreams, but the forest was even denser and more frightening. However, it appeared someone had cleared out a chunk of it. Then he saw why.

There were three long rows of bedrock cells. The mist swirled dangerously around the prisons. There were iron bars on the back of the first row, but the one in the middle had them on the front and back. From what Gameknight could see, the back row only had them in the front. Gameknight couldn’t tell if the cells were occupied. At least, not until he heard the clanging.

A banging was coming from inside of one of the front row cells. The sound echoed around the woods, seeming fearful and desperate. Gameknight could now see a few more details as he inched closer. Whoever was in there could need his help! He could see figures in all the cells, but what confused him was the fact that they were strange shapes. Something tingled at the back of his brain, but he couldn’t figure out what it was.

There were only two cells in the back row, but he wasn’t sure why. He was just about to step out of the woods when there was a sudden screech from the back row. “WILL YOU STOP THAT?!?!”

Gameknight froze. A sinister chill went down his spine. The clanging stopped. Then, from the cell the sound had originated from, a grumbling deep voice boomed out. “WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT, SCARLET?” In that moment, much of the mist lifted and Gameknight saw exactly who was in the cells.

Every monster king or queen that Gameknight had ever fought (and killed) was trapped in one. In the first three at the front, Xa-tul, the ancient zombie king from the Great Zombie Invasion (enter name here- I forgot what it was :).), and Reaper the skeleton king were locked up. In the second row there was the blaze king Charybidis, then the spider queens Shakiliud and Shalivak had two where in the middle between them was just more bars. And in the last row, the two cells were occupied by the the two Enderman kings. Feyd and Gameknight’s number one opponent Erebus stood there, looking indentical.

“Ebbi (pronounced E B) over there has a point,” Reaper said. Xa-tul glared at him, bringing attention to the fact that in the middle of the wall of each cell had a block replaced with even more iron bars so they could see their neighbors. The entire prison had been created for them, the monster rulers who had failed. The point was that they had to be surrounded by other failures forever.

Erebus screeched in anger. “Ebbi? Scarlet? You horrible creatures! Do you have any idea what I can do?” Xa-tul just grinned a toothy grin and, just to prove his point, banged the bars once more with the flat of his golden broadsword. Charybdis grimaced. The flame surrounding him flared and his blaze rods spun faster. “Ssstop!” Shakiliud hissed. “You have been doing that for daysss! The Creator iss not coming back for you, ssstupid zzzombie!” Xa-tul growled. “Of course he will, spider! I was always the masters favorite. I was loyal and strong, much unlike that traitor over there! He jabbed his huge block sized hand over towards the enderman. From Gameknight’s angle, he could not really see the endermen moving very easily, but he could almost feel Feyd’s hands balling into blood red fists. “You monsters!” He snapped. “Can not one of you think?” He snapped. “The Creator doesn’t care about you, or me, or anyone of us! We were just tools for him to play with. Sometime soon another of us the User-that-is-not-a-user has killed will appear, and they will be stranded here just like all the ones that will come after it! We’re worthless to him. Just pride-killing memories. At least I figured it out before I died! But I can’t say the same about you guys.” He sounded exasperated, as if he had said these words a million times before. “So stop calling him Master, stop calling him the Creator, and call him by his real name Herobrine!”

And at that moment, the Creator showed up.

“Did someone say my name?” Herobrine said, appearing with Sky in tow. Feyd stopped talking, momentarily stunned. Herobrine smiled and dropped his daughter in between the front and middle rows. “I think you met my daughter Void last time I was here, he said lightly. The monsters growled and hissed, looking viscously at the girl. She scrambled backwards. Lifting up her hands for protection, they flickered feebly.

Soar suddenly flew in from the treetops, her wings spread wide. “Ah! M’lady!” Called another voice from above. Gameknight had to cover his mouth to keep from screaming. Malacoda, king of the ghasts and former king of the Nether, floated above. He was the third prisoner for the last row, he was just to big for a cell. He was chained to a stone wall post in the ground. Nevertheless, he grinned down at the phantom. Gameknight wasn’t sure why he hadn’t seen him before, his red eyes should have glowed through the fog. He was also surprised he hadn’t said anything- usually he never would shut up.

Soar glared up at him. “Leave me alone and shut up or I will sink my claws into you and watch you deflate, you ballon,” she hissed. All the monsters smiled, except for Erebus, who cackled. Herobrine didn’t try to hide his laugh at all. Malacoda chuckled and mumbled something about his type of woman, but he quieted down real fast after that. Herobrine turned to his phantom guardian. “Go find Gameknight999,” he said. All the monsters except Feyd growled and hissed at his name. Soar nodded and took to the sky once more.

Herobrine smiled crookedly down at Sky. “Don’t try anything while I’m gone,” He said to her. She nodded quickly, but he still raised his hand and had magical chains shoot out and pin her to the ground. Gameknight noticed a mark on her face that hadn’t been there when he saw her earlier. He blood boiled. Herobrine teleported away, obviously looking for him. The anger was building in Gameknight.

He looked nervously at where the endermen were locked up. He didn’t think they could get out, but still. He thought about how dangerous the endermen had been as the enemy.

How dangerous as the enemy.

 

Gameknight had a sudden, wild idea. Before he could think about it, he rushed forward into full view of the mobs. They yelled and pointed, banging on the bars, but he didn’t care. As he ran, he yanked out his diamond pickaxe. Then he was there, in front of Feyd. He destroyed the bars in only a few seconds and yanked out the king. The Enderman screeched and tried to pull away, by Gameknight held on tight. “Wake up wake upwakeupwakeupwakeupWAKEUP!” He yelled at himself. Then he and the monster disappeared.

 

Herobrine wasn’t sure why he had hit Sky.

It had come out of nowhere. After Gameknight999 suddenly teleported away somehow, he had walked over to his daughter. The other part of him was struggling to win the mental battle, and with a sudden burst of emotion he had struck her in the face. He shocked himself as much as he schooled her. To cover up the fact that he had no idea what he was doing, he mumbled something about not acting up again and walked quickly away. Now, alone in the forest, the other him was even worse. A wave of nausea engulfed him, and he fell to his knees and threw up. He wiped his mouth, tasting the bile. He stood up shakily. “What’s wrong with me?” He moaned. Suddenly, white light streaked across his vision and he heard voices. Indistinguishable muttering- Let me go, more muttering. You know I can’t do that, said a sad voice. You know I can destroy you, said the first voice. But you wouldn’t, said the sad one. I will if you don’t let me through. Now let me get to him! There was a sudden loud sound, as if someone had been blasted aside. No! Don’t! Cried the second voice. But it was to late. I’m sorry! Yelled the first one, and those words echoed and echoed as the second voice screamed out for him and then his vision returned.

Herobrine opened his eyes and saw he was on the ground shaking. His head throbbed so bad he couldn’t think. He noticed there was a lot more vomit on the grass than before. He sat up against a tree, trembling. What had that been? He hadn’t seen anything, he had just heard a snippet of conversation. He had a sinking feeling that that was one of the memories he kept feeling at the back of his brain and that one of those voices had been his. But who was the other person?” The headache subsided a little bit as the other part of him withdrew the contact, obviously pleased. He was instantly much more wary about this other part of him than before. He was dimly aware of shouting coming from the prison for his creations. He shook his head and teleported away.

 

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 dream land. 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 grabbed 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 your 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 your pride and help fight for a good cause, one that will save your life, your children’s life, your grandchildren’s life, their children’s life, and your 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 when 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 cheer echoed 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 of one the 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 filled 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 cheering. 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 supposed 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 your 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’s 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, thats it for now. Keep writing, keep posting, and watch out for Covid. 🙂

 

Chapter 7

Poison

 

 

Gameknight999 was surrounded by light.

He yawned and stretched, blinking sleepily. When he realized he was not in his bed, and that the light around him was sunlight, he almost leapt out of his skin. Then he remembered what had happened and laughed. After his speech last night, people had run back to their homes and grabbed all the food they had. The entire village stuffed themselves with food from all over the Overworld, ranging from pumpkin pie to dried kelp. He had no idea how somebody had gotten their hands on kelp, he only knew that here had spit it right back out. Wonder had laughed at him while guzzling beetroot soup and almost choked. “How do you eat that?” He had asked her. “It’s good!” She had said. “Ick,” He stuck out his tongue.

They next thing he knew she had splashed him with the rest of the dark red liquid. “Hey!” He yelled, frantically spiting. She laughed even harder, but quickly stopped when Gameknight had smashed an entire cake into her face. Herder had screamed “FOOD FIGHT!” And the next thing either of them knew everyone was laughing and throwing things at each other. That was around midnight. Then, around one, somebody had turned up with a jukebox and a music disc. Monet surprised everyone by pulling out two more of the CDs, which she had said she had found in the stronghold they had gone to so long ago. Finally, around three, people slowly started trickling back to their houses. Gameknight had literally collapsed against the wall of the home next door, exhausted.

As he shakily stood up he looked sadly at the horrible remains of Blacksmiths shop. Sower and Chopper had been showered with gifts before they excused themselves and went home. Closing his eyes, he did the Salute for the Dead once more. The he walked around and stretched his legs.

Other than the crick in his neck from sleeping against the hard wooden wall, he had slept well. In fact, looking at the sky, he guessed it was around ten in the morning.

He had slept well, except of course, the nightmare.

In his horrible dream, a girl had been crying on the mountainside. Gameknight wanted to help her, but he couldn’t move. His limbs were stuck to his sides. The girl sobbed and sobbed and there he was, standing helplessly. In between gasps for air, the girl had muttered to herself. “Stupid,” She said. “Tool. Waste. Useless.” Gameknight had tried desperately to get closer, to console her, but nothing. “You’re not useless!” He had screamed, but the wind was getting stronger and stronger and his voice was carried away. Then he saw it. A deep, black, oily mass with red eyes hovered over the girl; and, as he watched, the black cloud reached out and touched the girl. She screamed, a sound that was no longer human. She sounded like a scared animal, like a small fawn left writhing on the ground in the prest agony. The blackness hissed in a almost predatory voice, “You’re nothing. You’re trash! Filth! You will waste away and no one will ever know!” It growled and grumbled, its hateful words seeming to cut her. Far off in the distance, on yet another peak, someone else that was no more than a dark shape stared at the girl with glittering green eyes. The girl screamed one last time, and this time Gameknight could feel her pain. It worse than anything he had ever felt. It was worse than Erebus picking him up and squeezing, crushing him, so long ago, and it was worse than Xa-tul’s golden broadsword biting into him, or Herobrine smiling evilly down at him and lifting his sparkling blue blade, and it was worse than when Empech, Trupech, and Forpech’s magical weapons seared through him all at the same time.  The pain overwhelmed him as the snow whipped him all over his body, as it burned his eyes and stung his cheeks. Then he crumbled away in to nothing and floated away.

 

Gameknight shook his head. “It was just a dream,” He said. “Just a dream. Probably yesterday just catching up to me.” He stared up at the mountains. The golden sunlight made the snowy peak glow like yellow frosting on a spiral shaped cake. Still, it had felt so real. Especially the girl sad crying. That had felt like it was ringing in his ears like a snare drum. Snapping back to reality, he followed the sound of voices through the village until he came upon Wonder and Crafter standing in the road. Crafter saw him and waved. “Hey Gameknight!” He called. Wonder saw him and grinned. “Good morning, beet mouth,” She said. He smiled back. “Morning, batter face.” She burst out laughing. “Yeah, yours is better.” “Huh?” Crafter asked, a puzzled look on his face. “Nothing,” Gameknight said and then cracked up. Crafter rolled his eyes, but he smiled. “Anyway, we were just talking about our little visit to Aquaspear. Here’s what we need to know- who’s coming?”

Gameknight thought for a moment. “Well, I don’t want to force anyone to go,” He said. “I’m thinking we should have around five people, not including Erebus.” He shrugged. “I say we gather up the gang and see who wants to do it.”

A few minutes later, all of his friends were gathered around him. “OK,” He said. “Here’s the big question; who’s going with me?” Hunter glared at him. “Don’t even try and leave me out,” She snapped. “I’m going. Who will stop you from doing stupid things?” “Yeah, I’m going too,” Wonder spoke up. “That way if you both want to do stupid things, I can stop you.”

