THE COMPLETE ELEMENTIA CHRONICLES
Sean Fay Wolfe

This e-book collection first published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Children’s Books in 2016

HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd. 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

The Elementia Chronicles (1) - Quest for Justice text © Sean Fay Wolfe 2015

The Elementia Chronicles (2) - Tne New Order text © Sean Fay Wolfe 2015

The Elementia Chronicles (3) - Book Three Part 1: Dusk of Hope text © Sean Fay Wolfe 2016

The Elementia Chronicles (4) - Book Three Part 2: Herobrine’s Message text © Sean Fay Wolfe 2016

Cover art © 2015, 2016 by Max Gonzalez

Design by Victor Joseph Ochoa

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins ebooks

HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication

The Elementia Chronicles (1) Quest for Justice: 9780008152871 The Elementia Chronicles (2) - The New Order: 9780008152840 The Elementia Chronicles (3) - Book Three Part 1: The Dusk of Hope: 9780008152819 The Elementia Chronicles (4) - Book Three Part 2: Herobrine’s Message: 9780008173593

Ebook Edition © DECEMBER 2016 ISBN: 9780008236687

Version: 2018-09-05

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Quest for Justice

The New Order

Book Three Part 1: Dusk of Hope

Book Three Part 2: Herobrine’s Message

About the Author

From the Author

About the Publisher

Contents

Title Page

Epigraph

PROLOGUE

PART I: WELCOME TO MINECRAFT

CHAPTER 1: Welcome to Minecraft

CHAPTER 2: The First Night

CHAPTER 3: Mines and Creepers

CHAPTER 4: The Adorian Village

CHAPTER 5: The Programme

CHAPTER 6: Stan and Steve

CHAPTER 7: The Thunderstorm

CHAPTER 8: Proclamation Day

PART II: BIRTH OF THE REBELLION

CHAPTER 9: The Shot Heard Round the World

CHAPTER 10: Flight to the Jungle

CHAPTER 11: The Apothecary

CHAPTER 12: The Desert

CHAPTER 13: The Abandoned Mine Shaft

CHAPTER 14: Avery’s Story

CHAPTER 15: The Portal

CHAPTER 16: The Nether

CHAPTER 17: The Fortress and the Blaze

CHAPTER 18: A Daring Escape

CHAPTER 19: The Town of Blackstone

CHAPTER 20: The Monster Slayer

CHAPTER 21: Oob’s Helping Hand

CHAPTER 22: The Siege

CHAPTER 23: The Twelve Eyes of Ender

CHAPTER 24: Within the Stronghold

CHAPTER 25: The End

ENLIGHTENMENT

PART III: THE BATTLE FOR ELEMENTIA

CHAPTER 26: The Speech

CHAPTER 27: The Battle for Elementia

CHAPTER 28: The Ultimate Sacrifice

CHAPTER 29: The Last Casualty

CHAPTER 30: The New Order

Acknowledgments

PROLOGUE

The hallway of the brick castle echoed ominously with footsteps as a figure ran down the corridor. His outfit was comparable to that of a medieval English king: red shirt, trousers of elegant design and a flowing cloak with white fur around the edges. This man was a player on the Minecraft server Elementia. His tag was Charlemagne77, known informally as Charlemagne.

The hall he ran down was lined with paintings of pixel art. Torches protruded from the walls and gave light to ward off the mobs, terrifying creatures that lurked in the dark. There were arched windows that revealed an expansive metropolis, sprawling as far as the eye could see, beyond the outer protective walls of the castle. All of this was made entirely of cubes, one metre long on each side, with textures that resembled brick, wood, glass and all sorts of other materials.

In this game, Minecraft, the entire world was made of these cubic “blocks,” which stood in formations with textures that were made to resemble the trees of the forests, the water of the oceans, the green grassy hills and the stone and minerals of the underground mines. These blocks also made up the castle and the city, textured as stone and glass. Living things were composed of blocks as well, including Charlemagne and all other people, animals and monsters that inhabited the spacious world.

Charlemagne ran because he was late to the meeting of the Council of Operators (though there were no operators on the council, despite the name). This council was made up of the highest-level players on the server, and was led by King Kev, most often referred to simply as “the King”. The meeting had been called to discuss a most important matter, a matter that, unbeknown to the council, would be the downfall of the King, Charlemagne and so many others. This one decision would be the downfall of the luxurious life that the high-level citizens of Element City enjoyed.

The man finally reached the iron doors and pressed a button on the wall. Five note blocks above his head activated and played a chime that functioned as the doorbell. Moments later the doors opened, and Charlemagne stepped into the council chamber.

There was a round table in the middle of the chamber, the King’s allusion to the mighty King Arthur. Around it sat six of the eight council members. The other two seats were situated at the right and left hand of King Kev, who sat upon a throne, elevated eight blocks above the floor, presiding over the council. The right seat held Charlemagne’s fellow adviser to the King, Caesar894, while the left was reserved for Charlemagne himself. The King looked down at Charlemagne. He changed his skin, Charlemagne noted. The King had, indeed, changed his appearance. King Kev now had on a baby-blue shirt with navy trousers and black boots, and he had even added a blood-red cape. The only thing that remained unchanged was his head: a golden crown perched upon his neat blond hair. But enough of this, thought Charlemagne, I have other things to attend to.

“Forgive my tardy arrival, Your Highness,” said Charlemagne, bowing by looking at the floor and crouching simultaneously with his golden sword drawn. This sword was ceremonial only; all council members and the King had one, though it was an impractical weapon.

“Forgiven,” boomed the King, pointing his own golden sword at Charlemagne in a sign either of welcome or intent to kill. “I trust your lateness has a good reason?”

“Oh, yes, my liege.” Charlemagne grinned. “My lingering among the low-level peasants under a disguise of leather armour took longer than I had anticipated, as I took part in a conversation regarding the local attitude towards certain aspects of the last major law you enacted.” At this, several council members cringed. Like most upper-class players, they were averse to mingling with the commoners.

“The Law of One Death?” asked the King.

“That’s the one, my lord,” Charlemagne replied. “The attitude of the common folk is mixed. Some, mainly those under level ten, say that it is a good law as it gives the game a higher risk factor, while most say that it undermines the superiority of the high-level folk. To be totally frank, I agree with both arguments.”

“You dare to question the reasoning of my law?” bellowed the King. “Have you no respect for my authority? I ought to have you executed at once.”

“Oh, no, Your Highness, that is not what I am trying to say at all!” exclaimed Charlemagne, although he knew the King would do no such thing to him. Charlemagne had enough skill to escape any attempt by the King on his life. Moreover, Charlemagne knew things about the King, dark things, and the King would be a fool to provoke Charlemagne into revealing them to the public.

“I agree with both arguments, but only to a degree. The game is much more … er … exciting now that you can die at any minute and be forever banished from the server, as opposed to simply returning to the last place you slept in a bed as is usual in Minecraft. However,” he continued, “this does mean that the game is harder for those who have worked their way to the top, such as the members of this council. We upper-level players have the best plots of land in the known server, and a bounty of well-earned supplies. If, say, I were to die, I would leave a plot of fertile land and a house full of diamonds, emeralds, gold … well, you get the point, and I would never be able to return and retrieve them. Meanwhile a player who has just spawned could waltz into my home and steal everything I owned, thus becoming rich by doing almost nothing! Well, you can imagine how the people in the city who have worked their way to the top feel about that.”

There was a murmur of agreement around the table.

“Hmmm,” said the King. “You may be right. This new law does undermine the level system that rightfully benefits our upper class – which is ironic, given the circumstances in which the law was imposed – but what do you propose we do to fix this problem?”

It was at this point that Caesar894, dressed as his Roman namesake, stood up. “I have an idea,” suggested the King’s right-hand man.

“Speak it,” replied the King.

“Well, it occurs to me that, within the walls of our city, we have almost no remaining fertile land. The forest beyond the city limits on all sides will not make good farmland. If we are to keep this city up to the standard we are used to, we must take multiple actions. First, we must not give away any more of this fertile land. Second, we must force the lower-level citizens of this city to leave. As Sir Charlemagne pointed out, they are likely to steal from us if we die or, even more likely, rise against us and murder us in our sleep just to take our supplies!

“The lower-level citizens of this city outnumber us two to one,” Caesar continued, “and if they should ever realize this, we would have a serious problem on our hands. We must force them to move from the city. If they do that, this city will have more land to be taken by those who deserve it.

“The Adorian Village can take on most of the outcasts, and there must be a fertile tract of land out there somewhere beyond the Ender Desert, even if our cartographers haven’t mapped it yet. Some of the refugees can settle there. One thing remains certain, however: the lower-levels must go.”

As Caesar894 finished his speech, the council members clapped their blocky hands in approval. The King stood up.

“Very well,” the King said. “The law proposed shall state the following: ‘All citizens of Element City with a level under that of fifteen are required to leave the city within one week of today’s date. After that date, all players under level fifteen found in the city shall be killed and their houses destroyed.’ Those in favour of this law?”

Ten geometrically shaped hands rose into the air.

These ten players on the Minecraft server Elementia had no idea what they had just done. They had no idea just how the people would react to this law. And they had no idea at all what this simple action would do to their way of life, to their citizens’ lives, and to the game of Minecraft itself. Still the King continued.

“Motion carried,” the King announced. “The law shall be put into place at the next Proclamation Day. It is time for the elite of this city to take back the kingdom!”

At that very moment, as the council cheered the King, a new player called Stan2012 appeared on Spawnpoint Hill.

CHAPTER 1
WELCOME TO MINECRAFT

It was dark in the Great Wood. Visibility between the tall trees surrounding the flowery hill was limited; who knew what was lurking in the shadows? The stars were still out, but the white square that was the sun had begun to peek over the horizon, giving the starry sky a faint pink-and-orange glow. The haunting howl of an Enderman pierced the peaceful dawn. It was this striking scene of the Minecraft server Elementia that met a new player who had appeared on Spawnpoint Hill.

This player was clearly new; he held nothing in his rectangular hand and was gazing in wonder at the infinite cubes of dirt, grass and oak wood that composed the meadow hill and forest that surrounded him now. He had dark brown hair, a turquoise shirt and blue trousers, the standard look for a Minecraft player who had not yet changed his skin or appearance. This player had never played Minecraft before. Unbeknown to him, he couldn’t have picked a worse time to join this server. His name was Stan2012.

Wow, Stan thought as he gazed around at the dimly lit morning. This is awesome! Everything’s made out of cubes! The dirt on the ground, the trees, even the leaves! And look at that stream over there. Even the water is perfect cubes! You can pick up these … blocks, and build stuff out of them? But there are blocks everywhere! Awesome! Oh, wow!

Stan looked around. The place where he was standing had clearly seen other players before, though he saw none now. He was surrounded by pixilated torches sticking up out of the ground, and there were signs and what looked like chests. One of the signs told him not to steal any of the torches, and another told him that he was standing on Spawnpoint Hill, where all new players entered the server. But it was one particular sign, which was located next to a chest, that caught his attention. It read: “If you have never played before, take a book from the chest.”

Stan walked over to the chest and opened it. It was sectioned off into compartments. One was full of loaves of bread, another was filled with what appeared to be swords constructed out of wood and yet another held books. Stan took one of these books and walked down the hill with it. He sat down on the bank of the nearby stream, dangled his feet in the water, and was about to begin reading when he heard a shout from behind him.

“Hey, wait up!”

Silhouetted against the brightening blue sky was a figure that appeared to be another player. As he walked down the blocky hill, Stan could see that this player was wearing a simple white tunic and white trousers and dark brown boots. He looked like someone who might make his home in the desert. The player reached the foot of the grass-block slope and stood over Stan.

“Hi,” he said. “My name’s KingCharles_XIV, but you can just call me Charlie. I’ve never played this game before and I have no clue what to do. Could you help me?”

“Maybe. My name’s Stan2012, but you can call me Stan,” Stan replied. “I’ve never played before either; I just heard that it was a fun game, and that this server is a great place to learn to play. The sign up there said that this book would tell us how to play.” He held up the book.

“Well then, let’s read it,” said Charlie. He sat down next to Stan and looked on as Stan read aloud.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to Minecraft, new player. This is a very fun game with no particular goal. You can see that the world around you is made out of blocks. You can destroy these blocks with certain tools and place them elsewhere. After you have established a place to take refuge from the monsters of the night, you may work by day to arrange these blocks into fantastic structures. You are now standing on Spawnpoint Hill, where new players such as yourself enter the game. Before you can start building crazy inventions, you are going to want to join a community.

The suggested thing to do is to follow the path you can see. It will take you to the Adorian Village, a community dedicated to the training of new players. It is a day’s journey away, so take one wooden sword and two pieces of bread from the chest. The bread will keep you fed until you reach the village, and the sword can be used to fight off the monsters of the night. If you have not reached the village by dusk, take some blocks from around you and build a wall around yourself to keep out the monsters. If you need to know anything immediately, this book is full of information about blocks, crafting and monsters. Good luck, and see you in the village!

Stan flipped the page. That was the end of the introduction. On the following pages was information about the different blocks and their properties, instructions for crafting various tools and descriptions of a bunch of different monsters.

Stan looked at Charlie. “Did you know that there were monsters in this game?” he asked.

“Well, I heard rumours about this thing called a Creepy or something like that, but I didn’t think that it was actually real.”

“Well, let’s hope we don’t run into any of those, or anything else,” Stan said. “Now, do you see that road anywhere? ’Cause I kind of like the sound of this Adorian Village.”

“Yeah, we should try to find it. But where is the road? I don’t see it anywhere.”

They glanced around. They didn’t see a road, but Stan noticed something else. In the shadows of the trees was what looked like another player. The figure was the right height and had the right figure, but Stan couldn’t see his face.

“Hey, Charlie, look down there! Do you think he knows where the road is?”

“Maybe. Let’s go find out.”

The two walked down the hill and towards the figure. It was dark; the green foliage above them provided shade from the sun. As they got closer to the figure, he suddenly turned and walked towards them, arms outstretched.

“Great, he sees us! Maybe he’ll give us directions!” Charlie exclaimed.

“Yeah …” But something didn’t feel right to Stan. The player completely ignored them until they got close and then walked straight towards them with outstretched arms.

“Charlie, look out!”

“Stan? What’s your prob—Oh my God!”

The figure walking towards them had just walked under a patch of light. It was dressed like Stan was, but it had rotten green flesh and empty eye sockets. It smelled like death, and it was making soft moaning noises. The figure was still walking towards Charlie, who was immobile and wide-eyed with panic. Stan charged at the monster and did the only thing that he could think of.

He clubbed it over the head with his book.

The monster stumbled backwards a few feet but stayed upright, and again began to walk, this time straight at Stan. Stan started to run, but the monster was right behind him. He ran out of the woods, across the field, and suddenly stopped. He was standing in front of a ravine that he hadn’t noticed before, which cut straight through the field. It was deep; he couldn’t make out the bottom. He was trapped, with a fall to his death in front of him and the monster behind him. Afraid that he was about to die before he had even started playing the game, Stan balled his fists and turned towards the monster, ready to fight. Then he stared.

The monster had stopped chasing him. It was running back towards the woods, away from him and not towards Charlie. But the strangest part was that smoke was rising off its skin; Stan caught the putrid stench of burning flesh. The monster was making loud moaning noises and Stan was sure that it would be screaming if it could. Suddenly, the monster keeled over and burst into flames. It writhed on the ground until it had burned out of existence, leaving nothing but a small piece of rotten flesh in its place.

Charlie walked out of the woods, staring in shock at the small piece of flesh on the ground. Stan wore a look of equal bewilderment. Charlie turned to Stan.

“What was that thing?”

“I don’t know man, but it definitely was not a player.”

“Maybe it was one of those monsters that were mentioned in the book. Maybe it was a Creepy, or whatever you call it.”

“Let me look.”

Stan flipped open to the section of the book describing monsters, and on the first page he found what he was looking for. He read the description written next to an illustration of the monster they had just encountered.

ZOMBIES

Zombies are hostile mobs, or creatures, that spawn at night or in dark areas. They are the easiest hostile mob to defeat as their attack pattern consists of simply walking towards the player and trying to attack. They will burn when exposed to direct sunlight. They are also able to break down doors, and are the main attackers during a siege on an NPC village. They drop rotten flesh when killed.

As Stan finished the passage, Charlie said, “So that was a Zombie? And those things are supposed to be really easy to kill?”

“Apparently so,” replied Stan. He picked the flesh up off the ground. “Do you think this stuff is safe to eat?”

“I doubt it.” Charlie frowned, staring at the rancid lump of green and tan meat. “Check the book.”

After a little searching in the Items section, Stan found the page describing the flesh.

ROTTEN FLESH

Rotten flesh is an item dropped by Zombies and Zombie Pigmen and found in Temples. It can be eaten, but it is inadvisable to do so as it has a high chance of giving you food poisoning. It is not, however, poisonous to dogs.

“So, I guess we shouldn’t eat it unless we’re really, really desperate,” said Charlie.

“Yeah, you’re right,” agreed Stan. “Besides, we each get two pieces of bread from that chest up there, plus a sword. That sword should be helpful for fighting off any more monsters that turn up.”

“Agreed. So let’s get the stuff and go! It’s still morning; we’ve got an entire day to get to this Adorian Village before more monsters come out tonight.”

The two players walked back up the hill to the chest, where they each took two pieces of bread and a wooden sword. They then went to the top of the hill and looked around until Charlie spied the path. Bread in their inventories and swords in hand, Charlie and Stan started on the road to the Adorian Village.

CHAPTER 2
THE FIRTS NIGHT

The trees around the pathway had been cleared out, so there was light shining down on the two players as they walked down the road to the village. There were no monsters on the path, but they spotted a few in the woods. Zombies seemed to be the most common, as they were all over the place, but the players noticed a few others, too. Charlie pointed out, deep in the woods, what appeared to be a Zombie but thinner and less substantial, and Stan could have sworn that, from what he could see in the dim light, it was holding a bow and had a quiver of arrows on its back. Once, when Stan looked up into the trees at the sides of the road, he saw a flash of blood-red eyes contemplating him from one of the higher limbs. None of these mysterious creatures, thankfully, pursued the players.

“We’d better hurry and get to that village,” said Charlie, looking nervous. “I don’t want to be out here when it gets dark enough for those things to come out and hunt.”

Stan nodded in agreement, but things did not go well from that point on. The path became less clear as they went deeper into the woods, and a few times they found themselves accidentally straying onto side trails that led to dead ends. One of these paths turned out to have a Zombie at the end of it. Stan and Charlie barely managed to outrun it before it lost interest in them.

The sky began to turn a shade of beautiful pink, but the two players were unable to appreciate it as they made their way back onto the main road after their fifth detour and saw no sign of a village when they looked ahead.

“I think we’d better make a shelter for the night,” said Stan. “We’d better make a wall two blocks high so that we have at least some type of barrier that the monsters won’t be able to get over easily.”

“You’re right,” said Charlie. “I’ll go get some dirt blocks. You try to get some wood from these trees. Meet back here once you’ve got the stuff.”

Stan nodded and the two set off in opposite directions.

Gathering the dirt was faster than Charlie had expected; after being hit a few times the blocks of dirt came loose, ready to be picked up and added to Charlie’s inventory. He had amassed a whole stack of dirt blocks by the time he went back to meet Stan.

Stan did not have nearly as easy a time; he had to punch the sections of the tree trunks over and over to get them to break off. It hurt, too. “What … I … wouldn’t … do … for … a … chain … saw …” Stan growled through gritted teeth as he punched the tree trunks, leaving the leaves suspended in midair. Stan was quickly realizing that Minecraft didn’t always follow the laws of physics.

After about an hour the players met back on the road, and by the time night had fallen they had constructed a small rectangular box out of dirt and wood, two blocks high on all sides, with no roof. They ate their first pieces of bread, and then hunkered down in their fort.

“Brace yourself,” said Stan. “The attacks should start any minute now.” Charlie gulped and pulled out his sword.

But to their surprise, nothing happened for quite some time. They just sat in their shelter, hoping no monsters would show. They popped their heads up over the wall every now and then to make sure that there was nothing, and in fact, nothing was what they saw every time. When the half-moon was at its highest point in the sky, Stan was about to say that there were no monsters around, and that they should just break camp and continue, when an arrow whizzed past him, grazing his shirtsleeve.

“Incoming!” he yelled to Charlie as a firestorm of arrows began to fly over their heads. Charlie ducked. He looked through a small gap in the wall and saw about four animated Skeletons, all standing at a distance from their shelter and raining arrows down on them. He stared at them, but he jumped back from the hole a second later as his view was obscured by the head of a Zombie.

