Chapter 7: Trial and Error

Farmer woke to Baker’s ear-shattering snoring. He sounded like a pig who’d gotten mud in his nose. Stretching, Farmer entered the living room. Usually, there was the bustling of her fellow villagers, but today it was eerily quiet. Too quiet. It was mostly still dark outside, a dull gray. Farmer snatched a fresh cookie from the kitchen and strode out the door. It WAS gray outside. There was a film of smoky haze. She smelled something burning. She turned around and gasped as monstrous flames licked at a house in the distance and lapped up a wheat field.
“Help! Is anybody there?!?” She yelped. “The village is on fire! Help, help, HELP!”
The village seemed abandoned because no one replied. The only person not petrified like a stone in fear was her. Except for Baker, the pig, of course, who was still fast asleep. Farmer walked over to the nearest house and looked inside. Phew! There were still people there sleeping! She ran back to her house,  and quickly covered the area around Baker and her father with cobblestone so they wouldn’t get burnt. She had to get to the bells. The bell tower was at the center of the village. It was an ominous towering building and Farmer had never liked it. Now, she ran to it with hope and panic. Loudly, she crashed into the iron door and yanked on the knob. It didn’t budge. It was locked!
“NO!!!!” Farmer wailed. “What kind of noob didn’t add a lever!” This can’t be happening! Suddenly, she remembered. My precious diamond hoe! Oh, I’m so sorry. Tenderly, she removed it and stepped back a few paces, and charged. The following sound was terrible. A kind of cross between shattering and cracking. Farmer looked. There was a giant hole in the iron door. However, her hoe was bent sideways. Such is sacrifice. Being small enough to fit through, Farmer squeezed inside. Here it was darker than outside. A chilly draft sliced down her back and she shivered. A row of stairs curved around the walls leading up to the huge bell. She sprinted to the top but something was blocking her.
“I don’t think so, Farmer,” A familiar voice said. “I’m back.” PRINCEGAMER9067 smiled, blocking her from the bell every which way she went.
She was glad the brewing teacher had let her keep the leaping potion that she had brewed surprisingly well. She turned around so the user couldn’t see, chugged the potion of leaping, and jumped right over PRINCEGAMER9067. She wacked the bell with the shards of her diamond hoe as hard as she could, and right as people started coming out, she was whacked on the head.
“You shouldn’t have come here. That was your mistake.” He hissed as everything went black.
After Farmer lost consciousness, PRINCEGAMER9067 yelled “HEROBRINE IS BACK!” the crowd watching the scene before teleporting with Farmer in his arms.