Gameknight sighed. “Fine. That’s two. Who else? Digger?” He looked the stocky NPC right in his green eyes. “We might need some muscle on this trip. We have no idea whats going to be waiting for us when we get there.” Digger nodded. “I’ll follow you to the end of the Overworld,” He boomed. Gameknight smiled. “I’ll remember that,” The User-that-is-not-a-user promised. He turned to Stitcher. “I want at least one of the sisters here in case something goes wrong. Do you mind staying?” She nodded. “All right,” She agreed. “Just promise me something.” “What is it?” Gameknight asked. The red headed girl smiled. “Punch my sister if she gets to sarcastic for me, alright?” “Hey!” Hunter snapped angrily. Gameknight laughed. “Promise,” He said. “Alright… I trust you…” Stitcher said with mock hesitation.

“Crafter, you’re my best friend, and I know you are the best person here to take care of this village. Wait,” He said, putting up his hand before the boy could speak, “Hear me out. I know you want to come and help, but we’ll be fine. I would feel much better if you were here helping everybody.” Crafter eyed him for a minute. Finally he sighed. “Alright,” he grumbled. “Perfect,” Gameknight said, rubbing his hands together. “That leaves one more person. Herder? The spot it’s yours if you want it.” Herder shook his head. “Sorry, Gameknight,” He said. “I’d go, but I know my wolves would never be able to come and we all know I’m not very good when it comes to swordplay.”

“Can’t argue with that,” Hunter said. “Be nice,” Stitcher chided and punched her older sister on the arm. “You punched me,” Hunter argued. “You call that nice?”

“You see?” Herder said. “Go on. I’ll stay here and guard everybody with my wolves.” Gameknight sighed. Before he could say anything, the youngest of the group piped up. “I’ll go!”

“Monet, you’re not coming,” Gameknight said automatically. “What? Why?” She glared at him. Gameknight groaned. “Monet! We’ve been over this a million times! You’re to little. You don’t have enough experience.”

“How am I supposed to get experience if no one will let me do anything?” She yelled, throwing her hands in the air. “She has a point,” Hunter added. “Monet, stop, you’re making a scene,” Gameknight hissed. “I don’t care!” She exploded. “You never let me do anything! YOU didn’t have ‘experience’ when you first came to Minecraft, and that didn’t stop you!” Gameknight’s face burned. “That was different,” He said. “How?” She asked, a hurt look on her face. “Because I’m just the younger one? Other other child, the one that only messes up and constantly needs saving? Because I’m the useless one?”

That last sentence struck a chord somewhere in him and caused fear to rise up in his chest. That was what the girl in his dream kept saying. Could Monet be the girl? “Monet, wait!” He started.  But she had already stormed off. His mind whirled with different thoughts and worries. Had it just been a coincidence? Or had it meant something? And if it did mean something, what did mean?

He was still thinking through the options when he felt someone shaking him. “Gameknight! Gameknight!”Wonder yelled. “I, um, yeah,” He said. “Are you listening?” Wonder asked. “I was asking you why you’re being so hard on her.” “I’m not being hard on her!” He snapped. “She’s just little. She doesn’t understand how serious all of this is.”

“She does understand,” Stitcher argued. “She saved your life, remember?” Gameknight put his hands on his hips. “There is no way that I am letting my little sister go to a endermen prison in the ocean. I can’t control what you guys get yourselves into, but I can stop my sister. And I will. This discussion is over.”

Monet avoided him for the rest of the day. Whenever he tried to talk to her and make her listen, she would glare and flounce away.finally, after the third time this happened, Gameknight gave up and went to find Wonder. He found her once again talking to Crafter.  “Well, how will you get Erebus down there?” He heard Crafter say. “I mean, its the ocean, and he’s an enderman. Isn’t the point to keep them out?” “He’s right,” Gameknight added as he sidled up next to them. Crafter gave him a reassuring smile. Gameknight turned away. He didn’t need his friends sympathy over what happened to Monet. Wonder grinned at them. “I have just the thing.” She said proudly. Gameknight groaned. “It’s another potion, isn’t it?” She nodded. “It’s called Water Resistance,” She proclaimed. “I have to go find somebody to go with us, so can you guys go tell Harvester? Thanks. You might want to write this down.” Before either of them could say anything, she began rattling off a list of instructions. “First, take a bottle of water breathing and brew one thing of magma cream. The brew that with bubble coral, then a sea turtle egg, then sea grass, kelp for consistency, raw cod, a ghast tear, blaze powder and the pieces of a smashed nautilus shell. Then shake it all up. We’ll need about ten of those.” Crafter was frantically scribbling the directions in a book. “Shell, shake, ten,” He mumbled. “Got it!” “Great.” Wonder shoved a neatly folded piece of paper into Gameknight999’s hands. “That needs to go to Harvester. DO NOT read it!” She scrambled away. Crafter looked up at him and shrugged. “I guess we should go?” He asked. “I suppose so,” Gameknight replied absentmindedly. They trudged past the well. “Does it seem kind of, well, hot to you?”Crafter pointed out. “Actually, yeah,” Gameknight said. The old NPC squinted up at the sun. “Weird,” He whispered.

It got a little cooler as the pair headed through the village gates. As they neared the castle, the constant breeze brought the smell of melon and the squeaks of rabbits towards them. “This way,” Gameknight said, and took the lead. They soon came to the right staircase and they headed downward. This time Harvester was stirring something in a cauldron somewhat apart from the others and Morgana was inside, tending to a brewing stand. “Hey guys!” She called out cheerfully. “What’s up?”

“Wonder has another potion she wants you to make,” Crafter said. “The directions this time are, well, see for yourself.” He handed her the book with the directions in it. She read along and nodded. “Well, Crafter, I would love to do this, but we don’t have these things just lying around.” She stated, gesturing towards the page  from the with her hand. “I’ll have to get supplies from the village storage.”

Crafter nodded. “I get it,” He remarked. “Get whatever you need.” Her eyes lit up. “Thanks!” She bolted from the room. Gameknight moved closer to the cauldron Harvester had been working on. Next to the cauldron was a small one block wide shelf that was empty except for a silver spoon and a half full bottle of harming potion. Crafter reached out to touch it. “I wouldn’t do that,” Morgana warned suddenly, walking over towards them. Crafter snorted. “Yeah, right. What could it do?” He stuck in the tip of his finger. “Yah!” He yelled, pulling it back into the air and shaking it madly. “Ow! Ow! Ow!” Morgana sighed and handed him a bottle of water. He paused jumping around for a moment to take it. “What’s this?” He asked, confused. “Healing,” Morgana said as if it was obvious.

Crafter tentatively sipped it. His eyes widened. Wordlessly he handed it to Gameknight. The User-that-is-not-a-user took a swig. Warm relief from all of his sore joints flooded through him and he stood up taller. “How?” He gasped. “Harvester has been playing around with this for a while.” Morgana explained. “She figured out one day that by adding a certain bit of a potion to water and then mixing it, the water would stay the same color but take on the properties of the potion. She’s been testing the limits and such, so we have dozens of “Holy waters,” as she likes to call them, lying around.”

“How do you tell if something is Holy water or not?” Gameknight asked. “I asked her the same question,” The old witch crowed. “She answered ‘You can tell by the smell, and also it will give off wisps of smoke; so Holy water with leaping in it will have green smoke but it will look like water.”

“How will we use it?” Crafter asked. Morgana gave him a stern look. “What do you think? Water can easily be obtained, and a spoonful of potion will easily cover a entire bucket. Then that Holy Water will equal three bottles. One bottle of potion could end up getting used for thirty people. We won’t have to make nearly as many potions to satisfy everyone.” Crafter nodded. “That will be useful,” He said. “Of course!” Morgana said. “Anything that dear Harvester does is amazing. The girl is the sweetest thing. She reminds me of…” She trailed off. “Never mind,” She said. “Those are just distant memories now.”

Gameknight looked carefully at the old woman, but her expression showed none of her emotion. “I can already think of uses for this,” He said after a moment. “If we poured just a bottle of Regeneration into the well, and everyone drank that, then the effects might stick and pretty much everyone would be superhuman.” Harvester burst back into the potion chamber, her arms full of ingredients. “We didn’t have enough bubble coral, so a most of these are going to have horn, brain, or tube instead.” She gasped. “Do you think it will make much of a difference?” Gameknight shook his head. “Nah.” She beamed. “Alright, then. I’ll get them to you in about an hour, ‘kay?” She got right to work, bustling around and grabbing potions and magma cream from chests.

Later that day, as the sun began to sink below the horizon and the moon rose like a perfect white pearl from behind the mountains, Gameknight sat on the edge of the well. Wonder had rushed by him and told him to wait. Oddly, he wasn’t cold. The tempature by the well had stayed the same all day- hot and dry. Wonder appeared with a NPC even more muscular than Digger. “Gameknight, this is Grinder,” She declared. “He’s gonna go with us to Aquaspear. The villager bowed his head respectfully. “It will be an honor to fight by your side, sir,” He said with a hint of excitement in his voice. Gameknight smiled at him. “Hopefully, there will be no fighting,” He said. Wonder laughed. “Why do I doubt that?” She teased. Gameknight laughed, then wiped sweat from his brow. “What is with this heat?” He questioned. Grinder shrugged. “I don’t know,” He said. Suddenly a sound reached Gameknight’s ears. It was the sound of a bubble popping beneath them. His heart sank. Lava.

Grinder pulled out a bottle and dipped it into the cool clear waters of the well. At that instant, Gameknight noticed something else. A dark green wisp of steam floated off the surface of the liquid. Everything suddenly clicked together. He remembered what Morgana had said. “You can tell by the smell, wisps of smoke, will look like water, With just one bottle, and if everyone drank that…”

“DON’T!” He screamed. He tried desperately to knock the bottle out of the mans hands. But it was to late. Grinder gave a nervous laugh at his sudden outburst and Wonder stared at him with a alarmed look on her face. “Are you feeling okay?” She asked worriedly. “I, yeah,” He stammered. “I just thought-“ Grinder suddenly moaned and fell to his knees, clutching his stomach. Green spirals floated off his head. “Poison?” Wonder said dumbly. “Poison! POISON!”

The next few minutes were a blur. People came rushing out of their homes, and somebody gave milk to Grinder. The spirals stopped, but he continued to shake and moan. Harvester and Morgana appeared from nowhere. “Give me that,” Morgana snarled, and she snatched the bottle away from where it had somehow ended up in Gameknight’s hand.  She sniffed in and narrowed her eyes. “Witches poison,” She hissed. “The real kind. The kind that instantly takes the XP of zombies and kills cave spiders. Someone has poured it into the well.” Herder and Stitcher appeared, their hair in a mess from sleep. “I don’t believe it,” Herder said fearfully. “Lava,” Gameknight spoke. They all turned to him. “What?” Stitcher asked. He pointed at the ground. “Look, but don’t fall in.” Taking out his shovel, he quickly dug into the ground. Cracks appeared on the surface of the dirt block, then it shattered and fell with a sizzle into the molten stone below. His friends stared at it in disbelief.

“Herobrine poisoned the well, and then he placed lava around it,” Gameknight said. “Why?” Crafter, who had also just fought through the crowd, asked. “For traps? Everyone, look out for pressure plates and tripwires!” Gameknight shook his head and pointed at the hole with his shovel. “To make us hot.” They all stared at him, dumbfounded. Then Hunter pointed out, “He’s lost it.” Smiling, Gameknight saw that all his friends were now around him. “Think about it,” He said. “He poisoned the well so that he could maybe kill off a few of us and so we would lose our water supply. And what better way to make sure we drank it than place lava around where we couldn’t see it? Because what happens when you get hot?

“You get thirsty,” Wonder said slowly as the realization dawned on her. “Exactly,” He beamed. “What he didn’t expect is that we know how to fix this.” Harvester grinned and steeped forward, a potion of Healing in hand. “You might want to step back,” She warned. They all backed away as she dumped the bottles contents into the well and then ran. Steam billowed from the well like a cloud had been trapped in the waters and had suddenly been freed. It shot upward, shooting into the sky. There was much more than what had come from the cauldron Gameknight and Wonder had seen the day before. Morgana smelled the water and nodded, showing that it was clear. Wonder moved next to Gameknight. “There’s no way Grinder will be able to come,” She said worriedly. “And we leave tomorrow.” Gameknight sighed. “I know what to do.”