“Zombies!” Charlie yelled to Stan. “And Skeletons, too! There’s a ton of them, and” – he looked through a few other cracks in the sides of their shelter – “they’re swarming the wall!”

He was right. From all sides, the four Skeletons were firing arrows at the players, and about six Zombies were forming a rabble around their fort, trying to walk straight through the wall. But the horror didn’t stop there.

“Tssssskeeeeh!”

Something large had fallen down from the trees and landed right behind a cowering Stan. Without thinking, Stan whipped around and slashed his sword as hard as he could. He made contact; the monster was knocked back and he sliced at it many more times before it finally died. Then he got his first good look at it and his heart gave a terrified jolt.

Stan was staring at the dead body of the largest Spider he had ever seen. It had a whole mess of glowing red eyes on its head; the rest of its hairy body was dark grey. Stan knew then that this was what he had seen up in the trees during the day. The Spider’s body vanished, leaving a thread of fine string in its place.

More Spiders began dropping from the trees. “Charlie! Help me!” cried Stan as he tried to beat back the horde of Spiders with his wooden sword. Charlie yelled in horror as he saw the Spiders rushing his friend, and he used his sword to get the attention of a few of the monsters that had focused on Stan. In the midst of the attack, Stan managed to cut away the tree limb above them that the Spiders were climbing along to drop into their shelter, effectively cutting off the flow of arachnids from above.

“We won’t have to worry about them any more,” sighed Stan.

However, he turned out to be quite wrong. The Spiders were able to climb over their wall to attack them. The players resigned themselves to the fact that they would have to battle the Spiders all night long, and they put their backs to each other and drew their swords.

It was a long, hard night; the supply of Spiders was seemingly endless, and the players couldn’t lift their heads up too high thanks to the barrage of arrows flying overhead. Miraculously, neither of the players lost any health that first night. The Spiders attacked them, but Stan and Charlie managed to keep the giant bugs at bay and killed them with wild, frenzied sword slashes.

After a few hours, the sky began to turn pink and then blue. The storm of arrows ceased. Spiders stopped climbing the walls. The players were safe.

“That,” mumbled Charlie wearily, “was a very long night.” He slid back against the wall.

“Yeah, I wanna sleep, too, but we have to go,” said Stan through a poorly stifled yawn. “We have to make it to the Adorian Village before nightfall, or we’ll have to put up with all those Spiders again.”

“You’re right. I guess we should go.” Charlie stood up, but then he screeched and quickly crouched back down.

“What is it?” asked Stan.

“Don’t look over the wall. Just don’t,” whimpered Charlie. He sounded petrified.

Stan looked over the wall. What he saw made his stomach flip.

The road ahead of them was covered with Spiders. They were everywhere, crawling around and getting into fights with one another. There were no Zombies or Skeletons left, but there were so many Spiders that Stan’s knees failed him and he sank down next to Charlie.

“Why aren’t they dead?” asked Stan. “I thought that monsters burned in the sunlight.”

“Well, apparently the Spiders don’t. What do we do? Fight them all?” Charlie looked at their wooden swords. They were covered with Spider guts from the previous night, but through the gore Charlie could see that they didn’t have much more left in them. A few more hits and the swords would break apart.

“No, that’s a bad idea,” said Stan. Then something occurred to him. “Hey, Charlie, if these Spiders are still here, then why aren’t they climbing over the wall to attack us like they did last night?”

Charlie thought about it. “That’s a fair point. Do you think that Spiders only attack at night?”

Stan knew what he had to do. “I guess there’s only one way to find out.” He started to walk towards the wall.

“Hey, where are you going?” yelled Charlie.

“I’m going to see if these Spiders are going to attack me if I’m outside the wall.”

“But what if they do?”

“Then I’m dead.”

“Dude, no you can’t …”

“Do you have a better idea?”

“Well … um …”

“I didn’t think so.” Stan began to climb over the wall again.

“Wait,” said Charlie. He handed Stan his sword. “Take this,” he said. “Yours is about to break, and if you have to fight off all those Spiders, you’ll need a sword.”

“Thanks. Wish me luck,” said Stan with a nervous catch in his voice, and he jumped over the wall and closed his eyes.

Nothing happened. Stan opened his eyes. The Spiders were still minding their own business, as if Stan had never scaled the wall. As Stan tiptoed tentatively among the Spiders, none of them even acknowledged his existence. He did this as hastily as he could, not wanting to take any chances, and he didn’t stop until he came to a portion of the road not littered with Spiders.

“It’s OK, Charlie, they’re not hostile. You can come over now.”

Charlie was petrified, and his blocky hands were shaking as he collected the string from the dead Spiders within their fort (perhaps they would find a use for it later), scaled the wall and sprinted through the pack of Spiders to join his friend.

“Well,” Charlie said with a sigh. “I’m glad that’s over.”

Stan nodded. “Amen to that … hey, look!”

He walked over to a pile of bones and arrows. He picked up one of the bones.

“One of those Skeletons must have dropped this when it burned up in the sunlight.” He handed the bone to Charlie. “Do you think it could be useful?”

“Check the book,” Charlie replied, now examining the arrows. “Look up bones and arrows in there.”

Stan opened the book to the Items section and read aloud:

BONES

Bones are items dropped by Skeletons when killed. Bones have two main uses. One can craft a bone into bone meal or use the bone to tame a wild wolf into a dog. This may take multiple bones.

ARROWS

Arrows are items that can be either found when dropped by a dead Skeleton or crafted from flint, sticks and feathers. Arrows can be fired as projectiles out of either a bow or a Redstone Dispenser. They are also shot by Skeletons.

Stan closed the book. “Looks like the bones will come in handy if we run into a wolf. And we’d better get a bow so we can use these arrows.”

Charlie agreed, and the two broke their shelter down, saving the materials for later use. They began walking back down the path, en route for the Adorian Village, with plenty of daylight and the prospect of a day of smooth sailing ahead of them. They had just stopped to eat their last pieces of bread when something jumped out of the woods.

It was a player holding a sword, made out of what looked like stone, pointing right at Stan’s heart.

CHAPTER 3
MINES AND CREEPERS

This player had the same body as Stan and Charlie, but Stan could tell by the appearance of this player that she was a girl. She had blonde hair that extended beyond her blocky head to create a ponytail behind her. She was wearing a leather tunic, neon-pink shorts and blue shoes.

Stan then thought, Why am I thinking this? She’s pointing a sword at my chest!

“Give me all your materials,” said the girl in a monotone, “or your friend gets a blade through his chest.”

Charlie, who had been paralyzed with fear up until now, quickly scrambled to get out all their materials. He laid them on the ground: his own damaged wooden sword, a piece of bread, a pile of dirt, a piece of rotten flesh, a bone, five arrows, some wood and a whole mess of Spider string. The girl looked at them with a distasteful eye.

“I should have known. You two don’t have anything good, do you.” It was a statement, not a question.

“I don’t know. I have … this!” And Stan, who had remained perfectly still up until this time, suddenly whipped out his wooden sword. Taking advantage of the girl’s diverted focus, he cut her across the chest, knocking her backwards. She fell to the ground and cringed; the cut had not actually hurt, but the leather armour on her chest had fallen off, revealing an orange T-shirt with a heart in the middle that was the same neon-pink as her shorts.

Stan stood over her, his wooden sword now pointed at her, and Charlie quickly joined him, his quivering hand pointing his sword at her also. Stan, sounding much braver than he felt, said, “I wouldn’t try anything if I were you. There’s two of us and only one of you.”

She pulled herself up and, to Stan’s surprise, looked almost bored as she said, “Don’t worry, I’m not gonna try. There’s no point. Killing you two, which I could easily do, would accomplish nothing. You’re just a couple of noobs. Let me know if you decide to attack me or let me go or whatever. I’ll just sit here.” And with that, she sat on a nearby tree stump, put her hands behind her head, crossed her legs, and closed her eyes as if she were lounging on a beach chair by the sea rather than being held at sword point. Stan felt himself flush.

“How do you know that we’re new at this?” asked Charlie defiantly, his hand still shaking as he pointed his sword towards her heart.

“Yeah, what if we’re, like, complete masters at this game who are just carrying around bad stuff to fool people like you?” spat Stan bitterly.

She opened her eyes and looked at Stan.

“Well, one, you’re on the road to the Adorian Village, which is for players under level five. And two, any smart player would carry around any weapons he had for self-defence, now that the King passed that new law.” She closed her eyes again.

“What new law?” wondered Charlie.

She opened her eyes again. “And three, only noobs don’t know about the law that bans you from this server after you die once, instead of just losing all your stuff and going back to the spawn point like you usually do in Minecraft.” She closed her eyes again.

“Hang on a second,” said Stan. “If you aren’t new, then why are you carrying around a stone sword? If I had to guess, I’d say stone is pretty common around here.”

She opened her eyes and a bitter look came over her face. “Oh, that. It’s, like, the stupidest thing ever. I was on this server called Johnstantinople once – run by a guy named John, go figure – and I was doing really well. I found an abandoned NPC village with an iron sword and a bunch of apples in the forge chest, and I was going around killing monsters, when this Griefer came up from behind me and killed me! I went back to the spawn point, I killed a bunch of Creepers, and I got sand and crafted a ton of TNT, and I traded a golden apple for some fire charges that this guy got from the Nether, and I griefed the house of the guy who killed me by blowing up his house! Unfortunately, turns out that that guy was John, who ran the server, and he banned me.

“It is so unfair! So now I had to join this stupid server, and there’s no NPC villages anywhere, so I had to kill this sleeping guy, take this lame stone sword, and … you’re not following anything I’m saying, are you.”

Again, it was a statement, not a question, and again it was true. The boys stood there with a look of bewilderment on their faces; they had not followed any of her rant from the mention of PCD towns or whatever she said. They were utterly confused, so the girl just got up and walked away.

“Hey! Where do you think you’re going?” yelled Charlie.

“I’m going to find some people with stuff that I actually want,” she replied, heading for the woods.

“Wait up!” Stan yelled, walking after her. “Why don’t you come with us?”

She whipped back around to face him. “WHAT?” she and Charlie yelled at the same time.

“You can’t be serious, Stan. She just tried to kill us!”

“You expect me to come with you noobs?”

“She’ll turn on us as soon as we fall asleep!”

“If you think I’ll protect you, then you’ve got another think coming!”

“SHUT UP!” yelled Stan, so loudly that both Charlie and the girl did.

Turning to the girl, Stan said, “Look, if you attack people who have better weapons than you, then you’re going to get slaughtered. Come with us to the Adorian Village. They’ll help you get a new iron sword, and then we can go our separate ways.”

The girl thought about it while Charlie stammered weak protests, which Stan ignored.

“Fine,” said the girl. “I’ll come with you, but just until we get to the Adorian Village. After that, I’m going to leave you two to fend for yourselves.”

“Good,” said Stan. Charlie looked at him incredulously, but he could see that Stan had made up his mind, and he doubted that he could change it.

“Come on,” said Stan. “The path leads this way.” He started walking down the path and the others followed.

“By the way, my name’s KitKat783,” said the girl. “But you can call me Kat.”

“My name’s Stan, and this is Charlie,” said Stan, gesturing to Charlie, who feebly raised a blocky hand. With no further words, Stan walked off, followed by the smirking Kat and the scowling Charlie.

They walked along the path in silence. Stan was followed by Kat, with Charlie taking up the rear. “I don’t trust her behind my back,” he’d whispered to Stan. They kept walking until about noon, when Stan spotted something on the side of the road. He pointed it out to the others. It appeared to be a large hole in the ground, lined by stone, with darkness inside that extended deep underground. He noticed black specs on a few of the stones that he could see.

“That’s a mine!” cried Kat excitedly. “There are minerals inside it if you mine them out! Let’s go in there!”

“Are you crazy?” snapped Charlie, still upset that Kat had come with them. “It’s all dark in there. There’s bound to be monsters.”

“Eh, don’t be a baby,” smirked Kat. “See that black stuff?” She gestured to one of the stones flecked with black. “That’s coal ore. We can make torches out of the coal to see in the dark and ward off the monsters at night. Besides, even if there are monsters in there, we can fight them off. We’ve all got swords. We’re all big boys here, except for me, and ironically, I’m probably the least scared to go in there.”

Nobody argued with her. Stan was a little unnerved at the prospect of heading into a dark mine after the episode with the Spiders. He did need to make a new weapon soon, though, and it would be nice to have a sword made out of stone rather than wood, though he had no idea how to make one. He also wondered what other kinds of minerals were in there. His desires and curiosity overpowered his fear, and he said, “All right, Kat. I’ll go into the mine.”

“I don’t care what either of you say, I’m not going in there,” Charlie retorted. “I remember the Spiders. I’m going to stay right here, thank you very much.” And with that he walked to the middle of the path, plopped down a piece of wood from his inventory, crossed his arms over his chest, and stared at Stan and Kat defiantly.

“Fine,” said Stan. “You stay out here. See if you can find any more food; we’re almost out. Kat and I will grab some coal and stone and stuff.” And with that, Stan turned and walked towards the mine.

“Hold on,” Kat said, and she threw him something that he caught and examined: a pickaxe made of stone. She held up an identical one.

“It hurts your hand and takes forever to punch through rock, and you don’t get anything from it. You’d be best to mine stuff with a pickaxe.”

Feeling a little bit stupid for his ignorance, Stan set into the mine, pickaxe in hand, tailed closely by Kat.

His first stop was the coal ore he’d seen. He took his pickaxe and mined a good-sized lump of coal in a matter of minutes. He saw that the coal ran in a vein, and before long he had collected about ten lumps of it. He brought them over to Kat, who was hacking away at a stone wall.

“Good,” she said. “Let me see those.” He handed her the lumps. She pulled some sticks from her inventory and fastened them to the coal to make torches. Each lump of coal yielded four torches, so they had forty in all.

“Now we can go deeper into the mine, where there isn’t any natural light,” she explained. They ventured further, placing torches along the wall as they went. Stan noticed that the torches ignited the second that Kat attached them to the wall, with no matches or lighter or anything. Strange …

“Hey, look over here!” Stan ran over to a spot on the ground flecked with black. “More coal! I’m going to dig this out,” he said. “Could you get me some stone for a new sword? And get some for Charlie, too.”

“Whatever,” she said. She started hacking into the wall at a new location, gathering up tremendous amounts of stone chunks. Stan dug into the coal vein. He was about to dig into the eighth piece of coal when Kat said, “Hey, Stan! Come check this out!”

Stan walked over to her. She had made quite a dent in the wall, and she was staring at a block that was different from the stone all around her. This block was flecked with little spots that looked similar to the coal ore, but were light brown instead of black. Kat stepped back.

“I’ve never seen that before. Do you think it could be gold?”

“It might be. Hang on, put a torch up,” Stan said. Kat obliged. Stan pulled out his book and turned to the section on blocks. He found a page describing gold ore and showed it to Kat.

“No,” she said. “It doesn’t match the colour. Gold ore has yellow flecks; these flecks are tan. Check out the other pages.”

Stan turned to the previous page. He held that illustration up for Kat.

“That’s it!” she exclaimed. “What is it?”

Stan read from the book.

IRON ORE

Iron ore is an ore block typically found in mines or mountainous regions. When smelted, it produces one iron ingot.

Stan looked up.

“Do you know what an Iron Ingot is?” he asked.

Kat shrugged her shoulders. “Look it up,” she said.

He did.

IRON INGOT

An iron ingot is a crafting item. It is most commonly obtained by smelting iron ore, but can also be found in the chests of Dungeons, Strongholds, Abandoned Mine Shafts, Temples and NPC villages, or by killing Iron Golems and (rarely) Zombies. The iron ingot is an essential crafting item for a wide variety of things, including iron swords, iron armour, iron tools, buckets, shears, iron bars, tripwire hooks and many other things. Tools and armour made from iron are of a higher quality than stone or leather, respectively, but of a lower quality than diamond.

Of this entire passage, one small section caught Kat’s attention.

“Iron sword?” she exclaimed. “So if I smelt this stuff, whatever that means, I can get an iron sword?”

“Apparently,” said Stan.

“Sweet!” shouted Kat gleefully, and she began hacking away at the wall of ore. The two players hacked at the wall and managed to get out four blocks of iron ore before they hit stone again.

“Let’s look around here. Maybe there’ll be some more!” She was about to take her pickaxe to the adjacent section of the wall when she heard a bloodcurdling cry echoing from the top of the cave.

“Aaaaauuuuughhhh! Stan! Heeelllllpppp!”

“Come on!” Stan shouted to Kat, and the two raced up the mine and into the light.

After Kat and Stan had vanished into the mine, Charlie stood up and walked around, a scowl on his face.

Stupid girl, he thought, looking around and spying a patch of wheat next to a sign that said “Take what you need, but replant.” Why should she get to be in our group? She nearly killed us! What does Stan see in her? It was true, he thought as he harvested the wheat, that the girl did seem to know her way with a sword. Ah, what am I talking about? I don’t know that. I didn’t see her actually fight! For all I know, she’s never killed anything in her life. I’m ditching her first chance I get, the arrogant brat.

And now look what she’s done, he thought as he began to break the leaf blocks on the trees. He had read in Stan’s book that every now and then an apple would drop from a leaf block if you broke it. She’s gone with him into a mine, delaying us from getting to the Adorian Vill— Wait a second, he thought, not noticing the apple dropping from the block he had just broken.

What if it’s a trap? What if she’s just lured Stan down there to kill him, and she’s going to come back and finish me off? I have to go find them! He quickly picked up his sword and was about to dash into the mine to save his friend when something stopped him.

A little way into the darkness of the mine, he saw a figure. It looked like a monster of some sort. He was about to run, but his curiosity got the better of him because it was the most bizarre thing he had ever seen. He edged slightly forwards to get a better look. It was as tall as he was, two blocks high, but it didn’t have any arms, and it stood upright on four stubby legs. He couldn’t see well, but he could have sworn that its body was flecked with different shades of green, with some white in there, too. He edged a little closer. This turned out to be a huge mistake.

The creature suddenly turned towards him. He had gotten too close. It stared at him, and he had never seen such a terrifying face in his life. It looked like a morbid, green-speckled jack-o-lantern. It had empty black eye sockets and a gaping hole of a mouth that was open in a horrible upside-down grin.

He swung with his sword, and the monster was knocked back, but his wooden weapon had reached the end of its life. The spent blade splintered into a thousand pieces, and Charlie threw the useless handle aside as he screamed into the mine for his friends to help him.

This creature was fast but silent as well. The Zombies made moaning sounds, the Spiders made a clicking sound, and you could hear the rattling of a Skeleton’s bones as it moved. But this thing was absolutely silent. As it chased after Charlie, he could barely hear the sound of its footsteps. Also, the Zombies and Skeletons burned up in the sunlight, and the Spiders hadn’t paid him or Stan any attention. But Charlie was running around in the path in direct sunlight and the thing kept following him, not slowing down or taking any damage. Charlie did not want to know what would happen when the thing finally caught up to him.

Kat and Stan burst out of the mine just as Charlie was running back towards it, still being followed by the monster.

“Guys, thank God! I’m so glad that you’re—”

“Get down!” Kat cried.

The monster was upon them, and it was starting to hiss and swell like an overinflated balloon. Kat pushed Stan, who fell backwards into the mine, and she tackled Charlie out of the way just in the nick of time. There was an earsplitting explosion, and a cloud of dust rose over the road. Then, all was quiet.

As the dust cleared, Stan got up and came out of the mine. The monster was gone, and in its place was a huge crater, blown right into the middle of the dirt path. Stan stared at it, and Charlie and Kat got up. Kat turned on Charlie.

“How did you get a Creeper on your tail? I thought you were staying out of the mine!” she yelled at him.

“Wait … that was a Creeper?” asked Stan.

“Yes, that was a Creeper! Why did it start following you?”

“So that’s the thing that everyone talks about?” asked Charlie, wide-eyed with shock and horror. “I’ve seen the posters online … but I always assumed that they, like, broke into your house and stole your stuff or something! They blow up?”

“Yes – now for the last time, Charlie, how did it get on your tail?”

“I went down into the mine.”

“Why?” Kat demanded.

“I … uh …” Charlie thought that it would be a little bit rude to tell Kat that he’d gone in the mine to stop her from betraying him and Stan after she had just saved both of their lives from the Creeper.

“I, uh, wanted to help you guys. I wasn’t finding any food, and I didn’t want to be useless, so I, uh, went in after you guys. Followed the line of torches … Yeah! And, uh, then I saw that thing and tried to fight it off but my sword broke, so I called you guys for help because I knew you had swords that were … uh … un-broken?” he finished lamely. Kat was staring at him with a look of half exasperation and half amusement.