Chapter 8: The Kidnapping

Farmer moaned as she woke up in a damp cell.
“Where am I?” She called, surprised when her voice was muffled. Suddenly her gag was gripped out, a torch sputtered on a wall next to her, and a  face emerged from it. It was the face of a user. Farmer glanced above his head and saw his Gamertag.
“Hello, HOWTOHATEVEGGIES101.” Farmer snarled as the user laughed in her face. “So you and PRINCEGAMER9067 are in the league, yeh?”
“You puny, dimwitted villager.” HOWTOHATEVEGGIES101 chuckled sadly. “That showoff thinks he’s my master but he’s as powerful as a chicken without Herobrine. You can call me VEGGIEHATER, though.”
“Wait, wait, wait . . . let me get this straight. Herobrine is alive?!?” Farmer said in shock.
“Isn’t that what I just said?” He helped Farmer to her feet, tied her up, set her on a mule, and rode the mule along. They emerged from the underground cell and started walking (In farmer’s case, riding) towards the desert.
“But, that–”
“I know. Doesn’t make any sense. You’re right.” VEGGIEHATER seemed to be speeding up his pace while also dragging Farmer’s mule along by a lead. Farmer seemed to recover just enough to realize that the user had tied her up.
“Let. Me. Out. Of. These. Ropes!” Farmer struggled, straining to breathe for the lack of energy used to break free.
“I don’t think so. Not yet, anyway. I need to make sure you won’t run off.” “Where are you taking me?” Farmer said.
“To my base.” The user said. “Far, far away. It’s going to be a long ride.”
. . .
Quite a while later they arrived at the user’s base. It was a huge tower surrounded by walls. VEGGIEHATER pulled her inside and grabbed her roughly off the mule. They suddenly both heard footsteps. The user pushed her into a room and shut the door, her bindings making her trip and fall to the floor. Farmer inched as close to the door as possible while having her hands and feet tied up. She listened closely.
“Herobrine! I didn’t expect you to be home so soon!” VEGGIEHATER said, holding one arm behind his back.
“I know what you are hiding behind that door,” Herobrine said. Farmer heard a sound similar to an enderman before teleporting and suddenly Herobrine was standing before her.
“Ah, it’s you, Farmer.” Herobrine stooped down and stared at her with his blank, white, lifeless eyes. “You look quite similar to your mother. She was nearby trying to protect those kids  when I placed that creeper egg down, that blew up her, as I recall.”
Farmer looked down in sadness. PRINCEGAMER9067 walked in and stood by VEGGIEHATER.
“Well, well, well.” PRINCEGAMER9067 sneered. “If it isn’t that idiotic poor farmer who couldn’t climb the stairs to ring the bell. Remember me? I’ve been surveying the village for you. It’s voiceless and charred!”
“You can’t do this!” Farmer howled. “You WILL pay li–”
“Like Kaleb. He was the one who started the fire, him and his sister, Sophia. They snuck in at night towing a Blaze they took from the Nether and ordered it to set fire to your pathetic “Emerald Village.”
“Kaleb and Sophia would never do that!” Farmer countered, raising her voice. “They wouldn’t!” But Sophia DID lock us out of the Nether. And they WERE both acting weird when we first met them. Could they be on Herobrine’s side, though?
As if to answer her question, Herobrine spoke up. “Farmer, of course, they did that. After all, they’re my children.”
“No.” Farmer gasped, collapsing to the ground in defeat. “Never.” She sobbed. “It couldn’t be . . .”
“But it is, villager. I sent them to the Nether to learn how to control and command the mobs there. I created the Nether and its monsters. I’m their master. I can control them. Your friends are monsters and work alongside monsters and now they’ve shown you their true identity.”
“Ttthen why did they help Digger and me by destroying PRINCEGAMER9067?” Farmer sputtered, clinging to her last hope. “Why would they risk their lives for a bunch of ‘puny, dimwitted villagers!?!’’ She prodded, flashing an angry look at VEGGIEHATER.
If Herobrine was shocked, his expression didn’t show it. “Oh, that. That was a sort of test that I gave them, just to make sure that they are strong enough to beat users. They were simply being tested by me.”
“If they were bad, then why didn’t they attack us?”
“Because they were hurrying to bring you to a sanctuary away from Ghasts and Skeletons and those other monsters.”
“Then why did they offer us to stay at their house for th–”
“GET HER OUT OF MY SIGHT!!!!!!” Herobrine roared, picking Farmer up by her shirt and slamming her to the ground. PRINCEGAMER9067 lifted her and carried her towards a cell made of obsidian. “Next time I see you you’ll be in a grave!” Herobrine yelled after her before Farmer was tossed into the cell.
. . .
Kaleb ran as fast as he could, dodging stones and leaping streams. He’d been hunting a herd of cows for breakfast until he saw the smoke. Oh, no! Never in his life had he ran so hard and received such an intense side ache. By the time he reached the village, it was too late. No one was there. He looked toward the bell tower and saw PRINCEGAMER9067 holding an unconscious Farmer and yelling something to all the villagers before disappearing with Farmer. “No!” he cried. There was nothing at all, only singed grass and steaming ruins. And fireballs. Unseen enemies fired them at him from the wreckage. Thankfully, Kaleb had crafted a shield which was his sole protection since his diamond armor was practically useless. He armed his crossbow, which he had taken from a Pillager, with arrows of weakness. As soon as he started fighting back, he knew he needed cover fast. Farmer’s windmill! Hopefully, it was still standing. Kaleb sprinted across the village, or what was left of it anyway, to the crop fields. The only plants that had survived were the potatoes because they were buried. Kaleb had limited arrows of weakness and rarely some potatoes were poisonous. With them, he could make arrows of poison!
After a few minutes of pulling people out of their houses and taking them towards the well, he saw a lot of dispensers shooting out fireballs. After everyone was by the well where they could jump in the water if they needed to, he charged these dispensers and emptied them of their Fireballs. He and everyone else gathered the wounded. As he was running through the village, he saw Digger crying on the ground and watching a pile of books and other stuff floating around. Kaleb gingerly approached Digger.
“Digger?” He asked. “Was this person your family member?”
“M-m-m-my cousin.” He stuttered, mourning. “Booky had only j-j-just entered school. She was SO excited. My l-l-l-little bookworm cousin. That’s all she w-w-wanted in life. And now look!”
“I’m so sorry. Whoever did this will pay. We will avenge her death!” Kaleb shouted, raising his sword.
Digger just nodded and crossed the bridge over the river, wiping heavy tears from his cheeks that fell off the bridge and united with the river.
Poor guy. He deserves more than this. Kaleb thought. He deserves to live in peace, not with what he has gotten so far. The gathered villagers hiked for miles until they arrived at the mesa biome. It was a hot, barren land. Only a few shrubs grew here.
But it was safe. Once upon a time, there had lived an old prospector. He was intent on finding gold and set up a shack far off from society. The elderly coot was known for his traps and mule, Old Boy. The man’s name was Fillis. Mr. Nuts of Fortune Mesa as everyone nicknamed him, for he was the madman of the badlands. Little did Kaleb know he was still living.
“Ok, guys,” Kaleb announced. “We will set up camp here tonight. Without walls, we will all be vulnerable to mob attacks. So, archers and weaponsmiths will protect you. Now, I want the shepherds and masons to search for a riverbed and pasture land, which needs to be near water and will most likely be found on the high places. We must be prepared to stay in the mesa for a while if necessary.”
“And what are you going to do?” Someone asked.
“Me, I’m going to confront Herobrine.”

Chapter 9: Is It You?
Luke couldn’t stand it. His home had burned to a crisp overnight. His brother was going to be facing Herobrine alone. And what was worse of all, he was lonely. All he had was cod-stinking Fisher because everyone else was gathering resources such as food, water, and other stuff like that.
“How’s Kaleb today? Shaking from head to foot again?” Fisher taunted as they walked the camp. “Too afraid to face the ‘big bad virus?’
“Shut up, jerky!” Luke replied, scowling at the smirking bully.
“And what are you going to do? Eat me! Get it? Jerky?!? Fisher roared with laughter.
They were walking around the camp, which consisted of wool tents and dug-outs or lean-to’s where most of the valuable items from Emerald Village had been saved.
Soon everyone else arrived bearing supplies and greetings. Luke wished he would have gone with them too, but his foot had hurt way too bad. As he was going to bed that night, he noticed a light outside his little makeshift tent. He squinted, limping towards the light in the distance.
After a few minutes, he had gotten closer to the light and saw that it was two figures huddled together with torches in their hands. He squinted and got closer. When he saw them, he caught his breath, suddenly feeling light-headed. He ran towards the figures. Barely believing his eyes, he whispered “Nathan? Harlee? Is it you?” “Hello, son.” They both said. Luke collapsed in the dirt.

BOOM. CLIFF HANGER? NAILED IT!!!!