Walking cautiously over to a girl standing next to the crowd with a fearful expression, he tapped her gently on the arm. “Hey, Monet,” He remarked as she turned. “We have a spot open… want to come?” A smile quickly spread across her face. “Maybe I could squeeze you in,” She said calmly. Gameknight smiled back and, grabbing her arm, brought her over to the rest of the group. “OK,” He said, the puzzle pieces falling into place. “Here’s what we’re gonna do…”

 

“I see it!” Monet yelled from the front of the group two mornings later. Steering his horse towards the sound, he waved for the rest of the group to follow. Erebus shifted uncomfortably in the saddle, leaning as far away from Hunter (or as he likes to call her, the bucket dumper) as possible. Monet waited from them impatiently at the crest of a hill. The scene took Gameknight’s breath away. Below them, the oak forest they had been traveling through for the past day fell away to a gentle slope leading to sandy dunes. The blue ocean water glittered like a beautiful wavy blanket in the dazzling sunlight. A bit later, Gameknight finished tying his chestnut brown horse that Herder had given him to a post and headed to the others, who were standing by the surf. “Everyone remember the plan?” He asked. “Of course,” Monet bragged. “First we-“

“You don’t have to say the whole thing,” Hunter interrupted. Gameknight gazed out at the water. He could barely believe that underneath the beautiful waves something as horrible as Aquaspear resided. “Maybe I should stay up here,” Erebus peeped. “You know, stand watch?” Gameknight shook his head. “Monet will,” He said. “What?” Monet blurted. “But you promised-“ Gameknight leaned down in the sand beside her. “Monet, you’re the fastest one of us. As soon as Herobrine realizes I’m gone, he’ll go looking for me. And he knows we have Erebus, and he also knows we’ll do anything to get someone to help us fight. Erebus says that Herobrine was the one that put his friends there, so he’l come here. And when he does, we’ll need someone to tell us. Please?” He looked hopefully into her face. She sighed. “All right,” She mumbled. He grinned at her. “OK,” He said and stood up. “Let’s go.” Then he added to Erebus, “And you’re coming.” The enderman groaned. “You’re right,” He admitted. “I owe it to…” Instead of finishing his sentence, he just snapped “Give me the potion, girl.” Wonder handed him the Water Resistance and he chugged it down. Grayish blue spirals floated about his red head. Casting the bottle aside, he looked warily at the ocean. “Do you think it worked?” He asked tentatively. “Let’s find out,” Wonder said. She jumped forward and shoved him into the waves head first. He screeched, then toppled in. For a moment, he was nowhere to be seen. Then he popped back up like a cork. “YOU’RE NUTS!” He screamed. Wonder grinned. “I’m smart,” She said. A confident expression spread across the monster’s face. “Let’s go!” He yelled. “FOR-“ The rest of his sentence was cut off when he submerged.

Wonder grabbed a potion of Water Breathing and downed it. (Erebus’s Water Resistance already did it for him) Gameknight and the others except for Monet did the same, then drank one of invisibility. Out of the corner of his eye, Gameknight saw Wonder drinking a second potion as well, this one milky white. “What are we waiting for?” The User-that-is-not-a-user said to the group. “You heard the enderman!” He turned and dove into the glacial blue sea, heading for things unknown lurking in the depths below.

 

Chapter 8

Wonderbrine

 

Cold water rippled through Gameknight999’s clothes as he shoved himself deeper into the depths of the ocean. His friends trailed behind him, looking around with awe at the beautiful world underneath the waves and kicking with their invisible legs. Turning, he could just see the scowling form of his sister Monet113 blur until she was gone, angrily standing guard on the beach. They were headed to the bottom of the ocean, where they knew (hoped) they would find the ancient enderman prison called Aquaspear. And if it was as evil as it sounded, Gameknight was shocked that something so awful could exist in such an amazing place

The ocean floor beneath the group looked like a pale yellow cake topped with thousands of frosting creations. To their right, a crevasse gouged into the earth. Bubbles poured from the mouth of the ravine, caused by the magma blocks on the bottom. Gameknight was tempted to go check for diamonds, but he knew they had more important matters at hand. Surrounding the crevasse was a kelp forest, the wavy plants thriving in the warm water. A pod of clicking and whistling dolphins played in the fronds, spinning around and nipping at a school of cod. Right below them, a coral reef glowed. The hundreds of colorful shapes twisted like rainbow trees. Sea pickles grew everywhere and gave off a warm light. Tropical fish swirled around them and sea turtles seemed to soar through the water like birds. Off to their right, a sunken ship nestled on the ocean floor. The huge vessel was half covered with sand and seaweed clung to the sides. It was the most lively place Gameknight had ever seen, the reef stretching for miles. But Erebus shivered ahead of him. “We’re getting closer,” He whispered.

Above them, the surface rippled and beams of sunlight fell around them. The whole place felt unreal, almost immortal. Gameknight half expected to suddenly see the kingdom of the mermaids or Poseidon’s palace appear out of the blue before them. But Erebus was right; they weren’t going to be that lucky.

He felt it before he saw it. The ocean around them seemed to get darker, and the animals around them seemed less playful and more tense, as if they could hear a fishing boat or some other threat approaching. The coral seemed to be twisting into pained, tortured figures. And the strange plants in front of them suddenly got a whole lot denser and much taller. It was like that for many blocks, he could tell. It wasn’t a coral reef. It was a coral wall. “It’s here,” Gameknight whispered to the others. He could feel someone nod next to him. “I feel it too,” Digger murmured. Wonder, not invisible, moved up next to Erebus. “You remember what to do?” She asked him. “I don’t feel so good,” He peeped. “What if I get stuck there? What if the guards figure it out? What if-“ “Don’t think about the what-ifs,” Gameknight told him. “If there’s anything I’ve learned from Minecraft, it’s that.” Erebus moaned. “That’s exactly what I need,” He grumbled. “Gameknight999 giving me advice.” Gameknight glared at him, even though he knew the monster couldn’t see it. “Should we turn back?”

Wonder sighed. “You two have serious issues.” She said. “He killed me!” Erebus snapped, pointing at his rival. “He tried to kill me and everyone we care about!” Gameknight retorted. “But I didn’t do it,” Erebus whined. “Enough!” Hunter growled, her bow seemingly floating in midair. “Stop complaining and get on with it!” They both went quiet, simmering in anger. “Thank you,” Wonder said. She took a coil of rope out of her inventory and tied it securely around Erebus. Now unable to move his arms from his sides, he kicked hard to stay afloat. “Let’s hope the guards aren’t in a bad mood today,” The enderman said nervously. “Wait,” Hunter said sharply. “What guards?” Erebus stared at them. “Um, it’s a prison.” He explained slowly. “So there are guards. I assumed you would have already realized that.” Gameknight huffed. “Great. Another thing to add to our plates.”

“But we knew someone would be there,” Wonder added. “Isn’t that why I’m not invisible and you are?” Gameknight nodded. “But I thought it would only be one, or you would have to answer some kind of code or riddle. I mean, who would want to live down here? Who could live down here?” He turned back to Erebus. “Do you know what they look like?” Erebus shook his head. “No. Back home in the End, no one talks about Aquaspear. A lot of endermen think it’s a curse to mention it. But there are stories, stories about horrible guards protecting Aquaspear from intruders and that even take out prisoners and then kill them to make room for others.” Gameknight thought for a minute. “Hey,” Digger suddenly spoke. “Have you guys noticed anything weird?” They all tried to look at him. “What is it?” Hunter asked. “We can talk. Usually water breathing doesn’t let you do that,” He pointed out. “Your right!” Gameknight said. “Good work Digger! I bet this place is enchanted for people to get to Aquaspear. We’re definitely in the right place.”

He kicked up towards the top of the coral wall. “On three,” He said. Erebus whimpered. “One, two, three!” He shot up over the wall, and so did the others (except for Wonder and Erebus, who stayed hidden and carefully peeked from cracks in the coral wall). The sight that met him was something he knew he would have nightmares about for the rest of his life.

The coral wall made a huge circle around a large clearing. In the very middle, a rectangular black building sat on the pale sand. It was made out of black stained glass, with heavy iron doors guarding the entrance. For at least thirty blocks in every direction there was nothing but whitish sand. No kelp, no coral, no fish, not even seaweed. But that wasn’t what truly scared him. What really scared him was the guards. They were Drowned’s, the aquatic version of zombies. They had blue sagging flesh and brown tattered clothing. Algae grew on their heads like hair and their eyes and mouth glowed bright blue as well. But these drowned’s didn’t look like normal ones. At least ten of them were swimming around, and they each had dozens of scars from head to toe. They looked strong enough to crack a stone block with their fists in one blow. They all had tridents, each glowing with enchantments. These creatures rode around on dolphins, the marine mammals huge and also marked with scars. Their eyes burned red with hatred. About seven of their cousins swam through the clearing riderless, searching for something to destroy. Even as they watched, a sea turtle floated into the clearing lazily flapping its fins. In an instant, the dolphins were upon it. The turtle flashed red over and over, a look of fear and confusion on its face. One of the Drowned’s cocked back its arm and threw its trident. The barbed projectile struck the turtle, killing it. The weapon shivered in the water for a moment, then sped back to its owner. The Drowned’s all let out guttural laughs, the deep vile sounds echoing like some kind of horrible song. The dolphins clicked in evil excitement. The aquatic monster that was guilty of the detestable deed gave an over dramatic bow. Gameknight almost threw up, the sight making him sick. Erebus moaned out loud. The Drowned’s went silent.

“What was that?” One of them growled. Gameknight almost hit the enderman. He would have, to, if he had not caught himself. The last thing they needed was more attention. The Drowned glared up at the spot where they were all clustered around the coral wall. “I heard something,” He moaned. “I’m going to go check it out.”

So they can say things like I and we, Gameknight thought. Huh. They’re not as zombie-ish as I thought. Then he realized what the Drowned had been talking about. A rising sense of panic rose up inside of him as the undead creature steadily moved closer. There was no point in trying to get away, the mob would feel the movement in the water. The plan was to wait a while before sending in Wonder, so they could double check for traps. He didn’t want her to pop up and possibly blow their cover. They were trapped and there was only one way out of this mess… fight. He curled his fingers around the hilt of his sword, but didn’t take it out. Yet.

The Drowned swam steadily towards them, a determined look on his face. Ten blocks… eight blocks… five blocks… three blocks… the beast’s glowing face was so close Gameknight could smell his fishy breath, something that also wasn’t possible in normal ocean waters. The User-that-is-not-a-user closed his eyes, ready for the claws about to tear into his flesh.

“Riptide!” The other Drowned, the one that killed the turtle, suddenly boomed. “Get back here! What you’re doing is useless, it isn’t possible for anyone to be there! The last visitor we had came here years ago! You’re dumber than a cod if you believe you’ll find anything there!” Riptide grunted and turned towards his comrade. “And why should I listen to someone of your stupidity, Angler?” He challenged. Angler gave off a wail of anger. Both got ready with their tridents. Riptide kicked back down towards the prison to brawl with the opposing monster and Gameknight finally let out his breath.

Another Drowned who Angler and Riptide addressed as Eel broke the furious two up before things got ugly. From then on, the team of NPCs were able to safely examine Aquaspear as the agitated monsters simmered. Finally, Gameknight declared it safe. Now the hard part came into play.