“Uh-huh,” she said in a teasing voice. “Well, we’d better get going. We should really get you an ‘unbroken’ sword, and I don’t know how to make one. So you didn’t find any food at all?

“Well,” replied Charlie, “I found some wheat and a few apples. I don’t know if we can do anything with the wheat, but the apples are edible.”

“Well, that’ll have to do,” replied Kat. “Let’s go.”

As the three players continued on the road to the Adorian Village, Charlie sighed, resigning himself to the fact that now he could never abandon this girl who had saved his life.

They still had plenty of daylight left. The path was going in a straight line, and they were beginning to see hovering chunks of leaves with no trunks on the side of the road. This meant that they were definitely close to civilization.

“Excellent,” commented Stan as they passed a watermelon farm with a sign that was identical to the one at the wheat field. “We can get some food from this field. Just don’t destroy any of the vines.”

Each player picked a watermelon and destroyed it. There were multiple watermelon slices yielded from every destroyed watermelon, and the players ate all the juicy fruit to completely assuage their mounting hunger. Kat, who was particularly hungry, even ate the two raw pork chops that she had in her inventory.

“Hey,” she said through a mouth full of watermelon and uncooked pork chop to the two disgusted-looking boys, “ih mayna be preddy, butet getsa zhob bun.” When their faces changed to confusion, she swallowed and said, “Hey, it may not be pretty, but it gets the job done.”

Charlie rolled his eyes at her. Stan was about to crack a joke when, for the second time that day, a player burst from the woods with a sword in his hands.

This time there was no hesitation. Within seconds all three players were on their feet. Kat held her stone sword in front of her in a guard stance, and standing behind her were Stan, clutching his heavily damaged wooden sword in shaking hands, and Charlie, who had balled up his fists and was getting ready to fight, bouncing back and forth on the balls of his feet.

This player was dressed like a Secret Service agent. He had on a black tuxedo and black shades covering the eyes on his olive face. He was holding a golden sword in an attack stance, ready to kill the first one to make a move.

Kat spoke first. “What do you want?” she asked.

The player’s eyebrows creased as he pointed his sword at her. “What do I want? Well, there are a lot of things that I want. I want my old life back, for one. Everything was perfect—”

“Yeah, yeah, we couldn’t care less about your ‘oh, woe is me’ story. Get away from us before you do something that you’ll regret. There’s three of us and only one of you, and two of us have swords. I suggest that you just crawl back into those woods you came from.”

The player looked mortally offended. He pointed his sword at Kat.

“I will not have you telling me what to do! You are all noobs, armed with primitive weapons of wood and stone, while I, I am the most honourable Mr A, the most powerful warrior this server has ever known! If you knew only half the reasons that I want new players like yourselves dead—”

“Oh, just shut up!” Stan interjected. “There is no way you’re going to win against us, honourable Mr A! Besides, if you really were honourable, you wouldn’t attack players armed with ‘primitive weapons’ through ambush. That’s just a low thing to do. I don’t care what you were – it’s obvious that you’re nothing special now. Just leave us alone! We haven’t done anything wrong. You’re just being a … a … a Griefer, that’s what you are!” He didn’t know exactly what the term meant, but it had the effect that he’d intended.

Mr A charged the trio. Stan was glad for an excuse to fight. He was getting heated. As Mr A’s sword was about to come down on Stan’s head, Stan raised his own sword in a parry. Both swords broke at once; the wooden blade shattered just as Charlie’s had, and the golden blade bent back in on itself and fell off the hilt. Furious that his sword had broken, Mr A flew at Stan with his fist. Stan raised his arms to guard against the blow when, at the same time, Kat sliced Mr A’s leg on one side and Charlie punched his head on the other. The Griefer went tumbling head over heels and slammed hard onto the ground. He immediately got back up, but he held his torso with his hand, his face in a grimace.

“Fine! You win. But don’t think for a minute that this is over. I will find you again, and when I do, you are worse than dead! Now, good luck getting out of this!” Mr A whipped out a bow and fired an arrow. He wasn’t aiming for the players, but at something in the woods. Stan, Charlie and Kat watched the arrow fly as Mr A sprinted into the woods on the other side of the path.

They heard a pained yelping noise as the arrow connected with its target, and a moment later, a white beast with glowing red eyes jumped out of the woods. It was a wolf, provoked by Mr A’s arrow, that set its sights on the nearest target: Stan.

Stan was unarmed. It was all he could do to try to outrun the wolf, but it was swift as it ran, faster than the Creeper, faster than Stan could sprint. The wolf pounced on him, pinning him to the ground. The beast growled, its evil red eyes glowing, and was about to tear into Stan’s throat when there was a whistling noise from behind it. The animal’s head whipped around.

Kat was standing near Stan and the wolf, holding out the bone that she had just snatched from Charlie’s inventory. The boys watched in awe as the wolf’s eyes stopped glowing red, becoming a sad, black colour. The wolf cocked its head slightly to the left, paused, and walked slowly towards Kat. It came to a stop in front of her, and she gave the wolf the bone.

The wolf wasn’t on the attack any more. It sat down in front of Kat with its tongue out and its tail wagging. Kat grabbed a red collar from her inventory and fastened it around the wolf’s neck. The wolf had been tamed by the bone.

“That’s twice I’ve saved your life now,” Kat said smugly to Stan as she petted her new dog on the head. “I think I’m going to call him Rex.”

“Oh, imagine that, a dog named Rex. How creative,” mumbled Charlie under his breath, but Kat didn’t hear.

“Stan, could you look up dogs in that book of yours? I want to know how to take care of this little guy.”

Stan obliged, mouth still hanging open at the way she had tamed the wolf. He opened his book and flipped through the pages of animals and monsters, but he didn’t find anything about dogs.

“Try wolf,” she suggested.

He looked up wolves, and there was a page on them.

WOLF

A wolf is a neutral mob found in forest regions. It usually travels in packs. A wolf is usually not harmful towards a player, but if attacked a wolf will become hostile and attack with similar speed and jumping ability to that of a Spider. When a wolf is attacked, all other wolves in its pack will also join in attacking the wolf’s attacker. A wolf can be tamed by feeding it bones dropped by Skeletons. A tamed wolf can be made to sit still or to follow the player around. When a player attacks or is attacked by a mob, the player’s wolves will join the player’s attack. A wolf’s health is indicated by the angle of its tail. The lower the tail droops, the lower the animal’s health is. The wolf can be healed by feeding it any kind of meat. It will not contract food poisoning from rotten flesh or raw chicken as a player might.

Kat glanced at Rex’s tail. Though it was still wagging, it was drooping almost to the ground.

“Looks like he took a lot of damage from that arrow, and he must’ve been separated from his pack. Poor little guy,” said Kat with a look of pity on her face. Stan looked at her, baffled, as he rubbed at the scratches Rex’s paws had left on his neck.

“Charlie, let me see that rotten flesh you have.”

Charlie extracted the meat from his inventory. He handed it to Kat, and Rex started eating it out of her hand. Instantly, his tail shot up.

“Well, looks like we’ve got a dog!” she said to Stan and Charlie.

“Wait,” said Stan. “What do you mean, we? I thought you were ditching us as soon as you got that sword of yours.”

“Are you kidding?” she said with a grin. “If it weren’t for me, you would be torn to pieces by Rex here,” she said, gesturing to Stan, “and both of you would be lying in pieces around that mine thanks to that Creeper. Without me, you two would both die, and let’s face it, that would just be a lot of tedious paperwork for the ops of this server. Now come on,” she chirped, blind and deaf to Stan’s and Charlie’s indignant faces and stammers of protest. “Let’s get to that village. I need a sword!”

And they continued down the path, munching on Charlie’s apples, the boys still fuming, the girl still laughing. By the time the sun had started to sink in the sky, two towers came into sight, and the three players heard someone yell.

“New players! New players incoming! Welcome to the Adorian Village, new players!”

CHAPTER 4
THE ADORIAN VILLAGE

The Adorian Village was unlike anything Stan had seen in Minecraft. The only man-made objects that he had seen up to that point were signs, chests and torches. In this village, everything appeared to be made of manufactured blocks.

The buildings were mainly made out of three materials; there were wooden planks stacked on top of each other, glass panes in the windows and stone that wasn’t as natural as the stone in the mine but rather put together in chunks, like a cobblestone street. Torches were everywhere, and the road was paved with gravel.

As the three players entered the village through a tall wooden gate between the two watchtowers, they saw a player walking towards them. He had brown hair, and he was wearing a red jacket over a white shirt with blue jeans. As he met the players, he introduced himself as Jayden10, and told the players to come with him to meet the mayor of the town. He then walked down the gravel street towards a large brick building; Stan, Charlie and Kat followed.

Going down the street, Stan saw players everywhere in the village. One player appeared to be exchanging two apples with another player for a piece of flint and a metal ring. Through a large window, Stan saw a whole group of players sitting around tables that had tools dangling from them. One of these players gave a final strike with a hammer to the object on his table and held it up for examination; it was a shiny metal pickaxe. To the right of the brick building was a large wooden building with a vast expanse of land behind it that held multiple types of animals as well as fields of wheat, pumpkins and watermelons. Stan had never before seen anything in Minecraft like what these players were doing. He was getting excited. The players appeared to be friendly ’t as natural as the stone in the mine but rather put together in chunks, like a cobblestone street. Torches were everywhere, and the road was paved with gravel.

“Here we are,” said Jayden, gesturing to the immense brick building, “Town Hall. Our mayor, Adoria, lives here. She is the founder of this village, and one of the highest-level people here. Come inside. She likes to meet all new arrivals.” And he walked inside.

The three players exchanged quick glances with one another and then went in after Jayden, leaving Rex sitting outside.

Stan was impressed. The corridor that they were in had a red carpet, and it was lined with electric lamp blocks that surely would have been on if the sun hadn’t been streaming in through a magnificent glass roof. The parts of the wall not covered by lamps had different paintings. A small one had a sunrise on it, a wide one – Charlie jumped when he saw it – had a Creeper’s face, and one painting depicting a game of Donkey Kong took up a whole wall. All of these paintings were heavily pixilated.

Jayden pushed a button at the end of the hall, and an iron door swung open. Inside, Stan could see a player, a girl judging by the plait of her black hair, sitting at a desk, writing in a book. She looked up at the sound of the opening door.

“Hello, Jayden. These are the new players, I assume?” Her voice was kind – it reminded Stan of his mother.

“Yes, Adoria, ma’am,” Jayden replied respectfully.

Adoria stood up. Stan saw that she was wearing a pink blouse and a red skirt.

“Well, then, welcome to the Adorian Village, new players. I am Adoria1, founder and mayor of this community. But please, call me Adoria. What are your names?”

Stan spoke up. “My name is Stan2012, but you can just call me Stan. This is KingCharles_XIV, or Charlie.” At this Charlie gave a polite nod, and Stan continued, “And this is KitKat783, or Kat.”

Kat said, “Pleased to meet you, ma’am.”

“Pleased to meet you too, players. Tell me, have you ever played Minecraft before?” inquired Adoria.

Stan and Charlie shook their heads, while Kat said, “I have, but on a different server, and I wasn’t there for long. I’m not much more experienced at this game than these two.” Stan and Charlie shot her incredulous looks but they backed down as they caught her eye.

Adoria nodded her head. “I understand. In that case, we in this village will be more than glad to help you learn how to play this game. We have a programme here that teaches you everything that you need to know about Minecraft in five days. Do you think you would be interested in that? The deal includes food and a temporary place to stay.”

Stan said, “It sounds good to me.”

“I’m game,” said Kat excitedly.

“Count the three of us in, then,” said Charlie. “But what kinds of things are you going to be showing us?”

“We have a group of people in this village dedicated to training new players. Each has different strengths that they will pass on to you. They will show you how to fight, craft, create and other such things.”

“So, it’s your job to train new players to prepare them for the server?” asked Kat.

“That’s right,” replied Jayden. “Almost every new player on this server came through our programme first, including most of the population of Element City.”

“What’s Element City?” asked Stan.

“The server’s capital,” said Adoria. “Element City is where most people go after they go through our programme. It’s situated on a huge open plain, surrounded by forest on all sides, and it has the greatest population of any settlement on this server. That’s where people build their houses and a bunch of crazy contraptions and structures and all that. At the centre of the city is Element Castle, where the King of this server presides over a council that makes the laws of the land.”

“Sounds like an interesting place. Do you think we should go there after we finish your programme?” asked Charlie.

“Um … yes, I don’t see why not,” replied Adoria. But her hesitation was not lost on Stan, and she didn’t meet Charlie’s eyes when she said this. Stan wondered what was wrong with Element City.

“So, is there a place for us to sleep?” asked Charlie, yawning. “I’m bushed; we haven’t slept yet, and we’ve been on the server for almost two days now!”

“Oh, by all means, go ahead!” said Adoria with a warm smile. “You’ll find some things for you in your rooms at the motel. Jayden, show these players to their rooms, please.”

“Yes, ma’am,” replied Jayden. “Follow me,” and he left the room. Stan, Charlie and Kat followed him out of the hall, picking Rex up where he’d waited by the door.

“So,” said Jayden as they left the building, “what kind of materials do you guys have so far?”

“Not much,” replied Charlie, looking in his inventory as he walked. “Just … a stack of dirt, five arrows, some string and some wood. You guys got anything else?” he asked as he looked to Kat and Stan.

“I’ve got a stone sword and pickaxe, some cobblestone and a few torches,” replied Kat. “Stan?”

“Oh, I’ve just got some coal, the pickaxe you gave me, and the book.”

“Come on, you guys! To survive in this game you’re gonna need better stuff than that!” Stan could tell that Jayden wasn’t being condescending – he was just ribbing them. Stan laughed with Jayden.

“I guess Stan and I owe you a thank you,” said Charlie. “Without those swords and the bread and the book, we definitely wouldn’t have even come close to making it here. We wouldn’t even have survived the first night with those Spiders!”

“Yeah … thanks a million,” agreed Stan, shuddering as he remembered fighting off the Spiders.

“Ah, don’t mention it,” replied Jayden with a shrug. “Besides, it wasn’t me who put those out there – it was my friend Sally. She’s the one who goes out there and replenishes the stock at the spawn point every week. Speaking of which, why did it take you guys two days to get here, anyway? It’s only a day’s journey.”

So Stan and Charlie told Jayden about the time that they had had getting to the village, about getting lost, and the Spiders, and running into Kat (who added to the story from that point on), and the mine, and the Creeper, and Mr A. Jayden seemed taken aback by the story of Mr A.

“You guys ran into a Griefer?” he asked sceptically. “But none of you are even level four yet! The best weapon you have is a moderately used stone sword! Why would anyone want to attack you?”

“Well, he was about to tell us in a melodramatic monologue, but I believe that that was the point when Kat told him, and I quote, ‘we couldn’t care less about your “oh, woe is me” story,’” replied Charlie, grinning at her.

“I regret nothing,” smirked Kat. “So, Jayden, what do you do around here? It must get pretty boring.”

Jayden shook his head. “No, not really. It’s fun to teach the new guys, like you. At the school, I teach axe fighting, and I help my brother on his farm. Plus, Adoria sends me on missions. I actually just got back from one a little while before you guys got here,” he added as the four finally arrived at the motel, a sprawling four-storey complex made of mainly wood planks. Stan saw a hole in the side of the building that was closest to him, next to several chests and a sign that said Construction in Progress.

“Well, here we are, home sweet home,” announced Jayden, gesturing to the building. “You guys are lucky. You’ll be bunking with me and my friends tonight. You’d ordinarily get your own rooms, but we’ve been so swamped with new players lately that there isn’t any room left for you in the main wing, and the expansion isn’t done yet. So, come with me.” He started to climb a ladder up to the roof.

“Wait!” cried Kat. “What about Rex?”

Jayden paused. “What? Oh, your dog. Just leave him there, but don’t tell him to sit. I think he’ll find his way up on his own.” He continued to climb.

Shrugging, Kat gave Rex a quick scratch between the ears and went up after Jayden, followed by Charlie and then Stan.

Jayden’s room was situated on top of the fourth-floor roof. It was a large room, big enough to comfortably hold eight players. Jayden flipped open the wooden door and was greeted by two distinct voices. The other three followed him in.

There were four beds sitting on the floor, two of them occupied with people. Like the rest of the town, the room was lit by torches, and there was a table with tools hanging from it that was identical to the one Stan had seen in the building in the village. Next to the table stood a stone oven with a fire lit in it. The walls were lined with paintings, and there was a large chest next to each bed. Next to the door was a box with a slot on top.

The two players in the beds looked unlike anybody Stan had seen in the game so far. One of them was dressed like the Skeletons that had made Stan’s first night in Minecraft so difficult. Stan would have panicked if it weren’t for the red hair on top of the player’s head, which distinguished him from a monster. The other player looked exactly like Stan did in the standard look for Minecraft, except that he was gold. His hair, skin, arms, body, and legs were completely golden. The only thing that told them that he wasn’t some sort of statue was his pair of green eyes.

“Yo, Jay! Good to have you back!” boomed the Skeleton. He had an unexpectedly deep voice.

“Good to be back, Archie! I tell you, that trip was absolute torture!”

“No,” said the gold one, in a disconnected voice. “Torture is being trapped in a pit of burning Netherrack that was set as a monster trap in the middle of Ender Desert, and only getting out because some guy happens to—”

“Enough, G, you’ve told us the story, like, a hundred times!” whined the Skeleton in an exasperated voice.

“Still, what could you have possibly done that’s worse than that?” the gold guy asked, now in a regular voice.

“Dude, didn’t you hear Adoria give me the assignment? I had to go to the nearest Mushroom Island and take back samples of the mushrooms there, and I also had to learn how to farm them from the tribe living there. She also made me lure two Mooshrooms away from the island and across the ocean using wheat and bring them all the way back here.”

“Ouch!” yelled the gold one. “That is pretty bad!”

“You’re telling me. The worst part was trading with the tribe there. I tell you, to be iffy about trading two Mooshrooms for four trees and bone meal when you don’t even have trees on your island! Still, you can’t say you’ve lived until you’ve killed a Spider Jockey while keeping two Mooshrooms interested in you with wheat. So, where’s Sally? She back yet?”

“Oh, she tried a new shortcut to get to the hill. She said that it would take her anywhere from half to double the normal time, she’s not sure. She said not to worry if she was late.”

“So, Jay, who are these guys anyway?” asked the Skeleton, pointing at Stan, Charlie and Kat, who had entered the room and were listening to the conversation with a mixture of confusion and admiration for these players who had clearly seen so much of the game.

“These are new players. The motel’s full today so they’re staying in here.”

“Excellent. I just love a good slumber party,” said a girl’s voice from behind them. They all turned around.

A girl was leaning against the doorframe. A plait of black hair ran down her back. She was wearing a green tank top and a black skirt. She was holding an iron sword with fresh Spider guts on the blade.

“Look what the ocelot dragged in! Sally’s back!”

“Glad you’re not dead, Sal.”

“What took you so long, girl?”

Sally gave a tired grin that suggested that she was dealing with little siblings who were entirely too happy to see her after a long day. “Do you remember when we used to greet each other with a nice ‘Hello’?” she asked.

“I’m sorry,” said the Skeleton. “Would you prefer that?”

“’Course not!” Sally laughed. “I’m just reminiscing. So, you gonna introduce me to these noobs?”

“If you insist,” Jayden said. “You’re lucky I hadn’t already introduced them to Archie and G, or I wouldn’t have wasted my breath on you,” he added good-naturedly. “This is Kat, Stan and Charlie,” he introduced them, pointing them each out in turn. “New guys, this is Archie” – the Skeleton nodded – “Goldman, aka G” – the golden guy nodded – “and Sally.” The girl nodded.

“’Sup, guys,” said G. “Cool dog, Kat.”

“What are you talking … what …?” Kat’s eyes widened as she looked behind her. Rex had just walked in the door and was walking over to Kat, who petted the dog, still looking amazed.

“How did Rex manage to get up the ladder?” she asked.

“Nobody knows …” replied Archie ominously.

They all stared at the dog for a moment and then looked away. None of them made eye contact with Rex for the rest of the night.

“So, anyway, why are these noobs staying in here?” asked Sally, frowning as she leaned against the doorframe.

“Could you please stop calling us noobs?” asked Stan. “It gets really annoying after a while.”

“Sorry, buddy, I paid my dues. I was a noob like you once, but then I took an arrow to the … heh, heh, heh, just kidding. My point is, people are gonna call you that until you pass, say, level ten. But until then, you’re just gonna have to put up with it. We all did,” she said, gesturing to herself, Jayden, G and Archie.

“Fine, I can accept other people calling me that,” said Stan, “but could you guys not, seeing as I have to live with you for a few days?”