Gameknight counted once more down from three. “Ok…” He whispered. “NOW!” Wonder gripped Erebus’s rope harder and swam up over the coral wall. Every one of the Drowned’s went silent. The other User-that-is-not-a-user swam cooly down towards the stunned ocean inhabitants, tugging a shaking Erebus behind her. “I’d like to make a deposit,” She said satisfactorily. The monsters stared. Then one of them pushed through the crowd and glared at her. This Drowned, instead of holding a barbed trident, showed off an enchanted fishing pole. The normally harmless looking object seemed to be made of hatred and violence towards all living things. It could easily take a life. And its master was just as terrifying. He was covered in hundreds of black and red scars, a gruesome look on his face. He wore a scratched but menacing turtle shell on his head like a helmet. By his side floated a huge dolphin, the underwater mammal just as scary as the owner. Gameknight knew this was the leader. Now the beast was looking coldly at Gameknight’s friend. “I am Undertow,” The beast moaned. “The commander of the Aquaspear Guards. And NPCs are not welcome here.” Slowly, all the other Drowned’s began to laugh, malicious glee filling their faces as they pointed at Wonder. She just smiled. “I’m not your normal NPC,” She interrupted. Undertow shook his head. “We have no care for the Users-that-are-not-users either,” He growled. “In fact, it is safe to say we despise them more. Now leave, before I have my companions use you as target practice.” The other guards wailed in excitement, looking hungrily at the woman. Her smile slowly morphed, the grin turning almost manical. And something else happened as well. Her eyes began to glow, becoming a bright white. Gameknight watched in horror as Wonder became- became-

“Herobrine?” Undertow asked, astonished. “I get around,” He said smugly. “This one needs to be taught a lesson. I’m thinking the rest of eternity trapped across from his little friend.” Undertow nodded. “Understood,” He rumbled. “You may pass.” Wonder/Herobrine swam for the entrance, but apparently Erebus wasn’t going without a fight. “NO!” He screeched. “I WON’T DO IT! I’LL NEVER GO!” The virus yanked at his bonds. “Come on, you pathetic thing,” She growled. With one hand she held open the door and with the other she yanked. Eel came forward. “Need help?” He offered. She glared at him. “Yes,” She huffed. Eel shoved Erebus forward, and he sank slowly downward and got dragged along, still moaning. Herobrine turned to face Gameknight. “Come along, Gameknight999,” He mouthed. Gameknight swallowed. “Let’s go,” He whispered to Hunter and Digger. “But-“ Hunter objected. “It’s time to end this,” Gameknight murmured. So the trio snuck past the guards and into Aquaspear through the still open door. A moment later, Erebus was thrown into the dark building, the sudden presence of air causing him to hit the ground hard. Then the door slammed shut, locking them all inside. And it was just in time. Almost as soon as it happened the invisibility potion wore off and Gameknight, Hunter, Digger, and Monet became visible. Wait. “MONET!” Gameknight screamed. She was panting. “I have to tell you something,” She gasped. “YOU!” Hunter interrupted, pointing her bow at Herobrine. The Wonder imposter grinned. “That was fun!” Digger glared at her/him. “It was you the whole time, wasn’t it?” He challenged. “That’s how you got inside the village so easily! It was an inside job.” The virus looked a little confused. “What are you talking about?”

“Oh, stop trying to hide it!” Hunter nearly shouted. “This is a trap! Your monsters are probably about to ambush us!” Gameknight was still focused on his sister. “I can’t believe you went against me like that! I asked, I pleaded, I begged, and you still don’t listen. I’m so disappointed.” Monet looked stricken. “But you said to come if I saw-“

Her brother had turned away. Instead he stared at the person he had thought was his friend, the person he was sure had been his friend, and drew his sword. “We both know how this is going to end,” He growled. “But… all the guards are outside,” Herobrine pointed out. “Exactly!” Gameknight’s heart was pounding in his ears. How long had it been like that? How long had he talked and laughed and told everything to his enemy? He thought about the night of the explosion. Had that all been a lie?

The virus regarded him in confusion. “What do you mean- HEY!” Gameknight swung his diamond blade, hoping to surprise his rival. The sword went faster, whizzing through the air. Right before it found enemy flesh, Monet leapt in front of Wonder/Herobrine. “STOP!” She screamed. Gameknight had no idea he could move so fast. He spun like a top, slamming into the wall. His sister gave him a glare laser worthy. “This isn’t the real Herobrine because the REAL Herobrine is on his way RIGHT NOW. THIS is what I wanted to tell you!”

There was a moment of confused silence. Then Wonder, who had also plastered herself to the wall, dropped her arms. “Wait, you thought that I was Herobrine?” She gave a nervous laugh. “I get that you’re stressed, but how could you forget about that? I mean, it’s so, so out there.”

“Forget about what?” Gameknight snapped angrily. “What do you expect me to do? Ignore the fact that your eyes look like flashlights? And how?” Hunter nodded. “Yeah, how do you pull off a stunt like that, huh?” Wonder raised her eyebrows. “What do you mean? It was all in the note I told you to give to Harvester. Didn’t you read it? When you didn’t say anything I thought it meant you were ok with it. It was another potion from the website, a Herobrine potion. I knew they weren’t going to just let us in so I thought ahead.”

“Why did you expect me to read something you told me to give to someone else?” Gameknight questioned. Wonder crossed her arms. “Because that’s, like a total Gameknight999 move!” Digger laughed. “Yep,” The big NPC chuckled. Gameknight sighed and shook his head. “Can you get rid of the ‘Herobrine potion’?” He asked. She gave him a huge toothy grin. “Duh,” She pulled a bucket of milk from her inventory and gulped down the creamy liquid. “I thought it was a good idea,” She retorted after swallowing. Her eyes slowly faded to their normal violet color.

Ignoring his proud friend, the (original) User-that-is-not-a-user turned back towards his sister. She was still looking triumphantly up at him, salt water dripping from the ends of her blue hair. “Why did you follow us?” Gameknight asked again. “I was standing watch, like you told me,” She began. “When all of the sudden I saw somebody from over the hill. So I looked closer, when I realized the person had suddenly gotten way closer. So I looked closer, and saw it was a girl. I thought maybe there was a village nearby and they were just out hunting or something, when suddenly their eyes lit up SUPER bright. So I ran off and swam after you guys and got there right as Wonder made her eyes light up. So I followed you guys and here I am.” Gameknight felt his mouth go dry. The familiar feeling of fear started to pulse through him side by side with his frozen blood. This was exactly what he had been scared about. Not now. Please not now. Turning quickly back to the other four people in the group, he uttered, “What do we do…” The words died in his throat. Erebus was still on the floor, his purple eyes huge. He rocked back and forth, practically weeping with terror. “A-A-Aquaspear,” He stuttered. The entire group fell silent as they noticed their surroundings for the first time, the King of the Enderman’s murmuring the only sound.

The place around them was so quiet the heavy silence seemed to moan. The six intruders were in a four block wide hall, the walls around them full of cells. The black glass was replaced every one block by three block wide panels of clear glass. Next to each panel was an oak sign, the brown wood seeming out of place and too natural for this demonic place. The whole place was dimly lit from the small amount of light from the outside and sea lanterns placed in the corners. The whole place had an aura of fear and hopelessness. Something about the dark building made Gameknight want to sit down and give up, just stay there forever. Aquaspear was nothing but torture and despair. He could see why the endermen were so terrified of it. Slowly, the group all moved towards the first panel without having to communicate. What they all saw made the once brave group shudder. There was a square moat full of water inside, three blocks in each direction. In the very middle was a tiny one block island of stone. On it stood an enderman, his face sad and miserable and seemingly exhausted. When he saw Erebus, his sleepiness drew away for an instant and he gave a small start. Then he saw the enderman kings bonds and gave him a sad look, obviously assuming he, too, was to spend eternity with this punishment.

“This is awful,” Wonder whispered, the silence seeming to swallow her voice. Erebus nodded sadly. “They never die,” He murmured. “They can’t jump into the water and end their lives, all it results in is pain. They are never hungry. They are never thirsty.”

“What about… getting tired?” Digger asked, his deep voice unusually low. Erebus sighed. “That’s the worst part,” He screeched in his high way. “They do get tired. But they have to stand forever. But if they fall asleep anyway…” The enderman in the cell had slumped against the wall behind him. His eyes closed slowly, fluttering up and down, and then they were shut. The water reached up, shooting like a missile and shoving the dark lanky creature. The poor prisoner flashed red and he stumbled forward, hitting hard into the clear glass. He looked longingly out at them, as if wanting to breath free air just once more, to be free himself. The enderman screeched in anger and sorrow, the noise muffled by the glass. Erebus shook with fear. “Get these things off of me,” He moaned, struggling suddenly in his bonds. Absentmindedly, Wonder sliced through Erebus’s ropes. Gameknight moved to the sign. It gave the enderman’s name, why he was there, and who had ‘deposited’ him.

Skotadi

Helped a villager child being attacked by a zombie

Deposited by Thymos (enderman)

“All this… for helping a villager?” Gameknight exclaimed, shocked. Erebus nodded. “That’s why the guards aren’t used to NPCs coming here.” Hunter sighed, upset over the unfairly treated mob. “Come on, Gameknight.” But the User-that-is-not-a-user stayed rooted next to the sign, even as his friends (and enemy) moved away. His mind whirled, the threat of Herobrine lurking at the recesses of his thoughts. He had always thought of the endermen, the monsters, as the bad guys. Either that or dangerous allies. But here was living proof that one of those ‘bad guys’ had gone out of their way to save a life, despite the punishment. And now he was here, paying the ultimate price. “No,” He said. His friends turned back to look at him, confused expressions on their flat blocky faces. “Gameknight, let’s go,” Digger pushed. “No.” Gameknight repeated. “NO! I refuse to let this happen. I REFUSE!” He pulled out his pick and started hammering away at the glass imprisoning Skotadi. With three quick blows, the first block shattered. He continued until two more blocks were gone. “Gameknight, what are you doing?” Monet cried. Skotadi looked blown away, and then with shaking legs he stepped out of his cell. Although none of them knew it, he had been in there for over thirty years. He gasped, then gave a scream of joy that made them all cover their ears and shocked the other inhabitants of Aquaspear out of their daze. “Thank you thank you THANK YOU!!” He screeched, actually hugging Gameknight. “I’m freeee!” Hunter stared at Gameknight for a moment, then a wide grin spread across her face. “What are you waiting for?” She asked playfully. “Let’s save some endermen!”

For the next half hour, the group of now seven occupants traveled through Aquaspear, reading signs and releasing endermen and their numbers steadily grew. Nearly all the cells were emptied, although every once in a while they would come across a creature a little too evil for their liking and would quickly walk away. Erebus steadily became more and more agitated as they traveled from floor to floor, until Gameknight and Wonder were running ahead to catch him as he teleported from floor to floor. They yelled at him to slow down, but their words bounced right off him. Finally, he could hold it in no longer. “EMMA!” He screeched, peering into each cell. Gameknight and Wonder both stopped and looked at each other. “Emma?” They  exclaimed in unison. They had to follow Erebus up to the next floor, climbing up the ladder at the end of the long room. The enderman swiveled his head back and forth, and suddenly he saw a cell that made his dark purple blood run cold. What was obviously a girl enderman was standing on her island, her head down and her eyes closed but apparently not sleeping. Erebus practically threw himself onto the panel. “BREAK THE GLASS!” He screeched. The monster inside looked up sharply and her mouth fell open into an O. Gameknight smashed the blocks with his pickaxe, then had to grab Erebus as he almost fell face first into the small moat in his attempts to grab ‘Emma’. He was successful and instantly wrapped his arms around her, squeezing so hard she gasped. “Erebus?” She asked weakly, leaning against him for support. “I’m sorry it took so long, I couldn’t get back, I’m so sorry…” He apologized. Gameknight just stood there dumbly as they both started talking excitedly. “Wait,” He snapped. “Does this mean I came all this way to help Erebus, of ALL the monster kings, get his girlfriend back?”

“I guess so,” Wonder said, seemingly just as confused as he was. She pointed at Emma’s sign. “What does it say?” Gameknight walked closer and read it out loud.

Emma

TO MAKE EREBUS SUFFER!!!!

Herobrine

Gameknight groaned. “Well that makes me feel ridiculous,” He griped. WonderWriter shrugged. “At least now we have the endermen on our side,” She pointed out. “Um… I think.” Gameknight stalked off in a huff. The duo worked on freeing the rest of the endermen from their cages, soon moving up two more levels. Finally, they came to the last ladder. Gameknight climbed up the wooden rungs, but to his surprise an iron trapdoor blocked the way. He peered out the glass wall and nearly fell to the ground.