“Hmmm …,” said Sally, pretending to think. “Uh, yeah, no, I think I will call you that. I probably wouldn’t if it didn’t annoy you so much though.” She shrugged.

Stan sighed. “Is she always like this?” he asked, turning to Archie.

He laughed. “Of course not! Sally is an absolute pleasure to live with. She’s not aggravating, obnoxious and condescending to us guys – whatever would give you that idea?”

Sally rolled her eyes. “Are you finished?”

Archie replied, “Well, as I glance at that sword in your hand, I think I’ll say yes?”

They all laughed.

“So, you guys starting the programme tomorrow?” asked G as Sally went to the chest next to one of the beds and put a sword and some watermelon in it.

“Apparently so. Jayden mentioned that you four teach the classes. Is that right?”

“Yep,” replied Sally as she sat down on her bed with her legs crossed. “I’m gonna teach you guys everything you need to know about sword fighting and crafting.”

“Yes, and when she says everything, that includes the how-to of disemboweling a Spider,” added G, and they all laughed again. “Anyway, I’ll teach you how to fight using a pickaxe, and everything you need to know about mining.”

“I myself,” boomed Archie, “will be instructing you on the precision art and skill of the launched projectile forged from the stone of gravel, the spindle of a tree and the coat of a bird. In other words, I’m teaching archery. Go figure,” he said, gesturing to his Skeleton costume.

“I’m teaching axe fighting and farming technique,” said Jayden. He reached into the chest next to his bed and pulled out an axe. But this wasn’t just any axe. The blade was created from diamond, and though the wooden handle was worn, the diamond still glinted in the light of the torches, sharp and deadly. Stan stared at it. It was the most impressive thing he had seen in the game so far.

“This is my most prized possession,” he said. “My brother gave it to me when I left his farm.”

“Stop showing off,” moaned G. “We can’t all have diamond tools,” and he opened his chest to get some food.

“Hold up! What’s that?” interjected Charlie, pointing to something in G’s chest.

“What, this thing?” he asked, and he pulled out something just as impressive as the diamond axe – a pickaxe, forged from solid gold.

“How can you say you have bad tools when you have that thing?” asked Kat, and Charlie and Stan nodded in agreement.

“What? Oh! That’s right, you don’t know, do you?” G laughed. “Well, it may look cool, but golden tools aren’t very practical at all. They break absurdly fast. They actually break faster than stuff made out of wood. The only upside to them is that they break stuff quickly, and even then a golden pickaxe can only break cobblestone and coal ore. I mostly just carry mine around for show, to go with my image.” G gestured to his golden body. As G sniggered at his own whimsy, Stan noticed Kat raise an eyebrow and give an amused chuckle.

“Well, I’m exhausted,” said Jayden, yawning. “That mission was awful, and I’m sure that you guys must be spent after all that you went through to get here.” The three new players nodded gratefully. “G, Sal, pull out the extra beds. Charlie, Kat, Stan, you guys should eat something before you go to bed. Try this.”

Jayden reached into his chest and pulled out two cooked steaks and a cooked pork chop. He handed a steak to Stan and Charlie, and the pork chop to Kat.

“Mmm,” said Kat, licking her lips when she’d finished, “that was so much better than the raw one.” Charlie rolled his eyes.

All fed, the seven players climbed into their beds, and five of them were out cold almost immediately. Stan was just about to fall asleep, too, when he heard a voice from behind him.

“You asleep, noob?”

Stan flipped over in his bed to face the one talking. Sally was crouching down next to his bed. “I’ll take that as a no, then,” she said.

Stan sat up. “Can I help you?” he asked.

Sally sat down next to him. “Yeah, you can,” she asked. “Is this your first time in Minecraft?”

Stan nodded.

“Have you ever played a game like it before?”

Stan looked at her. “How many games like Minecraft are there?” he asked.

“Not important.” She shrugged. “I guess my question is … do you feel like you’re something special?”

“Why, yes. I mean, that’s what my mummy tells me every night,” said Stan sarcastically. “‘Stan, no matter what those mean boys tell you, just remember that you’ll always be special to me.’ Is that what you mean?”

Sally giggled, which seemed oddly out of character to Stan. “You’re funny,” she said.

“Am I?” asked Stan, getting aggravated again. “Is that why you woke me up? So I could make you laugh? I’m exhausted.Please just let me sleep.”

And with that he flopped back down on his bed. Unfortunately, he had misjudged the exact position of the pillow and he ended up with his head on the floor, a painful throbbing in his skull from the impact.

As he sat up he could see Sally was not even trying to keep a straight face, just holding her mouth and trying not to burst out laughing and wake up the others. Stan couldn’t blame her. It must have looked pretty ridiculous. “Not a word,” he said as he sat back up. “So, what did you want to talk to me about?”

Sally eventually calmed down, and when she did, she rolled her eyes and said, “We’ll talk about it later. You need some sleep. G’night, noob.” And she stood up and lay down in her own bed.

Nice girl, thought Stan as he drifted into sleep. Annoying though.

CHAPTER 5
THE PROGRAMME

“Goooooooooooooooood moooooooooorning, freeeeeeeeeeeeeeesh meat!”

Stan sprang up and out of bed, startled by the deafening noise. He looked wildly around and saw Kat and Charlie still in their beds, Kat swinging her sword (which she had apparently slept with in her hand) around, yelling, “Die die die die die!” Charlie sat bolt upright, his hand clutching his chest. Archie was standing on top of the table with the tools on it, his hands cupped; clearly, it had been him who had yelled. G and Jayden were behind him, laughing hard at the new players’ reactions.

“Oh God, you three … you three should have seen the looks … the looks on your faces!” Jayden managed to get out between laughs.

“We’ve had some pretty … some pretty good react … reactions,” wheezed G, clutching his sides, “but you guys … that was so over the top! Especially you, Kat! ‘Die die die die die!’” he said, setting off another round of laughter.

Kat stood up, walked over to G, put her hands on her hips, and stared at him in the eye. “We’ve had some pretty … some pretty good react … reactions,” wheezed G, clutching his sides, “but you guys … that was so over the top! Especially you, Kat! ‘Die die die die die!’” he said, setting off another round of laughter.

“I’m sorry, but why were you sleeping with a sword anyway, Kat?” asked Archie.

“Aw, did da wittle girl have a bad dweam about da cweepas comin to get her?” said G in a mock-baby voice, to another round of hysterics.

Kat pocketed her sword, walked up to G, who was now cramping with laughter, and punched him hard in the chest.

“Ouch!” G yelled, doubling over. “Man, Kat, that actually hurt! Should I punch you now? Huh?”

Kat smirked. “Even in a game, I doubt that you would hit a girl, unless she was armed and trying to kill you.”

“Huh? What was that about girls trying to kill people?”

Sally had just walked into the room. She said, “Kat, if you want to kill these five, I’m more than happy to help you.”

“I’d like to take that offer, please,” Kat replied, rubbing her eyes, “because they just woke me up by yelling at me.”

“It was hilarious!” laughed G. “She started freaking out with her sword, which she slept with …” and the three older boys fell to the ground in fits of laughter.

“You three are so immature,” she said arrogantly. “Anyway, get off the crafting table, Archie. I’m crafting us some breakfast.” He complied, still sniggering.

“Where’d you go this morning anyway, Sal?” Jayden asked inquisitively.

“Yeah, we had to pull the prank without ya,” added G.

“Pardon me, boys, but I think you’ll be happy when you see what I have planned.” Sally reached into her inventory and pulled out three buckets of milk, an egg, some sugar and some wheat.

“Oh boy, Sal, are you making what I think you’re making?” Archie boomed eagerly.

“Well, when it’s my turn to make breakfast, I prefer to do it right,” she said as she started a complex series of crafts with the food items. “Especially when we have guests.” And Stan could have sworn that she caught his eye.

“Here we go,” she said after a minute of waiting. She held up a square cake. From what Stan could see, it was strawberry shortcake, which he didn’t understand, as Sally had added neither strawberries nor frosting. “Dig in.”

There were six equal pieces of cake. Everybody was given a slice except for Sally. Stan was about to eat his piece when he looked at Sally. She was glancing at him in an expectant way. Stan had a feeling he knew why.

“Uh, Sally? Do you, uh, wanna have some of my cake?”

“Why, thank you, Stan, I would like that very much.” She grabbed a knife from the table with the tools and cut Stan’s piece down the middle. She took half of it and ate it in one bite, giving a loud burp afterwards. G and Archie sniggered, but Stan wasn’t sure if it was because of Sally belching or him sharing his cake.

After they were finished eating, Jayden stood up. “Alrighty then, thank you, Sally, for the excellent breakfast.” There were murmurs of consent. “If anyone is still hungry, we’ll stop by my brother’s farm on the way to the school for watermelons. New inductees, put all your things in the extra chest in the corner over there, and follow me.”

After they had put their things away, the players left the building and went down the ladder, leaving Rex sitting in the room. As they walked down the main road of the village, they stopped just before the Town Hall and turned into the farm to the right of the Hall.

“This is where my brother lives,” explained Jayden, as they walked under the hedge that marked the entrance to the farm. “He’s the most productive farmer in this entire village, and the only one who is a higher level than Adoria. He’s level fifty-four, five higher than she is. The only problem is that he’s—”

“Hey, Jay!”

A player with wild grey hair and farmer’s clothing was running up to them, holding what appeared to be an iron hoe.

“Hey, hey, you guys! Hey, you guys are new?” he asked Stan, Kat and Charlie in a jittery fashion. “Ya look new, carryin’ around all dat stone crap, ya know, hey! Hey! Ya want some Lightnin’? Cause I know this great place where—”

“Steve, again? Really!? I thought that we agreed that you wouldn’t be QPOed on duty!” Jayden cried in an exasperated voice.

“I ain’t QPOed, whadevah’d give ya dat ideeeeee-ooooooooooooohhhh …” and then the crazed player – Steve, Jayden had called him – slunk down to the ground, clearly passed out.

“Oh, for the love of God,” moaned Jayden.

“What the … what … what just happened?” asked Kat, looking repulsed at the still body on the ground.

“Is he gonna be OK?” asked Charlie.

“Well, Charlie, yes he is, but I’m getting awfully sick of healing him,” sighed Jayden as he pulled an apple out of his bag. This apple was shimmering golden in the sunlight, and Jayden bent over and stuffed it into the player’s mouth. Jayden stood up.

“To answer your question, Kat, he was on a potion called the Potion of Swiftness, also called QPO or Lightning. It’s a potion that’ll give you a quick burst of energy, but it will make you weak for a short while afterwards. Steve here took too much QPO one night at a Spleef match, and he hasn’t been able to drink it without passing out afterwards ever since. It’s a shame. It really did help him run this farm more productively.”

“Hold on,” said Stan. “He runs the farm? That’s your brother?” He decided to save the question of what Spleef was for a later day.

“Yep,” said Jayden grimly. “You see, the only way to heal him is to give him a golden apple, which would normally heal you from an injury. The problem is, apples are really rare, and gold isn’t that common either, and that’s what you use to craft the golden apples.”

Steve had begun to stir. As he came to, Stan took an opportunity to look at the farm.

It was gigantic – it must have taken up a quarter of the entire Adorian village. There were fields and fields covered in wheat, pumpkins, watermelon and tall stalks that Stan couldn’t identify. Irrigation ditches ran between the plants. Cocoa bean pods grew on logs that looked like they came from a jungle. There were also pastures. There was a whole herd of cows and a group of pigs. Stan saw some sheep with white, black and brown wool, and some with no wool.

Stan looked around and also saw chickens, a pool filled with squid, some wolves and some things that looked like wild cats. But the most peculiar thing was something that resembled a cow, except that it was red and white and covered with mushrooms actually growing out of its back. While there were herds of the other animals, there were only three red-and-white cows – two large ones and a small one. Stan guessed that these were the things that Jayden had just led to the village from the Mushroom Island. What did he call them? Oh yeah, Mooshrooms. Funny name …

Steve had come back around and was beginning to stand up. He put his blocky hand to his head and moaned.

“Oh … ugh … oh, what happened?”

“Don’t give me that!” fumed Jayden. “You know perfectly well what happened. You know that you can’t be QPOed on the job! I’m running out of golden apples to heal you with. Apples don’t just grow on trees! Well, not in this game, anyway … but the point is, you’ve gotta be more responsible, Steve!”

“Hey, who are those guys?” asked Steve, who had not been listening to Jayden and was now looking distractedly at Stan and his friends.

Jayden looked furious and was about to yell at Steve again when G said, “Don’t, Jay, there’s no point. Steve, this is Stan, Charlie and Kat. Guys, this is CrazySteve1026, aka Steve.”

“Hey, noobs,” said Steve, disregarding the exasperated sigh of Stan and the smirk of Sally. “About tuh start da programme, I assume? Yes? Alrighty den, what can I help ya with, little brother?” asked Steve, turning back to Jayden.

“We just need some watermelons,” said Jayden. “Sal made some cake for breakfast but some of us are still …”

“Say no more, Jay,” said Steve. He then proceeded to walk over to the nearby watermelon field and bring his hoe down into two watermelons. They burst open, leaving a mess of watermelon slices in their places. He picked them up and walked over to the group of players, handing two slices to each of them.

“Man, dis shtuff ish good,” mumbled G.

“Yeah, you should make a watermelon cake next time, Sal,” boomed Archie.

“You’re welcome,” spat an annoyed Sally.

Once they finished their watermelon, Steve said, “Alrighty den, all fed? Good, den off ya kids go. Have fun at ya little programme. Be careful. Any more deaths and da King might shut da programme down.”

Charlie spat out his watermelon. “What?” he sputtered. “What’d you just say?” But Steve just laughed manically and went back to the farm to feed some wheat to the Mooshrooms. The seven players walked out of the farm feeling excited and, in Charlie’s case, petrified.

Stan, Kat and Charlie weren’t the only ones starting the programme. There were also five other people there, all boys under level five, all determined to learn how to play Minecraft. After a brief introduction to the other five, the group was divided in half. Four of the other players went with G to learn about mining and pickaxe fighting, and Stan, Kat, Charlie and one other boy who looked exactly like Stan in darker clothing went with Archie to learn archery.

Archie took them to the firing range. It was a long clearing located deep in the woods, away from people. Archie explained the proper technique of handling the bow. Stan and his friends listened intently, but the fourth player couldn’t focus. He just kept staring at Kat with his mouth open. It was apparent that he hadn’t expected to find any girls in Minecraft.

After the explanation of the theory, they started target practice. There were lamps located on the range at different distances and heights. Archie stood to the side as he flipped switches to turn the lamps on and off. The goal was to hit the lamp that was on. The only one who was OK at the archery was Kat. She managed to hit one lamp twice before it switched off. Stan hit one of the lamps every time he shot, but it took him time to think about the trajectory of the arrow and he hardly ever got a hit on a lit lamp because the lamp changed before he could fire his shot.

Charlie was abysmal. He only hit a lamp one time, though he was the one who shot the most arrows. His arrows usually landed a good distance away from the target. Once his arrow came dangerously close to impaling Archie in the chest, but Archie whipped out his sword and deflected it. The other boy on the range might have been a good archer, but he didn’t do anything because he still couldn’t stop staring at Kat.

After target practice, it was around three in the afternoon judging by Archie’s clock, and he said that it was time for the last activity of the day: sparring. The fighters were given diamond armour, which Archie told them had been enchanted to take all damage from the arrow fire without damaging the players themselves. Archie called the armour “training suits.” The players also were given a bow and a stack of arrows and told that the first one to score three hits with the arrows won.

The first match was Kat versus Stan. Stan knew who was going to win, and though he tried to fire as quickly as he could, Kat had won before he managed to sink a single arrow into her armour. The match lasted five minutes, and though Archie was hiding it well, they could tell that he was impatient by the time it was over.

The match between Charlie and the other boy was over in ten seconds, but that was mainly due to the fact that the boy couldn’t stop gaping at Kat for long enough to stop Charlie from actually walking to within one block of him and firing the three arrows into his chestplate at point-blank range. Archie proceeded to slap his own face with his blocky hand at this.

The match between Kat and Charlie lasted longer than the one between her and Stan, but that was mainly due to that fact that Charlie’s strategy consisted of running in an unpredictable pattern and not trying to shoot at all. The match stopped after Kat ran out of arrows. Archie then rolled his eyes, stood up, whipped out his bow, and proceeded to fire three arrows at the still-moving Charlie in a matter of seconds. All three arrows sunk themselves into Charlie’s headgear.

After a long day, Archie stood up, sighed, and said, “Let’s go.” It was clear from the tone of his voice that he didn’t think that any of them had a knack for archery. They all walked back to the motel to go to bed feeling slightly disappointed.

As everyone was getting ready for bed, Sally asked Stan as she pulled off her armour, “So, what did you think of your first day of training?”

“Well,” said Stan, “let’s just say I hope tomorrow is better, a lot better.” And they both laughed.

The next day was considerably more enjoyable by all accounts. After a breakfast of bread, the four new players followed G to the outskirts of the village and took a ride in some mine carts to the entrance of a large mine.

The upper mine was illuminated by torchlight, but Stan still couldn’t make out the sides. It was enormous. As they went further down, there were fewer torches, but Stan could now see dozens of players hacking away at the sides with pickaxes. Stan guessed that this was where all the good materials were.

The mine carts took them past several stops at different levels, and all the way down to the bottom of the mine. Down there, Stan saw a room constructed out of cobblestone, with torchlight inside. The four new players and G walked into the room, and G explained Mining 101 to them. He showed them how to distinguish the seven different types of ore: coal, iron, redstone, gold, lapis lazuli, emerald and diamond. Then he showed them which materials the pickaxes were good for mining and offered some basic mining safety tips: don’t dig straight down, watch out around gravel and sand, and so on.

Once they were done, G took them out of the cobblestone-block room, gave out stone pickaxes, and taught them how to fight with them. Once again the training suits were put on, and there was another tournament. To everyone’s surprise, the one who excelled fastest at pickaxe fighting was Charlie. They had to get three hits in on their opponent, and Charlie beat Stan in the first round and then Kat in the second round. Needless to say, Kat obliterated the other boy. The best moment was during Charlie’s fight against Kat. He was up by two points when Kat took a lunge at him. He fell back and threw his pickaxe through the air, knocking off her helmet.

They then started to mine. Stan did all right. Gravel only fell onto him once, and he got out of it pretty quickly. He also found some coal and iron ore, and even two blocks of lapis lazuli ore, which G said was a rare block used to make blue dye. Kat did about as well as him, not having any gravel fall on her, but not finding any lapis lazuli either. Charlie, however, excelled once again. He seemed to have a sixth sense that told him which way to dig to find the best materials. He brought up much more iron than either of the others, and he also found five lapis lazuli ore blocks and even some gold ore, which G said was very rare. It was a shame, said G, that all materials found during the programme went to the stores of the village.

“But don’t worry, I’m sure that you’ll find really good stuff mining on your own, Charlie,” said G with a smile. “You have the best mining instincts of anyone I’ve ever taught.”

The three went home feeling content that they had done better at mining than they had at archery, with Charlie absolutely beaming at his newfound prowess.

They had a dinner of watermelon and some more bread, and they were going to bed when Sally spoke to Stan yet again.

“Tomorrow you guys are with me,” she said to him. “I’m teaching you sword fighting and crafting.”

“Is that so?” said Stan. “Well, I look forward to it.”

“Just know,” said Sally, “I have high expectations for you.”

Stan’s stomach flipped. “In what? Sword fighting or crafting?” he asked. Immediately afterwards, he felt like an idiot.

She looked him in the eyes and smiled. “Both,” she said, and she went off to bed.

The following day, after bowls of mushroom stew for breakfast, they headed into the dojo above the crafting building to train in sword fighting and crafting.

Stan was nervous. Before the archery and mining lessons he had felt excited, yes, but not nervous. He remembered the exchange with Sally last night. She had high expectations for him. He couldn’t let himself mess this up.

Stan, Kat, and Charlie sat down across from Sally. The other boy had been moved to the class with his other friends after a not-so-subtle request by G and Archie. Stan listened intently as Sally explained that the most important aspect of sword fighting in Minecraft was to not think too much and to basically just do what felt natural.

After she explained and demonstrated some different techniques, she pulled three training suits out of her inventory. “Stan, Charlie, Kat, please come up here.”

They did as she said, not knowing what would happen next. G and Archie had called them up two at a time to fight, not three.

“Put these on,” she commanded, holding out three sets of diamond body armour. They obliged. As Stan was pulling on the diamond trousers, he saw Sally pull two stone swords and one iron sword out of her inventory.

“Kat, Charlie, come stand over here,” she said. They walked to where she was standing. She threw Charlie and Kat the stone swords. “Stan, just stand there.” She threw him the iron sword.

“Kat, Charlie, when I say go, you are going to attack Stan with everything you’ve got. Stan, you have to defend against both of them. As usual, you are out after three hits.”

Stan was dismayed. He had never really fought another player with a sword in his life. He knew that Charlie wasn’t any better than he was, but Kat had supposedly done all that stuff on the other servers. She had killed a player and taken his sword and pickaxes! How was he going to beat her?

“Sally, can’t I get some advantage or something? Like I have four hits and they have two? Wouldn’t that be fair?”

Sally sniggered. “Stan, imagine if a group of about twenty players armed with loaded bows and diamond swords jumped out of the woods and ambushed you. Would that be fair? No, but you’d still have to fight, right? You would, ’cause you know what? Sometimes life isn’t fair. And I was nice. You have an advantage. You have an iron sword and they both have stone, so don’t be a wimp, noob! Now take your positions!”

Up until this point, Kat had been smirking and Charlie had been looking confused, but now they both dropped into fighting stances, swords raised. Kat wore an expression of aggression, while Charlie wore one of apprehension about attacking his friend. Stan was petrified, but he could see Sally’s mind wasn’t changing, so he readied himself to fight.

Sally sat down in a wooden chair with her legs crossed. “OK then … FIGHT!”

Stan was caught totally off guard, but both Charlie and Kat rushed him at the same time. Charlie gave an uppercut to Stan’s right arm, and Stan dodged him by sidestepping left. However, he forgot about Kat, who brought her stone sword down onto his helmet with an almighty clang that reverberated in his skull.

Sally yelled out, “Point to Kat and Charlie! Stan, you’ve got two hits left … Charlie, three … Kat, three. Back to positions.” They walked back to their original positions and dropped into fighting stances once again. “Ready? And … FIGHT!”

This time Stan was ready. Charlie rushed first and tried the same uppercut attack, and again Stan dodged, but when Kat swung her sword to his left side he spun his iron sword and blocked Kat’s attack. The two players pressed into each other’s weapons. Kat was stronger than Stan, but Stan had better leverage. Stan was about to overpower her when he felt a dull pain at his right rib cage. Charlie had spun back around and hit him hard on the right side of his body armour. It had hurt, too.

Again, Sally called out, “Point to Kat and Charlie! Stan, one hit left … Charlie, three … Kat, three.” But instead of calling out “ready,” she walked over to Stan. She stood behind him, put her hands on his shoulders, and whispered in his ear. “Stan, you aren’t going to win if you put all your energy into fighting one of them. When one of them strikes you, dodge it, and use the opening to come back in and deliver a strike. And better yet, use their own energy against them if you can. Also, remember, go for the weakest link first.” With that, she went back to her chair. Stan felt weak-kneed as she was so close to him, but immediately got back into his fighting stance, knowing what he would do next.

Sally announced, “Match point! Ready? And … FIGHT!”

Stan moved instantly. He cut hard to the right, towards Charlie’s side. Kat couldn’t attack him, because Charlie was in between them. Charlie took a slash with his sword at Stan, but Stan feinted backwards, and at the first opportunity he rushed forwards and thrust his sword with all his might at Charlie’s stomach. The direct blow glanced off his training suit, but Charlie still doubled over, the wind knocked out of him.

“Point to Stan! Stan, one hit left … Charlie, two … Kat, three.” As they reset, Stan caught Sally’s eye. She smiled, and instantly another plan, more brilliant than the last, popped into his head.

“Match point! Ready? And … FIGHT!”

Stan stood still, and Charlie rushed towards Stan. Knowing what they were trying to do, Stan feinted right and slammed his sword into Charlie’s back, forcing Charlie to the spot where Stan had just stood. Just as Stan had expected, Kat jumped up. Not aware of Charlie’s new position, Kat brought her sword down where Stan had just been standing, but instead of hitting him on the head, she clubbed her partner. His helmet flew off, and Charlie hit the floor like a ton of bricks.

Sally yelled, “Point to Stan! Stan, one hit left … Charlie, zero … Kat, three! Charlie is out!” But Kat and Stan didn’t notice as they were both checking to see if Charlie was OK, and even as she said it, Sally was standing up to join them.

“Charlie, are you all right?” cried Stan, his voice hoarse with worry.

“Oh God, Charlie, I am so sorry!” yelled Kat, tears in her eyes.

“Charlie? Charlie, can you hear me?” said Sally, bending over Charlie’s unconscious form. Stan noticed the slash on his head, and his stomach felt like it had dissolved. Charlie couldn’t be … no, he refused to let himself think it. Sally waved her blocky hand over his closed eyes. When there was no response, she reached into her inventory and pulled something out. It was a golden apple, like the one that Stan had seen Jayden give to his unconscious brother. The second Charlie swallowed the shiny fruit, the wound on his head disappeared, and he sat upright, holding his head.

“Well, that was unpleasant,” he said with a dark smile.

Kat gave a shout of relief while Stan yelled out, “Thank God you’re alive, man!” He turned to Sally. “What happened? I thought you said that the armour absorbed all damage!”

“It’s supposed to,” Sally said, frowning. “Let me see Charlie’s helmet, Stan.” Stan picked up the helmet from the floor and handed it to her. She examined it. “Well, it looks like somebody didn’t enchant this helmet correctly. It appears to have been given Blast Protection instead of just normal Protection, so you wouldn’t get hurt by an explosion – but you would by a sword. How did we not catch this in review?

“Well, I guess it doesn’t matter, we can fix it,” she said. “And, may I say, that was an excellent move, Stan. If Charlie were in any condition to fight right now, he would have lost the match due to taking damage from both you and Kat. And Kat! To produce a strike with a stone sword that does that much damage to someone wearing a diamond helmet! Very impressive, both of you!”

Stan tried not to look too proud of himself, seeing as he had just injured his best friend. Kat, meanwhile, was trying to hide the fact that she was blushing.

“Well, Charlie, you’d better not fight any more seeing as you don’t have a helmet, but we still have to finish this fight. Kat, where’s your sword?”

“Over there,” she said sheepishly, gesturing to a handle and several chunks of stone. The impact with Charlie’s helmet had reduced her weapon to rubble.

“Girl, you are good at this!” Sally laughed as she picked up the remains of Kat’s sword from the floor. “It must have taken a ton of power to shatter a stone sword in one blow. Here,” she said, picking up Charlie’s sword off the ground and tossing it to her. “Match point! Ready? And … FIGHT!”

This time there was no contest. Kat was simply more talented with a sword than Stan was, and she delivered a blow to his leg and won the match in a matter of seconds.

“Point to Kat! Stan, zero … Kat, three. Kat wins!” she boomed. “Now, come on, I still have crafting to show you guys.”

The three friends stripped off the training suits with pleasure – they were really quite uncomfortable after a while. They followed Sally down the ladder and into the crafting room below them.

Sally explained that the tables with tools on them were called “crafting tables,” and that they used these to create a wide variety of different items. Sally handed them each a copy of a book exactly like the one Stan had gotten out of the chest that first day in Elementia.

Sally gave Stan, Kat and Charlie instructions to craft certain items, and she said to use anything in the chests to do so. They all proved to be quite capable of crafting. They crafted their own wooden planks and then crafting tables, and then some sticks, a stone sword, a stone axe, a bow, some arrows and leather armour.

After they had learned how to craft sufficiently, and Sally had explained how to smelt (changing the properties of certain blocks by putting them in a furnace), they headed back to the room, with a long, hard, successful day behind them. Sally once again came to talk to Stan. He was waiting – it was becoming a thing that they did. She sat down.

“You’re really good with a sword,” she said.

“No I’m not! Kat was better!” he said, wondering why she would say this.

“Yes, she is better with a sword than you are. But you were innovative. Once you realized what you were doing, you managed to score two points with two people going against you. That’s not something just anybody could do.”

“Thanks,” he said, smiling at her. “I had a good teacher.”

She smiled back at him. “You’d better get to bed, noob. Tomorrow’s your day with Jayden, and you can’t expect him to be as nice as me. Get some rest. You’ll need it.” And with that she went to her own bed.

CHAPTER 6
STAN AND STEVE

Stan woke up the next morning to a hissing sound.

“Very funny, guys,” he mumbled. “That actually sounds a lot like a real Creep—aaauuuggghhh!”

This time, it was no prank. An actual Creeper was standing right next to Stan, and he was staring right into its horrible, empty face. The monster was beginning to swell, and in the split second before the inevitable explosion, Stan flew at the monster and punched it in the face.

To Stan’s amazement, instead of exploding, the Creeper flew backwards. As it walked back towards him, it suddenly keeled over sideways, an arrow protruding from the side of its head. Everyone woke up to the sound of Stan’s yell, and Rex started barking. Archie still stood with his bow in hand, aiming exactly where the monster’s head had been. The body disappeared, leaving a small mess of grey powder beneath it.

“What’s going on?” yelled Kat, holding her sword up.

“Yeah, what’s with all the noise?” whined G. “I’m trying to sleep here!”

“A Creeper got in,” said Stan.

“What?” said Sally, looking dishevelled, not at all like her usual self. “How did a Creeper get in … hang on. Why is it so dark in here? Where are the torches?”

She was right. The windows around the edges of the building provided the only source of light. Besides that it was dark.

“Yeah, where are the torches?” asked Jayden, who was still breathing heavily. “Did someone steal them?”

“I guess so,” said Charlie, looking around. “But why? Why would somebody break in here just to steal the torches? And the door?” he added, for he had just noticed that the door, too, was missing.

“It was probably just some random Griefer. You know, a player that likes giving other players crap for no reason,” said Archie, putting his bow back into his inventory. “Felt like having a laugh by making it so that monsters could just come in here in the night.”

“Yeah,” said Stan as he remembered how Mr A had attacked them for no apparent reason. “Yeah, a Griefer would do something like that.”

“Well, it’s good that thing woke us up, actually. I was about to oversleep,” said Jayden. “It’s my turn to make breakfast, so I’ll go get some stuff for that. Sally, you go down to the storehouse and craft us a new door and some torches.” Sally nodded and ran out of the hole where the door used to be, followed closely by Jayden.

Sally came back shortly, and she put new torches on the walls and fixed the new door in the frame. Jayden arrived not long after, holding some wheat and a brown powder. He put it on the crafting table, and before long he had created a batch of cookies. Everyone had some – they were chocolate chip, and they tasted delicious.

“OK,” said Jayden after they had all finished and Kat had calmed the still-barking Rex by feeding him some rotten flesh. “Come with me, you three. We have axe training and farming today.”

Kat and Charlie filed out of the room with Stan in the rear, feeling sure that he would not be very good at axe fighting. Frankly, he had always been slightly awkward, and he did not imagine that swinging a long stick with a hunk of metal on the end would be his forte. As he realized this, Stan felt suddenly sullen. Charlie had proven to be exceptional with a pickaxe, and the same with Kat and her sword. If he couldn’t master axe fighting, what would he have to fight with? But as Stan left the room, he could have sworn he heard Sally whisper, “Good luck, noob,” in his ear and instantly, he felt more confident.

They followed Jayden down the road and were surprised when they entered Crazy Steve’s farm.

“What are we doing here?” asked Stan.

“Well, what better place to learn about axe use than at a farm?” asked Jayden. “As part of the programme, you’ll be doing some volunteer work here, helping my brother with the farming.”

This made sense, and the four players walked into an empty yard enclosed by fences. In the adjacent pumpkin field, Crazy Steve was tilling some new land with his hoe. Stan was relieved to see, judging by Steve’s calm and methodic demeanor, that he was not QPOed.

“Hey, bro,” the farmer said, and he tipped his straw hat as the teacher and three students entered through the gate. “Ya three gonna help an old farmer with his work today? Dose Mooshrooms are giving me quite a hard time, and I could use da extra hands.”

“You’ll get your help, Steve,” replied Jayden. “We have axe fighting to do first.”

Stan’s stomach did another flip as he thought of the pressure surrounding his mastery of the axe, which Jayden pulled out of a chest in the enclosure.

“The key,” said Jayden, holding up the axe and demonstrating proper form, “is to let the axe guide you. It knows what to do. You are not the master of the axe. You are simply its modest guide.”

“Oh, brother,” grumbled Kat under her breath. Jayden proceeded to explain the basic mechanics of axe fighting, which Stan understood surprisingly well.

“To help you appreciate the art, each of you must pass a challenge.” He called out, “Yo, Steve! Toss me four pumpkins, stat!”

Crazy Steve may have been old, but he was strong. He picked up four pumpkins growing in the field and tossed them all to Jayden in two throws. Jayden put three of the pumpkins in the chest and then pulled out something Stan had never seen before. It appeared to be a large block made out of snow. Jayden took out another. He put one snow block down towards the back of the empty lot, and put the other on top of it. He turned to Stan, Charlie and Kat.

“Your goal in this exercise is to get across this red line.” He gestured to line of red dust behind the pile of snow that Stan hadn’t noticed before. “You also must kill the enemy that I am about to create.”

The three new players all started talking at once.

“What do you mean, create?”

“Why isn’t the snow melting?”

“Are you going to make a Creeper or something?”

“How does that work?”

“Why isn’t the snow melting?”

“How are we supposed to survive without armour?”

“This honestly can’t be safe!”

“Why isn’t the snow melting?!”

Jayden waited for the questions to die down before he continued. “I’ll demonstrate, and all your questions will be answered. Charlie, could you come here, please?”

Looking scared stiff, and with good reason, Charlie walked over to the tall pile of snow. Jayden tossed him a pumpkin and said, “Now, Charlie, when I say go, put that pumpkin on top of the snow pile. Got it?” Charlie nodded, looking confused. Stan shared his puzzlement. He had no idea what Jayden was about to do.

Jayden stood at the opposite end of the enclosure from the red line and pile of snow and pulled an iron axe out of the trunk. He stood with the axe at his side, got in a fighting stance, and said, “Ready, Charlie? And … GO!”

Charlie placed the pumpkin on the snow pile, and immediately fell backwards screaming, a look of horror and amazement on his face. The pile of snow with the pumpkin had turned into some type of animated snowman. Sticks had sprouted out of its sides, and it was hurling snowballs that it seemed to procure from nowhere rapid-fire at Jayden, who was running towards the snowman. Jayden was agile – not one of the snowballs hit him as he charged the snowy beast.

Then, as Jayden reached the snowman, he jumped in the air and did a sort of midair twirl, just dodging one of the snowballs, and his axe sliced through the bottom chunk of the snowman. Another twirl saw the middle section cleaved in two, and with another jumping spin the axe sliced clear through the pumpkin head. The snowman was seriously damaged, not throwing snowballs any more, and seemed to be struggling just to stay upright. Jayden was ruthless, though, and with one last jump into the air he delivered an almighty blow with the axe straight down on the snowman’s head. The entire pile of pumpkin and snow fell to two sides, snowballs rained onto the ground, and the pumpkin burst apart and split into nothing but seeds and a few pieces of orange flesh.

Completely ignoring the gaping mouths of his three students, Jayden wiped the snow and pumpkin guts off his axe and calmly walked across the red line.

Stan, Charlie, and Kat exploded into cheers. None of them was entirely sure what they had just seen, but it was certainly spectacular. “That was amazing!” Stan yelled.

“Yeah, it was! And what exactly was that thing you just killed?” asked Kat.

“Oh, that was just a Snow Golem,” explained Jayden. “They use snowballs to keep away monsters and unwanted guests. So, which of you wants to try first?”

The smile fell from Stan’s face. He had forgotten that he would have to do what Jayden had just done. Jayden made it look so easy! What if I just end up looking like an idiot? Stan thought.

“I’ll take the bullet,” Charlie said meekly, stepping forwards. The others looked surprised, even Jayden, though he still tossed Charlie the axe. Charlie never volunteered to go first.

“Well, snowballs don’t hurt, do they?” said Charlie, taking his stance as Jayden readied the Golem. “What’s the worst that can happen?”

Famous last words, thought Stan.

And he turned out to be right, as Charlie’s trial was a bona fide disaster. The second Jayden yelled go, Charlie dashed forwards, but he instantly fell back on his butt, still grabbing the handle of the axe – he had clearly underestimated its weight. With Charlie on the ground, the Snow Golem had a clear shot at Charlie with the snowballs. Each snowball knocked Charlie into the air a little, but he was so bad at dodging them that he was actually blasted into the air by the rapid-fire stream of snow. It was only a hoe thrown spear-style by Crazy Steve, which impaled itself in the Golem’s face, that stopped Charlie from being lifted to a fatal height. Still, Charlie was pretty badly hurt when he fell back down, and a disgruntled Jayden had to pull out another golden apple to fix Charlie’s leg.

Kat’s trial was almost as bad. She decided to throw the axe with all her considerable strength towards the Golem’s head. It would have worked had her aim been better. The flying axe ended up hitting and killing a cow in the adjacent field. From there, it was all Kat could do to keep from being lifted into the air as Charlie had. She was better at dodging than him, but she had no weapons, and she only dodged about half the rapid-fire snowballs. Jayden had to pull out a bow and arrows from the chest and fire three shots into the Snow Golem’s pumpkin head to put an end to it.

Finally, Stan took the axe. He dropped into a fighting stance with a nervous pit in his stomach. He hoped he wouldn’t just drop the axe like Charlie, or do something else to make himself look stupid. Jayden put the pumpkin head in place, the Snow Golem became animated, and Stan took off.

The first thing he noticed was that the axe wasn’t as heavy as he had thought. It felt rather light in his hand as he ran with it trailing behind him. The second thing he noticed was how easy it was to dodge the snowballs – he simply knew when to duck and weave around them, and in no time, Stan had reached the Snow Golem. What happened next was so incredible that even Jayden didn’t believe his eyes.

As he neared the Snow Golem, Stan had a brilliant idea. Instead of trying to copy what Jayden had done and doing a triple spin, Stan launched himself forwards into the air and spun with all his might, axe stretched in front of him. He slammed into the Snow Golem with such speed and such incredible revolution that the Golem was cut into dust as if it was in a blender set to liquefy.

Stan landed with one hand and two feet on the ground, well past the red line, breathing hard, his axe held in the remaining hand, and there was no evidence that there had ever been an enemy there. Nobody could even see any pieces of the pumpkin. The only evidence of the snow was the light dust hanging in the air, creating a rainbow in the light from the square sun.

There was an absolute explosion of cheers from Charlie, and Kat and Jayden just looked amazed. Stan’s smile filled his face. The move had seemed so natural, so easy! Then he noticed Crazy Steve’s face, and his smile faltered.

The look was shrewd and calculating. It was as if the old-timer was seeing Stan for the first time and was now trying to figure something out about him, as if there were something hidden in Stan’s pixilated body that he was trying to decipher. But his friends came over, and Stan soon forgot about the old farmer.

“That was amazing!” cried Kat.

“Wow! Awesome, man!” exclaimed Charlie.

“How did you do that!?” asked Jayden, eyes wide.

Stan shrugged, unable to stop grinning. “I don’t know. It just kind of happened.”

“Well, it was amazing!” Kat said again, and Charlie nodded enthusiastically in agreement.

“I think we may have just found your talent!” said a smiling Jayden. Stan’s heart leaped. And as the training continued, it seemed that Stan had indeed discovered something that he could do without trying. Like Charlie with the pickaxe and Kat with the sword, Stan blew away all the others in the sparring ring. He even managed to just beat out Jayden. Now Jayden was even more impressed, not to mention slightly jealous.

After a farming lesson that was no problem at all (though none of them particularly liked farming, they were all capable of doing it with ease, and Steve really appreciated the help convincing the stubborn Mooshrooms to breed), they put away their axes and hoes and headed out. Jayden was just about to exit under the hedge when a hand grabbed his shoulder.

“Yo, Jay!” Stan turned around and saw Crazy Steve speaking to Jayden. Jay turned. “Could I talk to Stan here for a few minutes?” Jay nodded and walked off, the others following behind him.

“Come on, noob,” said Steve as he walked back into the farm. Stan was apprehensive. He had had misgivings about Crazy Steve since the episode with the QPO and was not keen on talking with him one-on-one. When they got to the cow fence, Crazy Steve sat down on a stretch of fence and looked Stan straight in the eye.

“Look, kid,” said Crazy Steve, “I realize dat ya may not think much’a me since dat whole QPO thing, but I’ve been on this server a real long time. I’m level fifty-four, da highest in da village. I’ve got a whole lotta knowledge worked up about da server, who runs it, and how it works. Do me a favour and remember dat as I talk to ya, OK?” Stan nodded, unsure of where this was going.

“Like I said, I’ve been here a real long time, and frankly, da server’s never been in worse shape than it is right now. Don’t interrupt,” he added as Stan opened his mouth to ask what Crazy Steve was talking about. “Dem in Element City, dat run da government, dey don’t like people like ya. Freshies. Beginners. Noobs. Ya get it, don’cha?”