He had no idea about how high the prison was. They must have been somewhere on the twelfth level, and each floor was around four blocks high, so…

The Drowned’s below were the size of ants, their dolphins flies buzzing around. He shivered. He scanned the area for Herobrine, but saw no sign of the virus. He wasn’t here… yet. “Well?” Wonder prompted, staring up at him with a smile on her blocky face. “Are we going up or what?” He snapped back to reality. “Ah… yes. But there’s a trapdoor.” She nodded slowly. “Yes. And there’s the way to open the trapdoor.” She said sarcastically, pointing at an oak button next to his head. “I know, but what if it’s there for a reason?” He stammered. “Of course the buttons there for a reason, now move!” She grabbed him by the collar and yanked him off, then clambered up herself. “I meant the…” He began. But she had already moved on and out of sight. So he followed her, barely snatching his leg away before the trapdoor slammed shut. He stood up and his stomach sank to the bottom of his body and then fell down to somewhere near the bedrock level.

He knew why there was a trapdoor. It was a warning.

This was where they kept the bad prisoners.

They were on the highest level, he could see that. And the panels of glass on the cells looked normal enough. But what was inside them? That was not.

They both stepped towards the first panel. The beast inside glared at them with a look of hate and loathing Herobrine would be impressed with. Then the enderman looked above their heads, at the usernames and missing server threads. A look of insane rage came over his face and he threw himself against the panel, beating on the glass with his dark fists. Gameknight and Wonder both leapt backwards, the ferocity of the attack numbing them with fear. The enderman was covered with scars, one of them over his left eye. Because of this, the eyelid was permanently closed and a bright pink. Inching closer, Gameknight could read the words on the sign.

Parafron

Killed the occupants of a entire village in their sleep

The Fifteen Crafters

Gameknight gulped. “Let’s not let this one out,” He suggested feebly. “Sounds good,” Wonder gasped. Gameknight let his eyes drift downward and suddenly saw something odd. “What’s that?” He asked, pointing to the water surrounding Parafron. The liquid had an odd green color, something that definitely was not there to make the cell more inviting. Curls of green colored smoke drifted off the surface of the water. Wonder chewed on a lock of her auburn red hair. “I think it’s poison,” She said. “Feels like it,” Gameknight agreed.

Parafron had stopped clawing at his prison wall and instead stared out at them with a look of loathing. They moved on. The next three cells were also poison. At first Gameknight didn’t see the point in this, but then a monster named Serilda made the mistake of leaning against the panel for too long. The poisoned water smashed into her and she let out an agonized scream. Wonder’s face went pale. “Let her out, let her out, let her out!” She begged. Gameknight smashed as quickly as he could into the glass. Serilda stumbled out. “Go down stairs. You’ll find the rest of the freed endermen with our friends the NPCs.” He told her, his voice shaky. Serilda smiled at him, then bolted out the trapdoor. The User-that-is-not-a-user double checked to make sure he hadn’t just let out a master criminal. Nope. All safe.

Serilda

Destroyed an Ender Crystal and hit the Ender Dragon after it killed her son Yios

Nomikos (Enderman)

Wonder shuddered for what felt like the hundredth time. “I hate this place,” She hissed. Gameknight nodded sympathetically. “I guess they really like the dragon.”

The next cell was much worse. Gameknight read the sign before he saw… it.

Mohammed

The shadows

The shadows

“Huh?” He asked quizzically. He looked through the glass. The enderman inside, Mohammed, didn’t have an island. He kept himself above the water by holding onto iron bars in the ceiling and by keeping his toes right up against the glass. His arms were shaking from the obvious stress of hanging for who knows how long. Gameknight swung his pick.

Nothing happened. He tried again. Nothing happened. “It won’t work,” He said worriedly as the diamond tool hammered away to absolutely no effect. “Oh, no,” Wonder moaned. “You mean we can’t help them? I was worried about that when we came, but…” Gameknight wasn’t listening. He traced his fingers over the word shadows. A small chill went through his body, trailing up his arm and filling him with a scared feeling. He yanked from the strange letters. “Why do you think this is all it says?” He asked. Wonder looked at the sign. “I’m not sure,” She admitted after a moment. “But is it just me, or do the shadow words seem darker to you?”

“What do you mean?” Gameknight asked. “All the words are black on signs.” “Actually, there was just a fix so you can dye the words on signs,” She corrected. “But never mind. I mean, those words almost seem blacker to me.” Gameknight looked closer. Sure enough, The shadows seemed a deeper darkness than the other words. “You’re right,” He said slowly. “But it doesn’t seem like dye. How could Minecraft have done something like this?”

Wonder didn’t answer, lost in thought. “Feel this,” He told her. He grabbed her blocky hand and shoved it onto the black words. “Doesn’t it seem cold?” He asked. “Ahh… yeah. You’re right. So now can you let me go please?” He released her and she stepped back. He had more questions, but he kept them to himself. “Come on,” She chided. “We have to move on.” The next three cells were the same. Where there should have been the reason the monsters were there and who had put them there, it was just the shadows. Gameknight was becoming uneasy. There appeared to be many more cells, and Herobrine would be there any minute. “Hurry up,” He said, jiggling from foot to foot as Wonder read another sign. “Calm down,” She snapped. “There’s only a few cells left, and the way this is going it ain’t gonna take much time.”

“Well let’s go, it’s just the same words-“ He gasped, staring at the next panel. “What? What is it?” She hurried to his side. Gameknight’s stomach felt it had flipped, and he felt nauseous. There was another enderman, of course, but it was much worse off. It, too, had no island, and this time no iron bars. He stayed above the water by practically doing the splits in midair and bracing himself against both walls. His limbs were trembling, no, jerking violently from the strain. When he saw Gameknight and Wonder, he lost his focus and plunged in the water below. A cloud of steam billowed up from his sizzling flesh and he kicked and scrambled to get back up the wall. “Ohhh,” Wonder moaned, hiding her head in her hands. Gameknight tried at the glass with his pick, trying to free the monster. Nothing. Once again, it was the same thing for the next three cells.  And all the signs ever said was The shadows, The shadows.

Gameknight was about to call it quits and head back down to the rest of the group when he saw the box.

At the very end of the hallway, what appeared to be a large white concrete box took up the space that used to house the ladder. There were two cells on each side of it, an aura of hate and malice emitting from each. Somehow hanging from the ceiling in front of the area of cells was a sign. This is what it read-

The Goners

“What does that mean?” Wonder asked. Gameknight could only shrug. “I don’t know,” He said nervously. Wonder took a deep breath. “Ok,” She decided. “You take the right side, I’ll take the left.” The two split up and headed toward their separate cells. Gameknight went straight for the sign, curious about why someone thought that these endermen were in so much trouble. He stared at the piece of oak, fear creeping up his spine like a cold finger.

Athootita

Tried to save a coastal village from an attack

The Shark

The Shark.

The two words were both a deep ocean blue.

The Shark was someone mentioned in the prophecy book he had found in the Far Lands. In the letter from M and in the signs. And if the Shark put an enderman in this cell, then who was in the others? He looked into the panel. There was a shaking enderman inside, her limbs spread out against the walls. But the water was bubbling and steaming, and actually causing huge waves up and down the walls. Athootita was practically on the ceiling but the water continued to douse her. A sudden geyser shot up and hit her on the face. Gameknight turned away.

What he really needed to know was who had placed the next few endermen, the rest of the Goners, and why. Secretly, he had hoped that the entire prophecy had been fake and it had all been a hoax. But now in the Overworld, he was finding living proof. He bolted over to Wonder’s panel. “Hey, I thought we agreed-“ She said, startled, but Gameknight wasn’t listening. The enderman inside the cell did have an island, but it was made of a block of sand. The water was swampish and strange neon glowing plants grew out of the muddy bottom. Strange snake-like creatures swam lazily through the water. The enderman suddenly leapt upward as a toothy eel jumped out of the water and snapped at the lanky creature.

“Yikes,” Wonder said. “What do you think this means?” She pointed at the sign.

Titus

Tried to take over a swamp

The Snake

These words were neon green. The Snake was also in the book. He sprinted for the next panel, the one beside the Snake’s. This enderman actually had no water at all. The ground was dry and bare. But strange shadowy shapes pummeled and pulled at it, and the monster screamed in pain.

 

Leith

Was caught using a light spell

The Panther

Gameknight came to the last one. The prisoner was actually in the water, or… what could be water. It was bright red, and the enderman wailed in pain as if it was molten lava. The liquid bubbled and frothed like a pot of water on a stove. No, no, no! Gameknight thought. Please, please, please!

Adjutor

Tried to help the Four Terrors of Minecraft

The Blood Sorcerer

“Gameknight!” Wonder suddenly spun him around. “What. Is. Happening?” Her violet eyes narrowed as she saw the fear in his face. “Why are you so upset about the weird people it says on these signs? You know something!”

“I- I don’t-“ He stammered. “I expect you know who that is too, huh?” She snapped, pointing at a strangely white sign hanging right above the trapdoor in the box. This sign was different from the others. This is what it said-

Teras

The Dark One

“Punishment is not a measurement of pain, nor is it a matter of fear. True punishment is about the soul, and is only as strong as the victim, and only as bad as the wielder.”

 

There was no reason as to why the enderman, if there was an enderman inside the concrete box, had been placed there. Wonder walked forward, her blocky hand outstretched for the small hatch’s handle. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you!” Gameknight half warned, half shouted. But he was too late. She flung it open. For a split second, Wonder just stared inside, her mouth gaping. Then she screamed and slammed it closed, leaping backwards. “Don’t look in there,” She gasped, clutching his arm. “Don’t look in there! NO!”

He opened the door.

The very air seemed to buzz. Inside the box, yellow bolts of lightning zipped back and forth, striking at an imprisoned black enderman. The black shadowy creature screamed and shrieked, writhing. He saw Gameknight and reached out, clawing desperately to get free. His black arms surged for the User-that-is-not-a-user right as the trapdoor shut with a bang! “What was that?” Gameknight asked. Wonder was trembling. “Let’s go,” She whispered. He nodded. “I’m not spending one more minute in this awful place,” He ranted. “Herobrine’s almost here, and there’s at least fifty enderman we need to-“

    “Beware, Users,” Came an eerie, muffled voice. Gameknight turned, startled. “Who said that?” He called. Then he looked at Parafron, the evil prisoner of Aquaspear. The insane monster continued, and Gameknight realized that he was singing. “Beware, villagers. Beware, humans. He will return. The Dark One will once again rule the land. Flee, you creatures of the night. Cower, people of the day. He will rise, he will return. Watch for the Last Battle, it draws near. Watch for the Terrors, they create fear. Watch for the shadows, they take what you hold dear. Beware! Beware! They return swiftly, like a wolf they hunt their prey. Breath now, it might be your last day. Fall to your knees, fall and pray. The Prophecy will occur, and blood will spill. The demons of The Dark One will drink, thriving on the death and destruction. 

The Void will rise and come as a girl.

The Blood Sorcerer will come back from the dead.

The Panther will pounce.

The Shark will swim forward and have the water.

The Snake will slither forward and have the land.

The Dark One will be last. 

He will rule all.

Beware, Users! Beware, Villagers! Beware, Humans! Your end draws near.”

Parafron looked up and saw Gameknight and Wonder’s terrified faces. A horrible smile slowly covered his face, and he started to laugh. The vile sound echoed throughout the room until they had to cover their ears. Gameknight grabbed Wonder’s hand and pulled her back through the trapdoor and farther and farther downward until they could hear it no more. Slowly, a new sound met them as they descended level after level. It was the sound of dozens of voices, all of them shouting and yelling. When they reached the second level, they found chaos. There was a sea of endermen, teleporting to and fro and searching through the crowd looking for familiar black faces. Gameknight could see Erebus standing at the back of the group. The monster king suddenly brought his black fingers to his lips and let out a shrill whistle. A silence fell over the floor. “Everyone listen up!” He screeched. “We are surrounded by guards and Herobrine is coming in fast, so I’ll make this quick. There are NPCs and, to my great displeasure, two User-that-is-not-a-users in this room. We are going to follow them up a few levels, then break the glass and swim to safety. They have potions to protect us. Once we have left the general area of Aquaspear, we can teleport to safety.” He nodded at Gameknight. The User-that-is-not-a-user placed a block of dirt under his feet. He repeated this action until he was above the sea of endermen. He then emptied his inventory of the Water Resistance splash potion, drenching the monsters. “Ok, does everybody have some?” He asked. The endermen nodded. “OK, let’s go!” The party headed back up the ladders, the endermen teleporting upwards. “By the way,” Gameknight murmured to Erebus. “Why don’t you all just teleport out of here? What’s the point?” Erebus glared at him. “I already explained all that!” He hissed. “No, you didn’t!” Gameknight snapped. “You speak in riddles! You told us, like, two things about Aquaspear and then expected us to do everything else! I-“ Wonder appeared in between them. “Geez! Do you guys ever stop fighting? Erebus, just answer the stupid question.” The king of the End huffed. “Because we can’t teleport from this place, idiot,” He said sharply. “Not until we pass the big coral wall thing we hid behind earlier. As soon as that is behind us, we’re home free.” Gameknight sighed. “Alright. Well, here we go. Let’s get this over with.”