Stan nodded, his gut knotting at this revelation, and asked, “But why? Why do they not like us? And what does this have to do with me?”

Crazy Steve’s reply was cut off when an arrow sunk into his temple.

Stan’s shock vanished immediately when he heard the twang of another arrow being fired. He rolled off the fence and grabbed the iron hoe that Crazy Steve had dropped. He threw it in the direction of the arrow. The hoe connected, and Stan saw a player with a black ski mask, bare muscular chest, and black trousers and shoes stumble backwards, holding his face.

Stan used the time it took his attacker to recover to look at the player beside him. Crazy Steve had fallen to the ground and now lay unmoving, bleeding from the arrow in his head. All of the items that he carried were strewn on the ground about him. There was no doubt about it – he was dead.

Stan’s brain did not have time to process this horrific turn of events. He grabbed Crazy Steve’s iron axe and looked at the murderer just in time to see him send another arrow flying towards Stan’s head. He deflected it with the axe and then charged his assailant.

The murderer was now on the run. He had pulled out a piece of flint and an iron ring, and he was striking them together to create showers of sparks, setting fire to anything in his reach. The melons, the fence around the pigpen and the logs of cocoa beans were instantly set ablaze, and the fire was spreading fast, quickly blocking off Stan’s pursuit of the murderer.

Stan’s brain went into emergency mode. Without hesitating, he shoved all of Crazy Steve’s items into his own inventory, grabbed the old farmer’s body, and bolted towards the exit, yelling for Jayden. Stan burst through the hedge archway, which was already burning, and saw Jayden running back, a look of horror on his face, closely tailed by Kat and Charlie.

The second Jayden saw the burning farm his eyes widened in shock, but it was the sight of his dead brother that made him go completely berserk. He grabbed Stan by the shoulders and shook him back and forth, yelling, “What happened?”

“A player with a ski mask killed Steve, tried to kill me and then set the farm on fire!” choked out Stan. He found it hard to breathe due to the smoke and his horror at Crazy Steve’s untimely demise.

A flash of recognition showed momentarily in Jayden’s eyes, and Stan could tell that this … this … Griefer, with the ski mask, had struck before. Jayden yelled at the top of his lungs at the sky, cursing the Griefer, his eyes and veins bulging. Stan, Kat and Charlie stood beside him, looking terrified.

Stan stood there numb for the longest time. He was vaguely aware of Jayden breaking down sobbing next to him, of Adoria’s voice yelling, of people running past him with water buckets. He realized that the inferno was gradually dying down. Before long, there was no more fire to brighten the dark night that had fallen in the midst of the firefight.

Stan snapped out of his trance when he heard Sally’s voice next to him. “You all right, noob?” she asked gently.

Stan looked at her. He wanted to tell her that he wasn’t all right, and that Crazy Steve could never return to the server due to his banishment, and that he couldn’t understand why someone would kill another player if they knew that eternal banishment was the consequence … but instead he looked her in the eye and said, “I’ll be all right.” Her eyes were full of tears, and he didn’t want to seem weak to her, not after she had believed in him.

“Sally, we have a big problem!” Adoria exclaimed as she rushed over to them, panic in her voice. “I think that there’s a possibility that this attack may not be isolated. We need to get all the lower-levels into the mine, but there won’t be room for all of them down there. The mine wasn’t meant to hold the number of people we have now. Any more than two-thirds of the current population would make it too susceptible to accidents. I’m out of ideas, Jayden’s still distraught, and Archie and G are still busy preparing to evacuate the lower-levels. What do you think we should do?”

The panic in her voice led Stan to speak. “We’ll leave,” he said. Sally and Adoria both stared at him. “We’ll leave, Charlie, Kat and I. If there’s any chance at all that there are more Griefers coming, we’d stand the best chance of survival. We’ve finished the programme. Send us out, ask for other volunteers to leave, and you can stay and defend everyone left in the village.”

Adoria opened her mouth to protest, but Sally cut her off. “That’s actually not bad thinking. Those who’ve completed the programme will have the best shot at surviving, and we upper-levels will have to stay here and defend the village. We can send volunteers who have completed the programme into the forest, towards the city.”

Adoria protested, “But what if they run into Griefers along the way?”

“They won’t,” Sally responded. “The Griefers avoid the main road in case they come across well-armed travellers. They’re cowards, all of them. And besides,” she added, smiling at Stan, “that Griefer didn’t run away for no reason. Am I right in thinking that you fought him off?” Stan nodded.

“OK,” Adoria said, and she ran off towards the mine, skirt billowing in the wind, to make the announcement.

Stan looked at Sally and said, “Sally, I—” but he was cut off by Sally kissing him on the cheek.

“Come back and visit someday,” she said, and she ran off to join Adoria. “Oh, and take some weapons and food from the storehouse!”

CHAPTER 7
THE THUNDERSTORM

I knew it! I knew it! I knew she likes me! Oh, man, I am definitely coming back to this village as soon as I can! Wow, I don’t know what I expected from this game, but that was not at the top of my list! Wow …

These were the thoughts that filled Stan’s head as he sprinted out of the Adorian Village, tailed by Kat and Charlie, as the rain started to fall. They had not been thrilled when he told them that they had to leave, but they were very excited at the prospect of new weapons.

Kat now ran right behind Stan with a bow slung over her back, a quiver of twelve arrows and a gleaming iron sword dangling at her side. Rex was dashing along at her heels. Charlie was close behind the dog, with an iron pickaxe in his hand, and a whole mess of watermelons in his inventory. He held the group’s food. Stan was in the lead, holding an iron axe in his hand and a crafting table, furnace and some coal in his inventory. They were well trained and on the move. In their minds, any enemies that they encountered out here, in the light rain that had started, were dead meat.

In due time, they stopped to take a breather. While they caught their breath, Charlie said, “Wow, what a day, right?”

“Yeah,” replied Kat. They certainly were in no mood for laughter, but they had recovered from the initial shock of Crazy Steve’s death.

“I still don’t get it, though,” she said. “Why did that guy pick Crazy Steve out as a target? He was a farmer! He helped lower-levels!”

Something connected in Stan’s mind as she said this. Crazy Steve’s last words came back to him. Them in Element City, that run the government, they don’t like people like you. Freshies. Beginners. Noobs.

“You don’t think that the assassin was with the government, do you?” asked Stan.

Charlie and Kat looked at him in shock. “Why would the government send out assassins to kill people that gave food to their lower-level citizens?” Kat asked sceptically.

“That’s just it, though,” said Stan, standing up. “He gave food to lower-level citizens.” He told them about his conversation with Crazy Steve and what the old farmer had said about the government.

This left Kat looking bewildered, while Charlie asked, “Why? How does that make any sense?”

“I don’t know,” Stan replied. “Crazy Steve was just about to tell me when …” He sighed, looked away from the other two, and sighed again. They got the message.

“It’s certainly a weird theory,” said Kat, also standing, “But we’ll think about it later. We need to get going!” She had to yell to be heard over the sound of the rain, which was falling hard now. Stan saw a lightning strike in the distance, which Rex barked at. In the illumination from the lightning, he noticed a tower a way off, right in the middle of the path.

“What’s that?” he asked, gesturing to it.

“What’s what?” yelled Kat.

“That, the tower up there!” he yelled back, and another lightning strike illuminated the sky, letting Kat and Charlie see the tower as well.

“Maybe it’s a shelter! Or another player’s house!” yelled Charlie.

“Maybe! Let’s go there, because we need to get out of this storm! This lightning is getting dangerous!” screamed Kat over the whistling wind and pounding rain.

The thunderstorm was beginning to get dangerous, with the bolts extremely frequent now. Once, lightning struck a tree right next to Kat and it caught fire, causing her to give a screech of surprise. Fortunately it was immediately extinguished by the rain.

As they approached the tower, they noticed that it was actually a pyramid, and that it covered the entire road. Stan was suspicious. Something felt wrong. As he walked closer, his suspicions were confirmed. The entire pyramid was made of stacked blocks of TNT.

“Why would someone put this here?” asked Kat.

“I don’t know, but I don’t feel safe near it,” replied Stan.

“Why?” asked Charlie, walking up to the pyramid. “What’s the worst that can happen?”

As if on cue, the worst thing did happen. Lightning struck the top of the pyramid, and the powder in the block was ignited. It began to flash dangerously.

“RUN!” screamed Stan as the block exploded. As the three players and Rex ran for it, the entire tower exploded from the top down, with each explosion sending lit TNT blocks flying everywhere like lava spewing from a volcano. Luckily, they escaped the range of the explosions with top-speed sprinting. As they gazed at the exploding pyramid it became clear that the explosives were underground, too. They could hear the explosions continue on for about sixty seconds before the tumult finally stopped.

The rain had died down, so they could talk in normal voices again. There was dust in the air now from the explosion, just like the Creeper explosion in the mine on the way to the Adorian Village. But this explosion was much larger, and it had blown a huge fissure in the middle of the road. They were cut off from the other side.

“The woods, then?” Stan said in an unnaturally high voice. They looked at each other. They remembered what Sally had said. The Griefers avoid the main road in case they come across well-armed travellers. Straying off the road would lead them directly into enemy territory.

“Oh, don’t be ridiculous, we don’t—” started Charlie, but he was cut off by Kat.

“Don’t kid yourself, Charlie. Stan’s right.” They could tell from her trembling lip that Kat was making a determined effort to keep her cool. “Come on,” she said, and she started into the woods, Rex at her heels, growling in a low tone. Charlie made a high-pitched squeal, but he forced himself to follow Stan into the forest.

It was dark. Stan could barely make out the neon orange of Kat’s shirt. Every now and then, there was another flash of lightning, and Stan could make out a Spider web, a tree trunk, a Zombie lumbering in the distance.

Suddenly, there was a rustling to Stan’s right. There was something in the underbrush, and it was running straight towards him. “Run!” he yelled, and he started running, hacking branches out of the way with his axe. Kat and Charlie looked confused for a second, but when they heard the rustling they followed suit.

Stan burst out of the forest and into the light, now on the other side of the giant crater. Kat burst out right after him, closely followed by Rex and Charlie. Stan whipped out his axe and raised it above his head, Kat drew her sword and dropped in a fighting stance, and Charlie held his pickaxe in trembling hands. Then, the thing that had been chasing them burst into the clearing.

“Are you kidding me? You were scared of this little guy?” laughed Kat as she walked up to the pig and stroked it behind the ears, which it seemed to like. Rex came up to the pig and started sniffing it.

“Honestly, Stan, don’t do that!” said Charlie, his eyes wide, holding his chest. “You almost gave me a heart attack!”

“I’m sorry, all right?” said Stan, but he was smiling. It was a cute little pig. “Kat, get Rex away from that pig. I could use some meat.” At Kat’s command Rex left the pig alone and sat at her feet. “Bye-bye, little guy,” said Stan, and he raised his axe and brought it down on the pig, just as lightning struck.

His axe was countered by a golden sword.

Kat’s jaw dropped, Charlie gave a yelp, and Stan nearly fell back, eyes wide, as he saw the monster that the pig had transformed into upon being struck by lightning.

It was like a player in form, and it had the general colour of a pig, but the flesh was rotting off all over its body, and part of its skull was showing through the side of its head. Its ribs stuck out of its stomach. It wore a brown loincloth, and in its hand was a golden sword that was locked against the steel of Stan’s axe. It appeared to Stan to be some king of pig-Zombie hybrid. And it looked mad.

The Pig-Zombie pressed the attack. It swung its sword in complicated patterns and drove Stan backwards. Stan tried to counter with his axe, but the attempts were futile. The Pig-Zombie’s golden blade dodged an axe blow and severed the axe’s blade from the handle. Stan’s weapon was destroyed.

Stan danced backwards, trying to avoid the sword slices, when a pickaxe flew through the air and embedded itself in the Pig-Zombie’s exposed skull. The attack did no damage whatsoever, but it had the intended effect. The Pig-Zombie turned his attention from Stan and now set its sights on Charlie.

Charlie might have thought through the desperate attack a little better, though. The Pig-Zombie was faster than he anticipated, and Stan watched in horror as the undead warrior rushed in and slashed Charlie’s leg and forehead. Charlie yelled out in pain, falling to the ground and grabbing his damaged limb and temple. The golden sword rose for the death blow, but before the inevitable strike, a white blur connected with the Pig-Zombie and it was knocked to the ground.

Rex, at Kat’s command, had tackled the Pig-Zombie. There was a moment when the two animals wrestled with each other, attempting to tear out the other’s throat, until Rex was finally overpowered. The dog was thrown to the edge of the crater, where he lay whimpering, unable to get up.

Upon seeing Charlie and her dog in such pain, Kat’s eyes blazed with fury, and she rushed the Pig-Zombie. The iron and golden blades clashed, and the two warriors began to fight. Kat’s skill was incredible, but was matched equally by the Pig-Zombie. And Kat was at an obvious disadvantage. She managed to slash the Pig-Zombie across the stomach once, but all that did was make some of its flesh fall off, not slowing it down in the least.

Stan felt hopeless. His axe was broken, Charlie was on the verge of death and Kat was beginning to wear out as she fought the Pig-Zombie. It was clear that it would take an incredibly powerful attack to finish off the Pig-Zombie, like an explosion of some sorts, like …

Stan suddenly felt something, like the air was static. He looked towards the source. A little ways down the road, a figure was emerging from the forest. It was as tall as he was, but with four squat legs. A Creeper. But there was something different about this one. It had little lines of electricity dancing around its body, and it was giving off a current that Stan could feel even from such a distance. It was as if the Creeper had been struck by lightning. Stan could sense that an explosion from a Creeper charged with so much electricity could be … fatal.

He knew what he had to do. He yelled, “Kat! Toss me the bow and arrows!”

Kat was tired from fighting the Pig-Zombie, and she knew that it would overpower her soon. As the Pig-Zombie slashed, she feinted back and gave an almighty attack with her sword, as if she were brandishing a baseball bat. The undead being flew backwards and slammed into a tree. She threw the bow and arrows to Stan, and took the opportunity to catch her breath.

Stan took the bow, positioned the arrow, took aim, and fired.

He hit his target. The arrow sunk deep into the Creeper’s head.

The Creeper looked at Stan. Its eyes glowed red, and the electric activity around its body increased significantly. Then the monster charged, full speed, towards them.

“What do you think you’re doing?” yelled Kat, but she had to turn her eyes back to her own fight. The Pig-Zombie was back on its feet, and it gave her a cut across the back that sent her tumbling. Her sword flew high into the air.

Stan knew that he couldn’t allow himself to think of his two fallen friends until he completed the task at hand. He caught Kat’s iron sword and rushed at the Pig-Zombie. The swords collided, and the two struggled to overpower each other. Stan stared into the beast’s face, noticing that one of its eyes was nothing more than an empty socket, and he saw out of the corner of his right eye that the Creeper was almost upon him. Stan feinted back and used all his remaining strength to thrust the sword into the Pig-Zombie’s stomach. Before the undead fiend had time to react, Stan flung the Pig-Zombie over his head, and it collided with the hissing Creeper. Stan dived out of the way just as he heard the tremendous explosion behind him.

Stan was badly rattled from the blast, and he knew that he’d been injured during the fight, but he forced himself to get up and survey the scene around him. Charlie was lying on the side of the road, the cuts on his head and leg bleeding. Rex lay on the edge of the crater, still whimpering. Kat was nowhere to be found. In the place where the two monsters had collided there was a crater, three times bigger than a normal crater caused by a Creeper explosion. The Pig-Zombie was gone, and all that remained was a pile of rotten meat and a bloodstained gold sword.

Wasting no time, Stan started to walk to the crater. Each step was excruciating, but he had to save his friends. He scooped up the golden sword and put both swords into his inventory. He held the rotten flesh in his hands. This he fed to Rex, whose tail instantly shot up, and he became the same dog again, licking Stan’s hand.

Stan hobbled over to Charlie next. He wasn’t moving at all, and his wounds looked worse up close. Fearing the worst, Stan reached into Charlie’s inventory and pulled out a watermelon slice. He stuffed it into Charlie’s mouth, hoping for a sign of life. To his relief, Charlie slowly started to chew the watermelon and then gave a sigh. Stan sighed, too, now sure that Charlie would be all right if he could find the right treatment quickly enough.

That left Kat. Stan had no idea where she was. He couldn’t see her anywhere. He was just starting to panic when he heard a raspy, female voice calling his name from within the crater made by the pyramid explosion. He looked into it and saw Kat lying spread-eagle on a ledge about five blocks down. As Stan punched his way through the dirt to get down to help her, it became clear that Kat had had the wind knocked out of her. Her breathing was shallow and raspy.

With great difficulty, Stan and Kat made their way out of the colossal crater and then, without a word, both fell to the ground, unconscious.

Stan woke up to the feel of Rex licking his face. Judging by the fact that it was early morning and the sky was no longer grey, they had been out cold for a while. Stan sat up and woke Kat.

“It’s funny,” she said with a grimace. “Each day I think this game couldn’t get any more dangerous.”

Stan nodded. He understood what she meant. “Well, let’s hurry. We have to get Charlie some help as soon as possible, and I have a hunch that we’ll find that in Element City.” Kat nodded and stood up. Looking at himself, he saw that he was covered in dust and debris from the explosion. “We’d both better jump in the water when we get a chance, too,” said Stan. “We’re a mess!”

Kat didn’t say anything, but got up and walked slowly and painfully over to Charlie. Stan followed right behind her. Together, with extreme difficulty, they slung the unconscious Charlie onto their shoulders, and started limping down the path once again.

It was agony. The Creeper’s explosion had damaged something within Stan, and every breath he took felt detached, like it was hurting rather than helping him. Kat, on the other hand, had a huge slash on her back from battling the Pig-Zombie, and she might have also suffered more injuries from being thrown into the crater. Charlie wasn’t capable of doing anything to help. The wounds to his head and leg were severe, and the thought of these wounds not healing was the only thing pushing Kat and Stan to continue down the path.

After what seemed like an entire day (though, in reality, the sun was high in the sky, and it was only about noon), a wall came into view. It was a huge wall, and the only things that Stan could see over the wall were the tall towers of what looked like a castle. Stan was just noticing the guards pacing back and forth on top of the wall, armed with bows, when something inside him gave an awful lurch. He found himself falling, blacking out before he had even hit the ground.

CHAPTER 8
PROCLAMATION DAY

When Stan woke up, he found himself lying on the ground. There were dirt and weeds beneath him, and brick walls rose on both sides of him. He had just noticed this when he saw Kat squatting down next to him, stuffing a golden apple into the unconscious Charlie’s mouth. Stan noticed that the cut on her back had vanished. She must have eaten a golden apple as well.

“Oh, Kat … what happened?” Stan asked, his hand to his head, as Charlie began to stir, his cuts already completely vanished.

“You passed out,” Kat said. “Right outside the gate. You and Charlie were both down, and I knew that I needed golden apples. None of the guards would even talk to me, and I had to look through about three shops before I found one that was willing to trade for three golden apples. I gave him the crafting table, the furnace and coal, the bow, the eleven arrows, the iron and golden swords, and most of the watermelon, and he still seemed to think that I was almost stealing by taking the apples from him.”

“Wait,” said Stan, trying to process what she had said. “Questions. What do you mean, shops?”

“Oh, well, we made it to Element City. Apparently, that’s what that wall was.” Stan noticed a row of buildings with players swarming in the streets. “And right at the entrance is the merchant’s area. They barter from inside their shops.”

“OK,” Stan said. “Where are we now?”

“Oh, I just dragged you two into the nearest convenient alleyway and then got the golden apples.”

“OK so … wait a minute … crafting table … furnace, coal … bow, arrows … two swords … watermel— You gave him all our stuff!?” Charlie said, for he’d recovered and was listening now, too.

“And he still thought I was ripping him off, even though I was still bleeding really bad myself,” said Kat, shaking her head. “I tell you, the people here are total jerks compared to the Adorian Village.”

Stan remembered how Adoria had hesitated before telling them that going to Element City was a good idea. This must be what she meant, he thought.

“I’ll say, though,” said Kat. “The guy seemed really surprised when I said that the wounds were from a Zombie Pigman. Apparently they—”

“Wait, what’s a Zombie Pigman?” asked Charlie.

The other two stared at him for a minute. Then Kat said, “Charlie, are you dense?”

Charlie looked confused.

“Dude, what did we just fight? What gave you cuts on the head and leg?”

Charlie concentrated for a second, and then his face lit up. “Oh, I get it! ’Cause it’s a Zombie but it looks like a pig and has the body shape of a man!”