Gameknight999 stopped them all on the fifth floor. Peering out the glass wall, he nodded. They were at least twenty blocks from the ocean floor. “Let’s go ahead and jump out now,” He said. “We’re about at the wall. Digger, will you do the honors?” Digger grinned and then swung his pickaxes at the wall.

Smash!

    The glass shattered under the force of the blow. Gameknight smiled. “Couldn’t have done it better myself,” He congratulated the big NPC. Digger gave a booming laugh then broke a few more blocks so the endermen could exit easily. “OK,” Gameknight addressed the crowd. “You don’t have to worry about Water Breathing. Just move as fast as possible. Now everybody, SWIM!” He dove into the water, his friends following.

They were facing the front of the building, but the guards had noticed them yet. They were busy with something else.

“But I’m HEROBRINE!” Herobrine, still in Void’s body, screamed angrily. Undertow laughed, a cross between a moan and a gurgle. “Then who is inside right now? Another small-nosed person with glowing eyes? No. Leave now, imposter. The Guards of Aquaspear do not take kindly to liars.” Void’s eyes widened, then narrowed. “Other Herobrine… GAMEKNIGHT999!” At that moment, many things happened. The first was that Herobrine looked up. The second was that Undertow, as well, glanced upwards. The very last thing was that Gameknight looked down at his archrival and waved, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

The hateful and angry sound that came out of Herobrine’s mouth is not able to be described in mere words. But knowing him, you probably get the gist of it. The group of escapees kicked harder. “Guards!!” Undertow boomed, his voice echoing like a cannon blast. “GET THEM!” Tridents started to whiz through the air after them, the weapons returning to their masters outstretched hands. They were about halfway to the coral wall. Almost, almost…

That’s when fate decided to play a joke on them.

Out of the corner of his eye, Gameknight saw one of the endermen flash red. Yet, a trident was nowhere near it. The monster continued to flash, and then Gameknight noticed the spirals above its head. It didn’t look rich and blue like it was supposed to. They were pale and sickly looking. And they flickered, as if going to disappear at any moment. Gameknight’s heart stopped.

Uh oh.

Wonder noticed them too. “You did follow those potion instructions exactly, right?” She asked suspiciously. “Well, uh, mostly,” Gameknight said. He could feel his ears go red as Wonder stared at him with laser eyes that seemed to burn his soul. “What does ‘not exactly’ mean, exactly?” She growled. Gameknight suddenly realized he was more scared about what she was going to do to him than Herobrine. “Well, uh, we didn’t quite have enough bubble coral, so we used a couple… others.”

Wonder looked like she would explode. “What. Others?” She said, the words coming out in a whisper. “Uh, uh,” He thought. “Um, there was horn, and brain, and, um, the blue one?”

She burst. “TUBE CORAL?!?!” She yelled. “You put TUBE CORAL in WATER RESISTANCE?!” He winced. “Well, yeah! Coral is hard to get, we don’t just have it lying around…” She smacked her forehead. “Why didn’t you tell me? Now the endermen might not survive! It has to bubble coral, it’s the most important part! It’s what keeps the water from getting to them. Without it, the potion isn’t going to help much longer! We have to get them out, NOW!”

They swam faster. “Everybody, move!” Gameknight shouted. “Faster! Swim faster!” He was almost there. So close, just a few more blocks…

Pain radiated through his body. Undertow had cast his fishing rod, and the hook had pierced his leg. It was like an iron sword biting into him, only instead of hurting once, it continued to draw his HP. And, to his horror, he was slowly getting dragged downward back towards the Drowned’s. Back towards Herobrine. Gameknight kicked and struggled. “Help!” He yelled. Suddenly, the pain subsided. Hunter had swum up next to him and yanked the hook out by the string. “Thanks,” He panted. “Just get up here, before they catch us!” She snapped. The guards were getting closer, and Herobrine/Void was catching up. The crystal sword was in their (his? hers?) hand. Spinning around, Gameknight and Hunter just shoved themselves over the wall. The endermen were disappearing with small pops as they hurried to get out of the water. Sadly, Gameknight saw more than a few ender pearls bobbing up and down. Erebus suddenly grabbed both of them and Gameknight suddenly felt a strange sensation of being in two places at once.

Pop!

They suddenly reappeared back on the beach. All the surviving endermen were gathered there and their friends were dispersed throughout the crowd. Gameknight ran through the group. “Don’t just stand there!” He yelled. “They’re coming! Teleport to the village!” All the endermen looked at each other. “Uh…” One of them said. Gameknight sighed. “OK, just come and hold on,” He said. They all walked a little closer and reached out so they were touching. Gameknight waited until they were all connected, then nodded to Erebus. “Now go!”

Pop!

They were home.

The endermen spread out again. They had appeared next to the forest. Erebus teleported away, wiping his hands from where he had touched Gameknight. Taking a deep breath, Gameknight stepped in front of the crowd. “Thank you,” He began. “You are all free to return to the End. Rest. I know you need it.” A wave of relief went through the crowd as their shoulders slumped. “However,” He continued. “I fear we will need you soon. Herobrine, the girl with glowing eyes that you saw, will not stop. He will fight till he rules Minecraft and now that he is in the body of his daughter, Void, he is much more powerful than before. And he won’t stop with the villagers. He will go after the monsters next until he rules everything. Then he will try to escape into the Internet and take control over that. But for now, go home and get your lives back. All I ask is that you be ready to fight.”

The endermen looked at each other and then nodded at the User-that-is-not-a-user. They all quickly teleported away in groups. Gameknight ran through the crowd, searching for a single monster. Finally, he found her. “Hey! Wait!” He yelled as she began to teleport. She stopped and turned around. “It’s Serilda, right?” He asked. She nodded. “Um, you were next to Parafron, right?” He questioned. Serilda shuddered. “Yes,” She said fearfully. “He’s so creepy. Please tell me you didn’t let him out.” Gameknight shook his head. “No, of course not. It’s just that he, um, well he…”

“He started singing, didn’t he?” She interrupted. Gameknight nodded his boxy head. She sighed. “He does that a lot, and it’s always the same thing. We didn’t have a clock, of course, but we- the other endermen next to us, I mean- realized he did it at the exact same time everyday. And he didn’t talk at all. But he would laugh a lot. For hours, sometimes, he would just laugh and point at us.” She shuddered again. “That’s all I know about him. He was already there when I was imprisoned.” She shrugged. “I hope that was helpful. Now if you excuse me, I haven’t slept in, well, a very long time.” Serilida disappeared in a cloud of purple teleportation particles.

Gameknight turned back towards his friends. Only three endermen were left, Erebus, Emma, and one more he didn’t recognize. This enderman looked nervously around, peering uncertainly at her surroundings. Emma strode forward, Erebus trailing slowly behind. Emma stopped in front of Gameknight, having to look down at him because of her height. “First off, thank you for saving me,” She said. “Second…” She turned to stare at Erebus. He sighed and slowly shuffled forward. “Thank you for taking me to Aquaspear to get Emma back,” He mumbled, staring at his feet. “And?” Emma pressed. Erebus groaned and crossed his arms. “And thank you for getting me out of the Land of Dreams! There! Are you happy?” Gameknight grinned. “You’re welcome,” He laughed. “Lastly,” Emma said sadly. She gestured to the other enderman. “This is Fieona. She was in the cell across from me, and she said that Herobrine put her there too, because of someone else she knew. Somebody that looked like Erebus, and I was wondering if maybe you knew who?”

Fieona looked at him anxiously. Gameknight, of course, knew exactly who they were talking about. “Not again,” He moaned. Wonder laughed. Gameknight rubbed his face. “Yes, I know who you’re talking about,” He told Fieona. “Just go back to the End and he’ll be there soon, I promise… all of you.” Fieona gave a sigh of relief. “Thank you,” She said happily, then she disappeared. Emma smiled at him one last time, then did the same. “See you later, suckers!” Erebus shrieked, then he was gone. Gameknight turned towards Wonder, Monet, Digger, and Hunter. “We’ll deal with that mess later,” He said. “Let’s go home. Digger?” The stocky NPC was staring at the village.

“Look,” He said. “No watchers.” He pointed at the watchtower. Gameknight spun around. Sure enough, his friend was right. The User-that-is-not-a-user felt his mouth go dry. “Oh, no,” He said. Hunter broke into a sprint. “Come on!” She yelled. They ran towards the settlement. Crossing the bridge that spanned the moat, Gameknight banged on the gates. “Gameknight?” Monet asked, sounding fearful. Her brother didn’t answer. “Let me,” Digger said, pushing his friend aside. As soon as he was sure he wouldn’t hit anyone, he smashed the iron door with his pickaxe. Cracks appeared along its surface and then it fell to the ground. Scooping up the now shrunken item, Digger bolted through. The rest of the party followed suit. The entire place looked abandoned. No one was in the streets. No torches were lit.

Digger replaced the door. “So no one will notice we were here,” He explained. Wonder pointed at it. “You put it backwards,” She accused. “I know that!” Digger snapped, the tension making his temper flare. He raised his pick (not at her, at the door). “Wait!” Gameknight rushed forward. Placing his hand on the normally smooth surface, he ran his fingers on the newly carved grooves. Wonder’s breath came in a gasp. Hunter growled. “Zombies,” She hissed. Gameknight looked at them, fear in his eyes. “We have to get to the crafting chamber!”

They continued their sprint, this time aiming for the cobblestone watchtower. But right before Gameknight’s fingers touched the door handle, the sound of thunder filled the air. “What’s that?” Digger boomed, looking at one side of the village. Hunter drew her bow, an arrow already notched. Gameknight drew his swords.

Suddenly, a group of armed warriors on horseback leapt into sight. There were many, too many to stop. Gameknight999 braced himself.

“Gameknight!” Crafter, leading the charge, jumped off his horse and ran toward him. “It is good to see you, my friend.” “Crafter?” Gameknight asked, confused. “What’s wrong? Is everyone OK?” Crafter nodded. “Most of us.” Gameknight opened his mouth to speak, but then the air filled with majestic howls. Herder’s wolves came bounding around the corner, the lanky boy following. “What is it? Where are the monsters?” He gasped. Crafter shook his head. “Relax, Herder. No need to worry. Gameknight is back!” Herder’s eyes lit up. “Gameknight!” He yelled, running towards his idol. “Boy, am I glad to see you!”

Gameknight glared at them. “What’s happening? Where is everybody?” Crafter shared a sad look with the other warriors. “Get on,” He said, gesturing to his horse. “It isn’t safe out here.” His mind reeling, Gameknight obeyed. The rest of the returning party found room with other riders. They rode, not towards another part of the village or Gameknight’s castle, but to the mountains that lay beyond the village. They headed up the cliffs, their horses straining. The wolves kept their eyes swiveling back and forth, ears pricked. “Crafter? Where are we going?” Gameknight asked. “All will be explained,” Crafter promised. We are almost there.” They suddenly came to a cave opening. Instead of passing right by it, Crafter led them inside. They headed deeper into the passage, the stone walls a dark gray in the rapidly fading light. But as they rounded a corner, warm yellow light suddenly filled the small space. The horses whinnied.

In front of them was a smooth wall of stone. “It’s a dead end,” Gameknight said, annoyed. “Yeah, Crafter,” Wonder piped up. “We’re caught at a hard place made of rock.” Crafter ignored them. Instead, he lifted up his fist and knocked on the wall.

Duh duh. Pause. Duh. Pause. DUHDUHDUHDUHDUH.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then the sound of pistons and grinding stone filled the air. The wall split, revealing a doorway and a very nervous Rakier. The giant skeleton relaxed when he saw who it was. “Get in,” He hissed. The company rode through, and Gameknight stared shocked at his surroundings.

A massive cavern had been created from what must have used to have been a small cave. There were villagers everywhere, and they all cheered at the sight of the User-that-is-not-a-user and their crafter. “Quiet!” Rakier whisper-shouted. “The doors! The DOORS!” All of the NPCs went silent. Rakier flipped a lever. The wall once again became, well, a wall. Only then did the villagers celebrate. The group all jumped off the horses, and Crafter handed off the reins to Herder. The lanky boy ran off towards a small opening in the wall. Gameknight could hear the sound of cattle and chickens clucking. The villagers must have brought the animals.

He smiled.

“So?” Crafter asked, his words silencing the crowd. “Where’s Erebus? Did you do it?” Gameknight grinned at them all. “Let’s just say that we will have the endermen on our side.” The cheers multiplied. Gameknight crossed his arms. “Now will someone tell me what’s going on?” Crafter sighed, and the villagers quieted down into a sad silence. Or maybe it was fearful. “Soon after you left, we were attacked,” He began. “Herobrine sent wave after wave of monsters at the village. He attacked from all sides. We finally had to retreat.”

“Why didn’t you just use the minecart system?” Hunter asked. Stitcher shoved her way out of the crowd and headed towards her sister. “We tried,” She said. “But the ladder was gone. And every time we tried to get down another way, more monsters would come. So when the monsters were gone for a little while, we snuck up here. Now we’ve been waiting.”

“For what?” Gameknight asked, bewildered. They all laughed. “For you,” Crafter said. His eyes were bright as he looked at his friend. “Who else?”

 

A few days earlier

 

Herobrine looked loathingly at the village from a tall hill. “Sir, the User-that-is-not-a-user left a few minutes ago,” Said his skeleton general Izena, who had just appeared from a scout group Herobrine had sent to spy on the village. Herobrine sighed. Izena was large, but the shadow-crafter would have much preferred the first one that his daughter had employed, Rakier. He would have been a much needed addition to the monster army waiting in the woods behind them. But Herobrine didn’t voice any of these thoughts. Instead, he asked, “Who was with him?”

“One of the red headed NPCs he is always with,” Izena informed him. “Which one?” “The older one. He also brought a very large NPC.” “The digger,” Herobrine mused. “Anyone else?” Izena nodded. “Yes. There were two small-nosed people with him, a girl and a young woman. One of them had painted armor, and the other had violet eyes. Erebus, the red enderman that used to be the king, was also there.”

“I know who Erebus is!” Herobrine snapped. “And I knew they were going to take him. The two other users must be his sister and the new one, WonderWriter something. No sign of the boy-crafter, the tall child with the long hair, or the small archer girl?” Izena shook his head. Herobrine’s other general, Ha-Sun, growled and drew his golden sword. “It is time to attack!” He roared. “Ha-Sun wants to kill villagers, NOW!”

“Not yet, you idiot!” Herobrine snapped. “We must make sure it’s the right time. When it is, we will be told!”

At that very moment, another skeleton named Hadlin came shooting over the top of the hill. “We’re ready,” He said firmly, adjusting his helmet. “Now that the sun is starting to set, the villagers are going into their homes. They won’t be expecting us so soon.” Herobrine smiled, but it was the evil kind. “Excellent.” He turned to stare at the peaceful community below. Sure enough, smoke was starting to rise from its chimneys. “Good work, Hadlin.” The bony monster beamed. “Thank you, ma’am.”

Herobrine whirled around. “What did you just say?” Hadlin froze. “I, uh, I didn’t mean-“ Herobrine drew his sword. Hadlin quickly stepped back, his eye sockets trained on the crystal blade. His Maker stared at him with evil intent. The skeleton continued to walk backwards as Herobrine advanced, until he was against a steep edge of the hill. “I think you need to be taught a very, very harsh lesson,” Herobrine growled. Hadlin whimpered and tried to retreat, not realizing that there was nowhere to go. He wobbled, pinwheeling his arms, but it was too late. He toppled backwards and hit the ground three blocks below.

Herobrine felt a strange rush flow through him. “Oh my gosh! Are you OK?” He yelled, teleporting down and grabbing Hadlin. All three monsters stared at him, open mouthed. Herobrine felt his sanity return. He threw Hadlin roughly to the ground, trying to hide his embarrassment. “I hope you learned your lesson, skeleton,” He said. “Ha-Sun, Izena, I want a quarter of the army on every side of the village. We attack now! Do not test my patience.”

The generals were still wary enough to be afraid, and they quickly got to work. Hadlin sprinted for the forest, lucky to be alive. Herobrine sighed and rubbed his temples. He could feel another headache coming on.

The Maker momentarily closed his eyes, then appeared on the mountain overlooking his enemy’s castle. The eyes were on him again. He scanned for whoever it was, but they remained out of sight. Honestly, he was too tired to search any harder. He had learned to live with it.

Herobrine/Void sat down wearily. He was too tired to do pretty much anything. He had barely slept at all the night before. This time, it had been a dream. Not something he had much experience with. He had been… he had no idea where he had been. It was a type of white space, but honestly he hadn’t been paying much attention to that. There was a woman in front of him. She had beckoned to him, but he hadn’t moved. The woman continued to try to coax him after her, but he refused. She became more and more frustrated, yet still she said nothing. Her light green eyes narrowed and she suddenly spun around, her blond hair flying. She pointed upwards to something above them, and Herobrine tilted his head to see. An oak button was floating in the air. Herobrine was about to say something when everything swam and a frustrated sound cut through everything like a knife. He woke up with a start and the mysterious figure was NEXT TO HIM. And as soon as he looked, it was gone.

So now he was exhausted, because he hadn’t gone back to sleep. He had stayed awake the whole night on the lookout. Now he glared at everything around him, just so whoever it was knew he was watching. “Button,” He said. “What the heck was with the button?”

Chills went down his spine. He could feel the concentration behind the eyes suddenly build. Whoever it was was agitated.

He smiled.

“Button,” He said. “Oak button.” The person was becoming angry. He could feel it. It made him happy, an evil kind. “Button. Button, button, bu-“ A searing pain flashed through his mind and he saw spots. He collapsed to the ground and- and-

The trees whirled by. He hated those trees. Finally, he came to it. He raised his hand, ready to push-

The wind whistled as he swung the sword, and the ground cleaved in half-

Flames licked at walls. The howling gusts of wind seemed to swallow them up. “Help! Please, NO! Noo-

Don’t make me-

Now Bryce-

Weapon! Terrible, terrible weapon! Terrible! TERROR-

 

He gasped for breath, his mind cleaved in two. The pain quickly dulled and then it disappeared. Herobrine opened his eyes. His location had changed. He was now at the foot of the mountain, in an area of grass and flowers. A cow and pig wandered nearby, the duo both either grazing or napping in the setting sun, which was much lower in the sky. Everything was calm. No secret, hidden eyes watched him. No monsters stared at their Maker in disbelief, no villagers ran screaming or tried to attack. Everything was calm. Then it hit him.

Void had no idea what her father had just been through. She wasn’t sure what had been happening. All she knew was that something had been wrong and that suddenly her father had lost concentration. He had let his guard down, and she seized the opportunity.

The white of their eyes flickered, then a brilliant magenta replaced it. Sky froze, feeling power and control flow back to her limbs. At first, she didn’t know what to do. Should she run and try to warn the villagers about her fathers plans (she knew about that) or should she go try and stop the monsters herself? She made up her mind. She had to get to the villagers, and fast. But she didn’t dare teleport- her father was trying to battle his way back inside and she couldn’t lose her concentration. So she gulped down a potion of invisibility so she wouldn’t be mistaken for Herobrine and sprinted for the village a little ways off. She got to the wall and ran for the gates. But she was starting to run out of breath and her strength was waning. It was a lot of pressure on her body to suddenly have so much to do on her own, and she could feel her dad starting to return. She was just about to get onto the bridge when she lost control. Herobrine returned with full force, and they instantly appeared back on the hill. He grabbed a bucket and teleported to a cow. Quickly milking it, he drank and the potion wore off. He grabbed his sword and sliced at the cow. It disappeared with one last sad moo as the crystal weapon rendered its HP from its body in an instant. Once again on the hill, he watched as the villagers first ran to their positions. The monsters were already hammering on their doors- he had instructed them to arrive without a sound. The pathetic NPCs had no idea that they were surrounded. Herobrine laughed, then drew something he liked almost as much as the magical sword. It was Sky’s bow, a beautiful weapon made of fine almost invisible string and pure grainless quartz. He grabbed an arrow made of quartz and gold and notched it. Even though the villager he was aiming at was just a tiny figure to him, he knew that he could hit it even though he had also never been much of an archer. Sure enough, it flew through the air and hit the poor NPC. They flashed red as half their HP was taken from them. Herobrine shot another arrow and they disappeared with a pop, a confused and fearful look on their face. Herobrine cackled madly. “First kill of the night,” He chuckled. “And there’s a lot more coming.” He tilted his head towards the heavens. “I’M COMING, AND THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO TO STOP ME!” He screamed, and the cries of pain and sadness echoed from the doomed community below.

 

Hi everyone! Sorry this took so long. It is FINALLY SUMMER and I plan on writing much more. I feel so bad for always having to apologize for this! I have been writing this chapter since Spring Break and even though it took a while (because it is actually very long) I know it is good and you will enjoy it. Thank you for all the support I have still gotten even though my chapters have been so sporadic! Please comment below and thank you!

 

Chapter 9 of The Virus Returns

Missing Friends

 

“So tell me again,” Hunter said sarcastically as she squeezed around a turn. “Why are we in these stinking tunnels in a mountain?” Gameknight groaned and turned towards her. “Because, this is helpful. Knowledge is power, and right now we know nothing about these caves. We might find ores, or something else just as valuable. Besides, at least this way we aren’t just sitting around in a giant cavern we share with animals!”

“Hey!” Herder snapped from behind. “Sorry,” Gameknight said. “Nobody’s making you come, Hunter,” Stitcher chided. Hunter scoffed. “And miss all the fun?” Gameknight laughed. “None of you guys had to come,” He teased. “But apparently I’m not responsible enough to be alone.”

“Yeah, well, we’re quite the entourage,” Wonder huffed from ahead as she ducked under a lip of overhanging stone. The caves they had begun to live in two days before had been only partially explored, and after what seemed like endless hours of battle planing, tending to a depressing amount of wounded villagers, and basically sitting on a cot and twiddling his thumbs, the User-that-is-not-a-user was more than ready for a break. Large amounts of monsters still patrolled the abandoned village, and everyone was becoming increasingly worried as their enemies started to climb farther and farther up the mountainside. Gameknight had never been so grateful for the tall stone sentinels that had stood guard over their home. Still, when he had mentioned a walk, all of his friends (and Monet) had practically crashed right through the stone wall.

So far the subterranean passages had been boring. The only ‘ores’ they had seen was a small patch of iron a ways back, the gray metal having been quickly mined for new armor and weapons. And the only life they had encountered in the underground was the squeaking of bats and far off sounds of monsters. Hunter and Stitcher had quickly taken care of the small flying mammals, and they steered clear of the mobs. The last thing they needed was for word of their position to reach Herobrine. The tunnels were tiny and changed direction almost constantly, never wanting to stay in a straight line.

Gameknight suddenly came to a tiny open space a few blocks wide. “What’s the hold up?” Monet yelled. “Shush!” Digger hissed. Gameknight looked quizzically at Wonder, who was staring at him with her arms crossed. “You’re about to light your shirt on fire,” He pointed out, looking warily at the torch. She quickly moved it away. “My arm is getting tired,” She sighed. “Can you lead for a little while?” Gameknight groaned and grabbed the flaming stick. “Come on, everyone,” He called to the group. “Let’s go a little farther. I think we’re all getting kinda tired.” Hunter snorted. “You got that- ow! Stitcher!”