Kat and Stan glanced at each other.

“Let’s hope that’s just a side effect of the apple,” said Kat dismissively. “Anyway, we’re here now, and Goldman told me that the thing that you want to do once you get here is get a job. They offer you lodging and food, and you work for them. Sometimes they’ll offer you a more tedious task, and they’ll pay you in materials. Those materials can be traded for other things that you need, and eventually you’ll be able to open your own house that you buy on the real estate market and open your own business beneath it.”

As she finished her monologue, Stan and Charlie looked at her with raised eyebrows.

“When did you spend so much time talking to G?”

“And why did you call him ‘Goldman’?”

Kat rolled her eyes. “I talked to him at night after training. It’s nice to talk to someone who knows what he’s talking about. And for the record, he prefers to be called Goldman, but he lets people call him G because Goldman is kind of a mouthful. I don’t mind, though,” she added, as Charlie and Stan sniggered. “Let’s go find jobs.”

And with that, the trio stood up, ate the last three watermelon slices, and, with nothing left to their names, walked out of the alley and into the street.

The city was breathtaking. The cobblestone streets were overflowing with people walking down the blocks. Above their heads, a monorail-like system of railroad tracks ran above the houses. And the houses were everywhere. The ground floors of the houses were various stores and shops, with the living quarters situated above.

Overlooking this metropolis were skyscrapers. The area they were in was clearly the merchants’ district, but there were other zones of the city as well, and one of them was filled with skyscrapers. The tallest buildings were three towers, connected by bridges at various points. The middle was crowned by a slender spire. However, the main building of this city was clearly the castle.

Raised up significantly higher than the skyscrapers, this building stretched into the clouds at its peak. The tallest towers of the castle, the ones that could be seen from outside the city over the high wall, must have literally been able to touch the clouds. And the castle was wide, too – it stretched halfway across the city. Even from this distance, they could clearly make out the flag flying from the castle’s bridge. It was emblazoned with a design of three beings: a Creeper, a cow and a player with pale skin, blond hair and a gold crown, who Stan guessed must be the King.

Kat let the boys marvel at the city for a few minutes, but then she forced them to start walking around and asking for work. They went door to door, asking if there were three jobs available. Stan noticed a pattern throughout the process. Whenever they asked for jobs, the first question that was asked was what level they were. Every time they said that Kat was level eight, Stan was level six, and Charlie was level five, they were turned down without further questioning.

After their twelfth rejection, Kat was looking exasperated and Charlie was looking downright irritated. Stan was about to say that they call it quits and tough it out in the alley for the night when he heard a noise behind him.

“Psst!”

His immediate thought was, Creeper! Being the target of three Creeper attacks will do that to a player. He whipped around and made to draw his axe (which he had forgotten he no longer had), but he realized that it was not a Creeper. A player gestured to them from a store across the street. This player had on the most bizarre getup they had ever seen. He appeared to be dressed as a black crow, complete with a yellow beak on his face.

“Psst! Come here, you three!” he whispered, which Stan didn’t get, seeing as all the other stores were closing for the night. And besides, why would he want to keep their visit secret from the neighbours? It all seemed a little sketchy to Stan.

The lights turned on as Stan followed the player across the street and into a store. He saw shelves and shelves stocked with rotten flesh, bones, string, Spider eyes and other things that were taken from the monsters of Minecraft. He also noticed the weapons. Swords of various materials were laid out on tables. Axes hung from hooks on the ceiling. An entire wall was completely covered with hanging bows. There were also mannequins dressed in full sets of leather, iron and diamond armour. Stan was impressed. He had a feeling that if this player wanted to hire them, he would like the job quite a lot.

They climbed up a ladder in the back of the shop and into the player’s house. It was very simple. The only items inside were torches on the walls, a bed, two chairs, a sapling tree on a block of dirt, some chests, a crafting table, a furnace and a counter with a machine with a button on it.

“Sit,” the player said. While Charlie and Kat sat on the chairs and Stan on the floor, they saw the player walk over to the machine and press the button four times. Four loaves of bread popped out of a hole in the front of the machine. He handed three of these to his guests and kept the fourth for himself. He sat down on the bed.

“Am I correct in thinking that you three are looking for jobs?” the player asked.

“Yes,” Kat said. “We’re new here—”

“Sh, sh, shhh!” said the player, looking nervous. For whatever reason, he clearly didn’t wish to be heard. “Not so loud! My name is Blackraven100, and I’m looking for some helping hands in my hunting business.”

“What do you mean, hunting business? Hunting what?” asked Charlie.

“Oh, right, I keep forgetting that you three are … lower-level players,” he whispered, as if it were an awful word. “You see, some rich players like to go hunting for Zombies and other mobs for sport. It’s great fun if you’re well prepared, and you can get some pretty valuable loot. I used to be one of those hunters, but ever since I passed level fifty, I don’t find it as fun as I used to. Now, I sell all the loot that I collected over the years, and I plan to buy an unsettled plot of land that I can build on.

“Unfortunately, my supply has begun to dwindle, and now I need some help with my hunting while I tend the shop. I need players to go into the woods, kill all the monsters that they can find, and bring the loot back to me. The pay will be high. So, what do you say? Obviously I would be happy to lodge and feed you.”

He looked at them expectantly. Stan, Kat and Charlie looked at each other. Stan was nodding, and Charlie was shrugging with a smile, so Kat said, “That sounds good. Thank you for hiring us. Nobody else would. By the way, why wouldn’t any of the others hire us? We’re very grateful that you hired us,” she quickly added, at which Stan and Charlie nodded. “But I’d still like to know.”

Blackraven closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them again. “Oh, some of the higher-level players here have a prejudice against anyone under, say, level fourteen or fifteen. It’s stupid, really. They say the upper-levels have been on the server longer and have had to fight their way to the top, and the lower-levels today don’t have to work as hard because they are building off what the upper-levels have done.”

Kat’s and Stan’s mouths dropped open, and Charlie actually said loudly, “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard! Do you know what we’ve been through since—”

“Ssssshhhhhhhh!” said Blackraven, cutting Charlie off. “The people around here aren’t fond of upper-level players who treat lower-levels kindly. Personally, I think that the whole thing is nonsense, but I can’t afford to voice the opinion when so many around me think that it isn’t.

“Now, let’s go to bed,” he said. He walked to the chest and pulled out some wool and wood. He walked over to the crafting table, and within minutes there were four beds lined up around the room, each occupied by a player.

As he lay in bed, Stan wondered if this unjust prejudice against lower-level players had been the motive of the Griefer that killed Crazy Steve, or even … the motive that drove Mr A, the Griefer that had tried to kill them so many days ago. Perhaps a lower-level player had once robbed him of his items, and he was struggling to get back what he had once had. Yes, that would make perfect sense, thought Stan, as he drifted into sleep.

The next day, Stan, Kat and Charlie set out, laden with gear, to go hunting on their first day under the employ of Blackraven100. Each player was wearing an iron chestplate and helmet. Kat walked in front, holding an iron sword at her side, a bow and quiver of arrows slung across her back. Rex walked behind her, followed by Stan. Stan was holding an iron axe that glinted in the sunlight, and he was also carrying six loaves of bread. Charlie walked next to Stan, holding a pickaxe and their two most important items: a compass and a clock. The compass would help them if they got lost, and the clock told them the time of day in the dark forest.

“Be sure you get back by noon,” Blackraven had said, “so you don’t miss the King’s proclamation. You can go back out after that.”

“Proclamation? What’s that?” asked Stan.

“Oh, every now and then the King of Element City makes an announcement that there will be a major law change or something of that sort. You’re citizens of the city now, so you should be there.”

With this in mind, the three players, along with the dog, went out of the big city gates and into the forest to start to hunt.

It was odd. They had run into so many monsters in that dark forest before, but now they ran into virtually none at all. The only monsters that they were able to find and kill were a Zombie (killed by a pickaxe to the head from Charlie), two Skeletons (shot from afar by Kat), and a Creeper (felled by Stan’s axe). The Creeper was actually pretty impressive, as it was the first Creeper that any of them had personally killed. Still, they were upset by the fact that, when the clock showed that it was nearing midday, they walked back into the city almost empty-handed, holding only a piece of rotten flesh, three bones, two arrows and a handful of gunpowder from the Creeper.

The moment they stepped through the gates Stan could tell that something was wrong. The people on the streets were unusually quiet, and Stan occasionally caught whispers, such as “Did you hear about that merchant whose store was vandalized?” and “Yes, I heard that he was offering jobs to noobs. The thought!” This particular comment heightened Stan’s panic, and he actually started to hyperventilate when he saw the smoke rising from the area of Blackraven’s store and heard the angry shouts from that direction.

The trio turned the corner and their eyes bulged in horror. Even the dog whimpered at the awful scene before them.

Blackraven’s store had been set on fire. Flames blazed out of his upstairs bedroom, and the downstairs was gleaming with the rising blues, yellows, reds, and blacks of burning charcoal. There was a mob outside, and they were yelling in fury, but not at the scene of destruction. Stan heard yells of “How do you like being forced out of house and home?” and “That’s what you get for sheltering noobs!” Stan watched in terror as the people threw bricks, shattering the upstairs windows. Stan was petrified. The three of them had brought this on! What if Blackraven was still in there?

Then, the unimaginable happened. In a shower of sparks, the support beams of the store gave in, and the entire store and house folded in on itself until nothing remained but a smouldering pile of charcoal, flames, and scorched brick. Only one thought filled Stan’s mind: Blackraven100 was most certainly dead.

As the crowd cheered at the collapse of the store, Stan drew out his axe, his eyes blazing in fury. The rage he felt consumed him, unlike anything that he had ever felt before. What he had felt at Crazy Steve’s death was nothing compared to this. He raised his axe over his head and was about to charge the cheering mob when a force unseen pulled him backwards by his collar, and he fell on his butt.

Kat had grabbed him, sensing what he was about to do. Stan, unreasonable with rage, pushed Kat down and leaped back to his feet, ready to charge the mob again, but this time it was Charlie who caught him from the front and prevented him from making progress. This gave Kat the chance to bear-hug Stan from behind. She was much stronger than he was, but he continued to struggle as Kat and Charlie dragged their furious friend back into an alley, where it took the combined effort of Kat and Charlie to force Stan onto the ground.

“Stan! Snap out of it!” cried Charlie hysterically, tears streaming down his face, and it was the pain in his voice that finally made Stan stop fighting Kat. “We’re all upset! And it’s not our fault!” he yelled, reading Stan’s thoughts. “He did the right thing, you hear me? The right thing! If I could, I would run out there and kill all those people myself, but what’s the point?” His voice wasn’t hysterical anymore but shaky, and most certainly pained. “They would turn on us. They hate us, remember? That would just cause more senseless deaths. More senseless, senseless deaths.” Now he just sounded disgusted.

Kat, on the other hand, still had streams of tears on her cheeks. She took her body weight off Stan and gave a sniffle. “Come on, you guys,” she said, her voice shakier than Charlie’s. “Let’s go to this Proclamation Day thing, and we’ll work out what to do from there.” She stood up, Charlie along with her. They looked down at Stan, who was still lying on the ground.

Stan no longer felt his anger and grief choking him. He felt nothing but repugnance at the mob that had killed his friend, which was going wild in its ecstasy, making the fire bigger and bigger. He wanted nothing more right now than to get out of this alley, away from this street, away from the injustice, and to never come back again.

Stan stood up slowly. “Yeah,” he said, looking at his friends. “Let’s go to the proclamation.”

The sun was high in the sky, and the crowds were already thronging onto the grounds of the castle. The mechanical doors in front of the castle swung open, and the King walked out onto the bridge. It was from the bridge, which straddled the two front towers of the gigantic castle, that the King gave all his proclamations.

As the King walked into view, the crowd burst into cheers. It was a huge crowd, encompassing the entire population of the city.

The King did his best to make the area nice for these guests. The grounds were well kept, and there were topiary bushes of players and animals. The King’s personal favourite part of his lawn was the moat of lava that surrounded his castle. Never a bad defence against attackers, it also gave the castle a majestic glow at night.

The King was content with the decision of the Council of Operators regarding what to do about the excess of new players in Element City. He realized that his new law would outrage the city’s lower-level citizens, but the upper-level citizens, who made up a good third of the city’s population of just over one thousand players, would be overjoyed at the announcement.

The King’s right-hand man, Caesar, who was standing to the right and behind the King, handed him a microphone. Down below, they were broadcasting the sound through the speakers around the grounds. The King cleared his throat. “Greetings, citizens of Element City!”

He had a deep, booming voice, and the townspeople cheered and created a wild tumult at his greeting.

“I have called you here before your King for a reason,” the King continued. “I am sure that you will all remember the last time I called for a Day of Proclamation. At that time, due to a player’s increasingly negative influence on the Council of Operators, it was decided that a new law would be passed, one which banned a player from the server after his first death.”

There was a dissatisfied murmur at this. Many of the citizens were not fond of the law.

“I am aware that many of you were opposed to this new law. A petition from those who felt this way most strongly brought about a compromise: I would give up my operating powers, and the law would remain unchanged.

“I am an honourable man, and I always keep my word. Since then, I have given up my operating powers, and I am now as mortal as the rest of you. However, the dissatisfaction with this law did not cease. A new point was brought up.

“In recent months there has been an influx in the number of new players joining the server. This causes great dissatisfaction to the upper-level citizens of Element City, who have lived here longer and have rightfully earned the land on which they now live. These lower-level players have made life much more difficult for the upper-level players, causing shortages in jobs, in food and in land.”

By this point the crowd was in a frenzy. The upper-level players were cheering the King’s praises, and the lower-level players were shouting in fury. The King had to shout to make himself heard.

“Here is the proclamation that you have all assembled here for: Any citizens of Element City with a level under that of fifteen are required to leave Element City within one week of today’s date. After that date, any players under level fifteen found in the city shall be killed, their houses—”

And that was when the arrow hit the King.

Luckily for the King the one who fired the arrow was not a better shot, or the King would have been impaled through the skull and killed. Instead the arrow bounced off his crown, pushing it off and knocking the King to the ground.

The crowd, which had just gone wild with cheers and outrage at the King’s proclamation, was now silent.

The King quickly got up and looked over the railing of the bridge to see who had tried to assassinate him. It didn’t take long for the King to see a clearing towards the back of the lawn. Everybody had backed away from the three players standing there.

One of the three in the clearing was a girl with blond hair, an orange T-shirt with a heart on it and pink shorts. A dog was sitting at her side. The second player looked like a desert nomad. Both looked absolutely shocked.

But the third player, who had the standard Minecraft look, had his bow still raised and pointing at the King. Even at the far distance, the King could see the hatred etched in every line of his face, and the red fury in his eyes.

CHAPTER 9
THE SHOT HEARD ROUND THE WORLD

There was a moment of stunned silence as the King, his officials, the crowd, and even the players by his side took in the enormity of the player’s attempt on the King’s life. Then, all hell broke loose.

The player turned around and dashed towards the gate, and he was quickly followed by the two players and the dog that had been next to him. The King was still too shocked to be angry, but he was sure that the players would never escape alive. The King’s loyal subjects would destroy the player who had attempted to assassinate their beloved leader.

But alas, the King was only half-correct. For at the exact same moment that the players turned and ran, a path through the people opened for them to escape through. It seemed while the upper-level players were indeed trying to kill the three players, the lower-level players were defending them and fending off the upper-levels. This was a revolt.

Over his shock now, the King was wild with fury at this player who had not only tried to kill him but had also turned the lower-levels of the city against their superiors. Screaming like a mad animal, he ordered that the gates be locked and that the riot control be sent in, effective immediately.

They weren’t quick enough, though. The three players escaped just as the gates slid closed behind them. The King let out a bellow of rage and ordered that police forces be sent out into the city to find and kill the boy, his friends, the dog and any accomplices that they might have.

Meanwhile, the riot control had reached the mob. The crowd was still fighting among itself, sending players of all levels toppling like tipped cows. The riot control mainly fired arrows into the crowd, trying to subdue the lower-levels, but the leader of the control force had other ideas.

Minotaurus was a player who had, using mods (outside programmes), become twice the size of a normal player and looked just like a real Minotaur, horns and all. He carried around a double-bladed diamond battle-axe that never wore out.

Normally, the King would not allow a modified player on the server, but Minotaurus had shown a wicked taste for massacre. He had been deemed worthy by the King when the King had ordered Minotaurus to prove himself by killing his own brother and two sisters on the server. He had done so without batting an eye. He was absolutely ruthless … and the King loved it.

The King prized loyalty, and he had made Minotaurus the head of riot control. Minotaurus could slice through men like butter with that battle-axe, and he could effectively and quickly end riots, which were common in the city. Why, no more than an hour before the proclamation, the King had sent Minotaurus and his men out to stop an angry mob that had killed a player and set his house on fire.

The King had no sympathy for the player the mob had killed. He had been sheltering lower-levels. But the fire had been starting to spread, and the mob had kept making it bigger. Within sixty seconds of Minotaurus’s arrival, all the rioters were either dead or retreating.

Minotaurus was the one who led the charge on the rioters now. He killed without mercy, slicing through anyone in his way with that giant battle-axe. Within a matter of minutes, the riot had stopped, but Minotaurus was still killing. It took five Potions of Slowness thrown by his own men to finally subdue him.

The King smiled. He was still here, and as long as he had Minotaurus and riot control, there wouldn’t be any more riots of this magnitude. He did have to do something about the assassin, though. The last thing he needed was an uprising on his hands, and if there was any player that held a high risk of creating an uprising, it was the assassin. But where would he get the men? The King would make sure that the lower-levels in the capital were closely monitored by the authorities so that they wouldn’t rebel, but the assassin must have known that he would do that. And the only other place where there were enough lower-levels to start an uprising would be …

The King knew what he had to do. He took the liberty of personally walking down to the riot control office. Minotaurus was waiting, having been informed of the King’s coming.

“I have a job for you,” the King said.

“What kind of job?” Minotaurus asked in his baritone voice.

The King watched Minotaurus’s eyes grow wide with pleasure at the assignment. This kind of thing was right up his alley.

“Take half your men with you,” the King said, “Leave half here in case the citizens riot again. Destroy everything. Leave no survivors. Make sure that there is no way that civilization can continue on that spot. Take what you need from the armoury. I suggest fire and TNT. Do me proud, Minotaurus.”

The giant bull-man sprang to a salute. “Yes, sir. We won’t let you down, sir!”

Then, glowing with excitement, Minotaurus and half his team ran down the hall to the armoury.

Stan was running. Charlie, Kat and Rex were running behind him. They didn’t stop to walk. They didn’t take breaks. They kept running until they were out of the castle grounds, out of Element City, into the forest, around the crater and down the path. They finally stopped when they were back at the Adorian Village.

Stan was amazed by his own thoughts. He had just tried to kill the most powerful player in Elementia and had then sprinted an incredible distance back to the Adorian Village. Yet the only thing that filled Stan’s mind was his astonishment that he had been able to shoot so accurately. He could only think about the fact that he had been deemed hopeless by Archie and that he had only hit the target once. That being said, he’d had time to aim this time.

Stan saw Sally and Jayden running up to them. They initially looked happy to see the trio, but the smiles dropped when they saw the looks on their faces.

“What happened, guys?” Jayden asked. “You look like you’ve—”

But he was cut off by Charlie, still out of breath, sputtering out, “Stan … proclamation … arrow … King … riot …”

“What are you talking about?” asked Sally incredulously.

“Stan tried to kill the King with an arrow,” Kat said gravely.

There was nothing but stunned silence from Sally, Jayden and Adoria, who had just walked up and heard Kat’s announcement.

“You tried to what?” she finally yelled, a look of terror on her face.

“What possessed you to try to kill the King?” screamed Jayden, his eyes bulging. Sally looked like death warmed over.

“That’s a fair point, Stan,” said Charlie, who was trembling with fear. “Why?”

“I … just …” said Stan, and he sputtered for a minute, the anger building in him again. He felt indescribable rage about their mistreatment, about Blackraven’s death and about the proclamation. After a minute of him sputtering and the others questioning, he blurted out, “He deserved it!” He told them about what had happened after his, Kat’s and Charlie’s departure from the Adorian Village. It was the news of the new proclamation that stunned everyone the most.

“The King’s going to kick all the lower-levels out of Element City?” said Sally disbelievingly.

“How can he do that? They make up two-thirds of the population now!” said Adoria. Charlie explained about the shortages.

“So he gets more land!” yelled Jayden. “He orders trees cleared, which opens new land, which would create new jobs! He’s the King. He has the entire city at his command! He can do anything!”