Gameknight turned the corner. Then he did it again. And again. And again and again. The User-that-is-not-a-user was about to call it quits, when in the torchlight something looked back at him. Lurching backwards, he slammed into the wall. Wonder clamped her hand over his mouth right as the scream came gushing out of his throat. “What? What is it?” Digger yelled from behind. “Something’s over there,” He said quietly. Wonder looked at him with worry in her eyes. “Is it a spider?” She asked. Gameknight shook his head. “No, the light isn’t red. And there’s no clicking. Whatever it is, I don’t think that it’s alive.” Hunter chuckled nervously. “Relax, everyone. Gameknight just got scared because of a little reflection. It’s probably just some gold or something.” Gameknight shook his head. “This is no ore,” He said solemnly. “Well?” Crafter said, stepping closer. “Are we going to see what it is?” Gameknight took a deep breath. “OK, let’s go,” He said. Inching along the wall, he peeked around the corner. Holding up the torch, he could see the glimmer again. It sparkled on a small rock ledge.

Gameknights eyes slowly adjusted, and he was able to make out the shape a little better. It was a girl, crumpled over and looking half dead. Wonder gave a little shriek as she, too, realized what it was. The sound bounced off the walls around them, and the far off zombie sounds suddenly sounded louder. “Sorry,” She squeaked.

Hunters’ usually brave voice wavered. “Is it a villager?” She asked. Gameknight stepped back, drawing his diamond sword. “It’s Void,” He said. The glimmer had come from her sequined dress, which lay flat against her.  “As in, Herobrine?” Stitcher peeped. Gameknight felt his throat tighten. “We have to go. It isn’t safe here anymore. We need to get everybody and escape. We’ll go over the mountains, find another village.” For the first time, as she lay unconscious, he realized how young Void was. Maybe only Herder’s age. With her sword in her hand and her eyes glowing bright, she had always seemed much older.

He started to run back into the tunnel. And right as he turned, Void’s eyes suddenly flared to life. To his great relief, they swirled with color. But she looked terrified to find them all staring at her. “What are you doing here?” She whispered. She looked too weak to sit up, let alone try to get away. Her XP was almost gone. Gameknight felt it safe to come a little closer. “What happened?” She ignored him and tried to back away. “We aren’t going to hurt you,” Wonder told her softly. “That’s not what I’m worried about,” Void shivered. “I’m a monster.”

“Calm down,” Crafter said. “Herobrine has left you. You’re safe now.” She shook her head. “He’s never gone,” She said weakly. “He- he does this. Hits me over and over again so I can’t get away, and then retreats out of my mind to rest. Then when he comes back, he has enough energy to grab a golden apple and eat it. It’s a flawless way to make sure I stay put.”

Gameknight stepped back, scared. He had no idea what to do. He felt horrible for the girl and terrified of Herobrine. Thankfully, Void made the decision for him. Her eyes widened, and the colors almost seemed paler. “He’s coming!” She hissed. “Hide!”

The group didn’t have to be told twice. They all fanned out and ducked behind blocks of stone. It wasn’t very hard to escape from sight, because the small cave they were in was full of crevasses and overhanging lips of stone. Gameknight felt his blood run cold and he gripped his swords. Peeking out from the stalagmite he was behind, he saw Void suddenly sit straight up. Once more she radiated evil power. Her eyes were a pale white that lit the cave with an eerie glow. Herobrine withdrew something from her inventory. It was a golden apple, just like Void had said. He ate it, and multicolored spirals floated above him. The virus smiled evilly as his HP increased. “Anything interesting happen?” He said to nobody. Suddenly, his white eyes started swirling with color. “Nothing but an empty cave,” Void lied. Gameknight realized they were talking. Somehow, the thought made him sick.

Herobrine still looked suspicious. “Let’s check, shall we?” “No!” Void yelled. “I mean…” She suddenly stopped talking, and her eyes rolled back in her head. Herobrine was searching her memories. He suddenly laughed and looked around the cave. “Well, that’s interesting,” Void’s body purred. He knows we’re here. 

Herobrine walked slowly around the cave, glancing lazily around. Suddenly, he raised his hand and all the rock hiding them from view shattered. Shards of stone flew and they all froze, now completely visible and vulnerable. Herobrine laughed. “This is a fun surprise,” He cackled. His eyes lit the small cave as his rivals quickly drew their weapons and backed towards each other. “Actually, I was hoping to see you all soon. I have come to a conclusion.” They all looked at each other with confusion. Gameknight999, always the brave one, spoke up first. “What does that mean, exactly?”

Herobrine grinned at him, like a shark that smelled blood. “I have become tired of this body,” He said. “Which is why I have decided to leave. Watch.” Herobrine suddenly disappeared. “Quick! Everyone get out, before he comes-“ Gameknight was cut off. Herobrine had returned, and in his arms was a squirming enderman. Before it could teleport away, Herobrine had drawn the crystal sword and hit the monster twice. It crumpled to the floor, too weak to stand. Herobrine raised his sword again, then quickly brought it down on his arm. He flashed red, and a look of concentration came over his face. Red ooze came from the wound, but something else emerged. Something green and flashing. Herobrine held it up. “This is one orb of my XP,” He said proudly. “Or to be exact, one orb of Void’s XP that I have sent almost all of my code into. It will be enough to infect this enderman, and then once again I will be fully part of Minecraft and will be able to move freely throughout these servers. And you unfortunates will be the first to witness my rising to power. He held the XP above the enderman. Gameknight felt a sudden surge of anger. No! I will NOT let this monster return! I refuse! The User-that-is-not-a-user charged forward, his swords already in motion. Herobrine had let go of the XP, and even though he knew it was actually falling very quickly, everything was in slow motion. Gameknight lunged, and his swords and the single orb of XP reached the enderman at the same time. The XP infected the body right as it flashed red for the last time and disappeared with a pop. As the contact happened, Void screamed in agony. A large burst of energy exploded with a BOOM!!!! And Gameknight999 was thrown into the air, flashing red. He plowed into his friends and Digger barely caught him. The User-that-is-not-a-user jumped right back up, ignoring the pain in his limbs from the blast. “Did it work?” He asked desperately. There was a crater in the ground, and Void had been thrown aside like a rag doll. She hit the wall with a loud crack and fell to the ground.

The group looked breathlessly at the hole in the stone. Tendrils of smoke rose and clung to the rocky ceiling. A figure suddenly stood up from within the crater. Gameknight felt his stomach sink like a stone down deep within himself. The figure continued to emerge, but it was not tall like an enderman. A white glow suddenly cut through the haze, and Herobrine grinned at them. He was a tall man with jet black hair, a small nose, and a black smock with a gray stripe down the middle. Herobrine was back in his old body!

The virus reached into his inventory and removed his old diamond sword from its scabbard. He laughed, and the cold sound vibrated through the very walls. “Thank you, Gameknight999,” He said. “This worked out much better than I imagined. By destroying the enderman body, my XP took the shape and formed it into something much more suitable.” He walked confidently towards them, lazily spinning his sword with a deadly grace. “Now I can destroy you as myself, which makes the whole process much more exciting.” He suddenly paused, his smirk growing as an idea formed within his hateful mind. “I wonder…” He thought out loud. “I wonder if I could do that little trick again? Is it possible to be in two different bodies at once?” He looked at the five villagers with something that could be described as hunger. “Who to start with?” Gameknight realized what he was implying. “You will not touch these villagers,” He snapped, raising his two swords. “Tsk, tsk,” Herobrine chided. “Really, Gameknight, didn’t anyone teach you how to share?” He eyed Hunter, Digger, and Stitcher, who were grouped together and were tensing as he drew closer. “Enie, Minie… Monet.” At the last second, Herobrine disappeared and reappeared next to Monet, who was standing by the edge of the group. Gameknight swiveled around, terror painted on his blocky face. Herobrine seized his sister’s arm. She screamed and kicked, struggling to free herself. “NO!” Gameknight bellowed, and he sprinted forward. Pop! Herobrine was gone, but Monet was still standing in the exact same place.

“Lower your weapons, or I kill him,” A voice said from behind. Gameknight turned around slowly. Herobrine had grabbed Crafter by the back of his smock and was holding his sword against his neck. The boy was eerily calm, his blue eyes staring straight ahead. They were standing on a small slightly raised space at the back of the cave, forming a natural platform. Hunter pulled back an arrow, her bow creaking under the strain. Herobrine pressed the blade farther against Crafter’s throat and a small stream of blood trickled downward. “What. Did. I. Say.” Herobrine hissed. “Hunter, put away your bow,” Gameknight told her. She growled, but obeyed. “Now,” Herobrine addressed the group. Any fake playfulness was gone and replaced with a cold, angry tone. “I am going to give some of my XP to your crafter here. If your friend is lucky, he will survive.” Crafter closed his eyes, obviously terrified. “All of you will stay back. He has a better chance with me than my sword.” He paused. Everyone was silent. “Now, I’ve never done this before,” He said. “One orb might not be enough, although it will change him. It could change his personality. Or, the override of his code might be too much for him. His brain might explode. I have infected a villager with one orb of XP before,” He glared venomously at Herder, “but never when I was already in a body. I have no idea what will happen.” He removed the sword from Crafter just long enough to cut himself again, revealing an angry red welt on the NPCs throat. Herobrine held up another orb of XP. Wordlessly, but with a look of complete satisfaction and happiness that comes when someone knows they have won, he dropped it onto Crafter.

For one completely silent moment, nothing happened. Crafter looked exactly the same, besides a look of confusion. His brain didn’t explode. His personality didn’t change to one of an arrogant jerk. He was the same.

Then he screamed, clutching his head. Crafter collapsed, writhing on the ground. “Crafter!” Gameknight yelled. He bolted up onto the platform, ignoring Herobrine. “Crafter, can you hear me?” Crafter continued to scream and take deep breaths as if trying to not throw up. Gameknight glared up at Herobrine. “What did you do to him?!” Herobrine shrugged helplessly. “Like I know!” Gameknight growled and turned back to his friend. “Crafter!” He yelled again, shaking his friend by the shoulders. “His brain is melting,” Herobrine chimed in helpfully. His voice sounded downright cheerful. “I’m way too powerful for a little NPC like him to handle. It’s a shame, really.”

Something within Gameknight snapped. “For once in your pathetic life, would you please just shut up?” He shouted. Herobrine froze, staring at him in shocked silence. Wonder, still standing with the others, had a strong desire to clap but decided against it. Crafter screamed again, his eyes screwed shut and his hands over his head. Then he went eerily quiet. Gameknight, trying desperately to wake his friend up, failed to notice that a strange expression had come over Herobrine’s face. Crafter sat up, breathing heavily and his eyes still closed. “Crafter?” Gameknight whimpered. Crafter’s eyes suddenly burst open, and blazing white light filled the cave. Gameknight leapt back. Crafter, now infected by Herobrine, stood upright. “Woah,” He breathed in a voice that definitely did not seem like Crafter’s. “It’s like I have two brains!” Gameknight stumbled backwards in shock. It couldn’t be. It wasn’t possible.

I mean, it was Crafter. Gameknight felt sick. The two Herobrine’s looked at each other, able to speak to each other with their minds. Gameknight thought they were going to attack. How was he supposed to fight his friend, his best friend?

But the Herobrine’s just smiled. “We’ll be back soon,” The first one cackled. “Very soon,” Crafter/Herobrine added. They both laughed and then disappeared at the exact same moment. Without the light from their eyes, the cave was plunged into darkness.

Herobrine had left, leaving his daughter behind but taking something much more precious. And without Crafter by his side, for the first time since he came to Minecraft Gameknight999 felt completely alone.

 

End of Book Three

 

Hey everyone! Wonder here. Hope you enjoyed the last chapter of The Virus Returns! I will be posting all of the three books so some people can catch up.

Oh

My

Gosh

It feels SO good to write this. I have been writing this book since November. Also, I have been planning this chapter for over a year. Yes, I do that. Still, for the past two weeks I have been trying really hard to motivate myself about this chapter. Very hard to write. But today I broke out the wireless keyboard, which always helps (Even if it constantly glitches and messes up the non-letter keys, so I have to hit the @ key to get quotation marks). Anyway, it was very fun to write. Look out for the first chapter of Book Four- The Infection!

Comment you soon!🤩

WonderWriter2000

 

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