“Oh, it’s more complicated than that,” replied Adoria. “He thinks that the groundwork laid by the upper-levels makes life easier for lower-levels, and the upper-levels resent that. When you think that the city’s council is made up of all upper-level players, it’s not surprising that they would pass a law this selfish.”

“This is all well and good, but the fact remains,” said Kat, who had kept quiet ever since she had told them of Stan’s actions but now spoke in tones of quiet fury, “Stan tried to kill the King of this server, and if you think that there won’t be retribution—”

And she was cut off by a flaming arrow hitting the side of the building next to her. Too late, Stan thought, a pit opening in his stomach.

As was inevitable, more arrows flew out of the woods like a swarm of hornets. The six players ran for cover as the buildings began to catch fire. Then came a swarm of men in white uniforms – the riot control office – pouring into the village.

The six players ducked behind the brick Town Hall, out of sight for a moment. Then Adoria said to Stan, “You have to go. All three of you.”

“What?” Stan said. There were many things that he had expected she would say to him, but this was not one of them. “Why? We want to help fight them off!” Charlie and Kat nodded in agreement. “I got you into this mess, and I want to help you get out!”

“No! It will only make matters worse,” Adoria replied quickly. They were running out of time. “Maybe if they find that you three are not here, they won’t destroy any more of the village. Now, I’m going to go talk to them. You all get out of here, quickly!”

And before they could argue, she stepped into the clearing and began to speak. “My name is Adoria, and I am the mayor of this village. I know why you are here. You have come to find and destroy the one who tried to assassinate the King of Elementia. I tell you that he is not here and that we will not harbour him. If you do not believe me, I will be happy to comply with a full search of the village. Please, do not destroy anything else. We will cooperate in peace.”

A moment of silence greeted this proposal. Then, a double-ended diamond axe flew through the air, straight towards Adoria.

It buried itself in her head and stomach, and she fell to the street – dead.

Stan, Kat, Charlie, Jayden and Sally were too stunned to speak, move, or, in Stan’s case, think. A player, twice the size of a normal player who was dressed just like a bull, walked up to Adoria’s disfigured corpse and pulled out the axe, haphazardly brushing the body to the side.

This heinous act pushed Jayden and Sally over the edge. They both leaped out into the clearing, crying like Spartans, terrifying looks on both of their faces. Jayden whipped out his diamond axe, and Sally drew out two iron swords, holding one in both hands. Then, still issuing their warrior yell, they battled with the giant man.

Stan, his brain still unable to process what he had just seen, didn’t yet feel any sadness at the loss of Adoria. He just blindly followed commands from his brain to run into the woods after Kat, Charlie and Rex.

At the edge of the woods, he looked back at the Adorian Village.

It was like Blackraven’s house but a thousand times worse. Fire was everywhere. The houses were a blazing inferno, all of them starting to crumble already. Stan looked at the brick Town Hall and saw it explode from the inside out. Bricks flew across the town. But the worst was the people. Everywhere, new players burst out of their burning houses, wooden and stone swords drawn, but most of them were immediately felled by flaming arrows from the bows of riot control.

Stan looked down one street and saw a girl with a pink blouse, blue skirt, and white kneesocks kill a riot control player from behind with her wooden sword, but then the giant Minotaur-man came up behind her and raised his axe. Stan looked away as he heard the swish and thud of the diamond blade.

Stan was sickened by the whole event more than anything else he’d encountered so far. Sad, yes. Angry, yes. But sickened most of all. Why would they burn down the village anyway, even after Adoria had tried to reason with them? All of those lower-level players, gone …

Stan keeled over on his side, threw up on the ground, and cried.

CHAPTER 10
FLIGHT TO THE JUNGLE

The King was not happy.

The chief of police had searched the entire city with his force, and they had found no sign of the assassin or his two friends. They had, however, found records of the players from the front gates. Their names were Stan2012, KitKat783 and KingCharles_XIV. All of them were under level fifteen. They must have come from the Adorian Village for the boy to be such a good shot. It was a relief, the King thought, that Minotaurus was finally destroying the loathsome place.

The doorbell rang and the King pressed a button to open the door. Caesar and his partner, Charlemagne, walked in and bowed. The King absentmindedly pointed his sword at them, and they all stood up.

“What is it, my liege?” asked Charlemagne.

“Have you captured the assassin, sir?” asked Caesar.

The King looked at his two highest generals and said slowly, “No. No, as a matter of fact I did not capture them. They are not in the city at all. That is why I called you two down here. I need your advice.”

“But why just us, sir?” Charlemagne asked.

“Because this mustn’t be voted on. I would like to discuss it with my two most trusted men, and then I personally will decide what shall be done. I am suspending the Council due to the present state of emergency. I can only trust you two.”

“What state of emergency, sir?” asked Caesar. “I know that somebody tried to kill you, which is awful and treacherous, but with the whole server looking for them, won’t they be dead by the end of the week?”

The King slowly turned his head towards Caesar. “That’s just the thing, Caesar. Not everybody will want him dead. I accept the fact that the lower-level citizens of the server hate me – it is a necessary result of maintaining the lifestyle of the upper class, which is so near and dear to my heart – but up until now the lower class has not had the courage to do anything about it.

“Now, one of them has broken that barrier. He tried to assassinate me right in front of my own people. What is to stop others from thinking that they can do the same? If that is their mindset, there may be a rebellion on our hands. That is why the situation is so fragile right now. Our top priority must be to find and kill that player, so that the lower-levels know what happens to a player who betrays his King.”

Caesar and Charlemagne shot sideways glances at each other. They very much enjoyed their way of life as upper-level citizens, and they had no desire to have that way of life destroyed by a lower-level rebellion.

“Yes, sir, you’re quite right,” said Charlemagne.

“I suggest,” said Caesar, “that we not only put the entire server up to the task of finding them, but we span our forces out far and wide. If the players did intend to start a rebellion, they’ll plan it abroad and not near Element City or the Adorian Village.”

The King nodded. “You’re right. But I’ve had a thought, and your thoughts on this idea are the main reason I wished to speak to you two. My thought was to send RAT1 out to find them.”

The King’s generals were taken aback by this radical idea. Charlemagne said slowly, “Sir, are you sure that … that … that team is competent enough to handle a task of this magnitude?”

“Sir, do you remember the last time that you sent them on a mission?” added Caesar sceptically. “I mean, they may have found the target, but …”

“I remember, I remember!” said the King irritably, banishing the unpleasant incident from his mind. “However, they are by far the most talented group of assassins I have at my disposal. They did fail miserably last time, but they have not failed at any other mission that I have ever assigned to them. And after all, a second failure would give me motive to have the lot of them executed.”

Caesar and Charlemagne mulled this over for a minute. Then Charlemagne said, “Yes, yes, my lord, that is a good idea, when you put it that way. I support it.”

Caesar nodded. “As do I. And also, as it happens, I just had an idea. Why don’t Charlemagne and I both assemble some of your forces and comb the kingdom, looking for conspirators? Maybe make a few … how should I put it … hasty judgement calls?” An evil smile broke over Caesar’s face. “That would certainly lower rebel morale.”

The King nodded. “Yes, that is a wise idea, Caesar. I will give you each twenty soldiers to comb over the entire country. You leave tomorrow. Dismissed.”

Charlemagne and Caesar left the room, and the King smiled. Maybe this won’t turn out so bad after all, he thought as he ordered RAT1 to the room.

Stan was unsure of how long he lay crying in the pool of his own vomit. All he knew was that at some point, he heard Kat’s gruff voice telling him that they had to run, that riot control was about to start to search the woods. Stan didn’t care. He wanted to just lie there forever, but he still went through the robotic movements of following the neon-orange back of Kat’s shirt into the woods.

Stan was dead to the world. His brain was numb and dumb from the destruction and death that he had just witnessed. He was unaware of the fact that they walked for hours or that the heavy woods eventually thinned out into a wooded plain but soon thickened again into a dense jungle.

He was vaguely aware of Charlie and Kat trying to decide what to do next and of their eventual decision to climb one of the hundred-foot-high trees. They scaled the vines growing up the sides and ended up on a branch.

Stan was still sickened by the senseless murder and destruction that he had seen back in the Adorian Village, and he couldn’t help wondering why the government had attacked the virtually unarmed village. He understood now that they irrationally despised lower-level players, but was the government so corrupt that they would attack innocent civilians out of prejudice? Despite how little he thought of the King and the Elementian government, he still found himself shocked that they would murder lower-levels for no reason other than spite.

He looked up at Kat and Charlie. Neither of them looked good. Charlie had pulled his knees to his chest and was staring at the ground, a compassionate frown on his face. Kat was staring out into the starry sky, absentmindedly stroking the ears of the dog that had joined them up on the tree branch (Stan had realized by now that Rex possessed some sort of crazy teleportation power).

Suddenly he knew what to do. He looked at his friends and spoke his first words since Adoria’s death.

“So, how would you two like to overthrow the King with me?”

Kat and Charlie turned their heads and stared at him. Charlie wore a look of confusion, like he must have heard Stan wrong. Kat looked incredulous. Stan, on the other hand, wore a disturbingly cheerful smile on his face.

“You’re kidding, right?” said Kat.

“No,” replied Stan.

The boy and girl held each other’s gaze for a long time, and Kat saw that Stan was not joking. Then, it was as if Kat was trying to look past Stan’s eyes and into his head to see exactly which screw had come loose.

“Are … you … insane?” she finally said.

“No,” said Stan, still wearing that maddening smile. Perhaps he had gone insane, Stan thought. He was feeling unnaturally excited, and he had absolutely no reason to be smiling, and what he was saying was, in fact, insane, but he sure did want to overthrow the King.

“I’m not joking,” he said as Kat opened her mouth again. His face became serious. “The King just had the entire Adorian village burned down for no reason. Because of the government, Crazy Steve, Blackraven and Adoria are all dead. Do you honestly want to stay on this server under the King’s rule? We need a new government.”

“I agree,” said Charlie.

Both Kat and Stan looked at him. He had not spoken since they had decided to climb the tree, and he still looked at the ground as he spoke. Kat couldn’t believe that he was going along with Stan’s crazy idea, and Stan was just as surprised that Charlie was agreeing with him.

“Really?” asked Stan in quiet disbelief.

“Yes. The government is biased and prejudiced, and their leader is a tyrant. He needs to be brought down.”

“Oh, what noble thoughts,” sneered a sarcastic voice from behind them.

Stan recognized that voice. The last time he had heard it, a wolf had nearly ripped his throat out. He instinctively turned around and whipped out his axe to counter the diamond blade of Mr A’s sword. The Griefer looked much better now, no longer beaten up, but full of energy and ready to kill. The diamond sword he was holding in his hands was not new but well worn, and Stan could tell that it had claimed many lives.

The others were on their feet, too. Charlie stood with a determined yet scared look on his face, holding the iron pickaxe in his trembling hand. Kat was right behind him, sword poised to strike at a moment’s notice. Rex’s hair was on end, his eyes glowed red, and he snarled at the Griefer that was now engaging in battle with Stan. It appeared that the dog had not forgotten his last encounter with Mr A.

The battle was intense. There was no doubt that both players were incredibly gifted with their respective weapons. Kat and Charlie were ready to strike if need be, but they stood far back to avoid being slashed by the axe or impaled by the sword. Mr A’s sword moved like lightning, blocking each swing of Stan’s axe without effort. It appeared that he was only toying with Stan.

“By the way,” said Mr A coolly between strikes, not even breathing hard from the battle, “how did you like my presents, Stan? You know, back at the village, the Creeper in your bedroom, and Charlie’s defective helmet during the sword fight. Did those gifts make you think of me?”

An intense surge of hatred bubbled up from within Stan, and without thinking he gave his axe an unnecessarily strong swing. Mr A fluidly sidestepped the frenzied attack, and before Stan could react, the Griefer’s sword struck him across the head. If it weren’t for his helmet, Stan’s forehead would have been slashed open. Instead he was knocked backwards. His helmet flew off and dropped a hundred feet into the jungle below, while Charlie grabbed Stan before he suffered a similar fate. Charlie gritted his teeth and used all his strength to pull Stan back up onto the tree branch. Stan was not hurt, just a little dazed, and as the boys caught their breath, Kat rushed in to take on Mr A.

She was talented with the sword, but he outstripped her in skill. They fought for about a minute before Kat was finally disarmed, her sword sent sliding down the branch. She was knocked to the ground. Mr A was just about to deliver the killing strike when Rex flew over her and knocked Mr A into the thick tree trunk. His diamond sword spiralled off the branch and into the jungle far below, and he looked stunned as the dog glared into his eyes, growling.

Stan did not want to kill, but he jumped up and held his axe over his head, ready to strike if Mr A tried to retaliate. Charlie had his pickaxe at the ready behind him, and they were quickly joined by Kat after she retrieved her sword from down the branch.

The three players looked down at their adversary. He looked furious, but there was another emotion on his face, too. Stan couldn’t tell, but he thought that it might have been amusement.

“You really think that you’re gonna overthrow the King?”

Stan raised his eyebrows. He shot a quick glance back at the others, who looked a little unnerved at Mr A’s question.

“I hate all three of you, but you don’t know what you’re talking about. I hate the King more than anybody on this server, but the citizens, upperand lower-level, are just as bad as he is. Mark my words: try anything, and you’ll regret it. You have my warning.”

Without another word, he whipped something from his inventory: a small, black ball flecked with orange, which he threw to the ground. There was a short, hot explosion, and Stan was knocked back, with Charlie, Kat and Rex landing on the branch beside him. He looked up and saw a cloud of grey smoke. He held his axe at the ready, prepared to defend himself, but when the smoke cleared, Mr A was gone.

Stan brushed himself off and looked around. There was no sign of the Griefer anywhere.

“Fire charge,” coughed Kat through the grey smoke. “Great for quick escapes,” she added as she hurriedly punched out the small fire that the charge had left on the branch.

“What do you think he meant when he said the citizens are just as bad as the King?” asked Stan, pondering the words of Mr A.

“He was just trying to unnerve you,” said Kat. “But I’ll tell you one thing: if he thinks that overthrowing the King is a bad idea, then I think that it’s a good one. I’m in on your plan.”

Stan smiled at his two friends, happy that they would always be there for him and support him no matter what. Then he noticed that Rex was chewing on something.

“Hey Kat, what’s that your dog has?” he asked.

She took the item out of the dog’s mouth and saw that it was an uncooked fish, with the tail fin ripped by the dog’s teeth. “How’d this get up here?” she wondered.

“Mr A must have dropped it,” said Charlie. He was staring at the fish intently, as if trying to decide something. “Kat, let me see that. I want to try a trick I read about.” She handed him the fish and he whistled two notes, one high and one low.

There was a rustling in the leaves just above them. Kat and Stan instinctively whipped out their weapons, ready to attack, but Charlie quickly yelled, “Wait! Hold on a second! And don’t make any sudden movements.” Seconds later, a yellow animal dropped from the branch above and looked up at Charlie.

It appeared to be some sort of wild cat, with a golden, streamlined body, black spots and deep green eyes. It looked quizzically up at Charlie and then at the dead fish he was holding in his hand.

“What is that?” Kat asked in amazement.

“An ocelot,” replied Charlie, eyes still fixated on the cat. “Don’t make any sudden movements,” he repeated, “or you’ll scare him away.”

Kat and Stan watched in amazement as the cat slowly approached Charlie, gave him a pondering look, and began to tentatively eat the fish out of his hand. Then, the cat’s fur began to change. The black spots began to vanish, replaced with orange stripes slightly darker than the golden fur. The ocelot had changed to take on the appearance of a tabby cat.

“Where did you learn to do that?” asked Kat.

“You two should really read that book more,” replied Charlie, stroking behind the cat’s ears. “Now he’ll follow us around like Rex does, and he’ll scare Creepers away.”

“Excellent!” said Kat. Then she hesitated. “But wait, he won’t get into fights with Rex, will he?”

“He shouldn’t,” said Charlie, and as if in response the cat walked over to the seated Rex and curled up next to him. Rex started to lick the cat’s ears.

“Aw, that’s cute,” said Stan. “What are you going to call him, Charlie?”

“Lemon,” said Charlie, as if he had been thinking about it for his entire life. “Now come on, we should try to get at least a little sleep before we start a revolution tomorrow.”

It sounded weird when he said it like that, thought Stan. He lay down with a tuft of leaves as his pillow, and with Lemon and Rex as their guards, the three players drifted out of the awful day and into dreamless sleep.

CHAPTER 11
THE APOTHECARY

It was the scream that woke Stan. Actually, it wasn’t so much a scream as it was a high-pitched, ominous, other-worldly sound that brought about a sense of foreboding, comparable to a noise that a small bird might make upon freezing to death in the Arctic.

Stan opened his eyes and found himself staring straight into the sun. It took his eyes a moment to adjust before he fully saw the impressive skyline of jungle trees silhouetted against the sunlight. Suddenly he heard the shriek again, and this time he followed the sound until his gaze met a figure perched upon the highest tree.

This figure was tall, with a slender body and long, spindly arms and legs. It appeared to be holding something in its hand: a block, although Stan could not tell what kind. The creature had glowing purple slits for eyes, and it appeared to be looking right back at Stan.

Stan did a double take and looked back out to the trees, and the figure was gone. Stan shook himself and dismissed the form as a fatigue-induced hallucination. However, even as the others woke up and they broke camp and climbed back down the vines, Stan couldn’t shake the feeling of uneasiness that the haunting cry had sent down his spine.

Back on the ground, they did an inventory of all their items.

“Two iron helmets, three iron chestplates, an iron sword, an iron axe, an iron pickaxe, a compass, a clock, a book, a bow and twelve arrows,” counted Kat as they laid all their items on the ground in front of them. “And we’re going to overthrow the King.”

Stan realized that they did have a very limited amount of supplies, exactly three people devoted to their cause, and no food at all. They had a lot of work to do.

“Well, let’s get back to the basics, I guess,” he said. “We’ve got to start somewhere, so let’s establish a house out here. There are plenty of resources around this jungle, so let’s gather some materials today, and tonight we can discuss how we’re gonna do this thing.”

Kat nodded, and Charlie said, “Good idea, Stan. You go into the woods and gather some wood with your axe. I saw a mine a little while back. I’ll take my pickaxe and go see what I can find down there. Kat, you go find some food, and see if you can build a house around here that we can use until we get a permanent base.”

“OK,” Kat agreed. “I’ll make it underground so that if the King’s men come looking for us, we’ll have a little bit of concealment.”

“Good thinking. OK guys, let’s fall out,” ordered Stan, and with that, they put their armour back on, and Charlie and Lemon walked back the way they had come the previous day. Kat drew her sword and ran towards some wandering chickens, Rex at her heels, and Stan pulled out his axe and skirted around the edge of the lake towards the woods.

As Stan walked along the water’s edge, he noticed a type of plant growing in front of him that he had never seen before, except from a distance on Crazy Steve’s farm. It appeared to be some kind of cane, and it only grew on the sand and dirt directly adjacent to the lake. Curious, Stan brought his axe down on the base of one of the plants, and several pieces of the stalks fell to the ground. Stan picked them up and put them in his inventory. He did this to another plant, and was about to do it again when he heard a stretching sound behind him, then a twang and a whizzing sound.

Stan knew that sound quite well from his first night in Minecraft. He spun around and flipped his axe over, the metal blade just stopping the flying arrow from entering his chest. He dodged another arrow and looked up, expecting to see a Skeleton firing at him from the shade of the woods. Instead, he saw another player standing in the bushes, drawing another arrow. The player was mostly obscured by the bushes and the leather tunic and cap he was wearing, but Stan could see a neat white beard on his face.

Stan rushed the player, axe raised, deflecting two more arrows as he went. The old player was about to draw the stone sword at his belt to fight Stan weapon to weapon, but Stan was too quick. His iron blade shattered the stone blade before it was fully drawn. For good measure, Stan also spun around and cut the string of the bow. Then he kicked the old player, who was also wearing leather trousers and shoes, to the ground. Stan stood over the player, axe raised.

The old player, without hesitation, ripped off the leather tunic to reveal two black sashes across his chest, each with various bottles of coloured liquid attached to them. He yanked a green one from one of the sashes and threw it at Stan before Stan even realized what had happened. The bottle shattered on Stan’s chestplate, and a foul-smelling green gas seeped from the jade liquid that splattered all over him. The stench overpowered Stan, and he blacked out, falling right beside the old player.

When Stan came to, he was in a grey cobblestone room. Torches lined the walls, and Stan became aware that there were twelve machines surrounding him, six on each side. Each was one block in size and had a hole on the front of it.

“Don’t move,” said a voice, and Stan realized that the old player was standing next to the wall, away from the machines. His hand was on a button. “Cooperate with me and you won’t get hurt. Try to run away, kill me, or even move, and I press this button and you get shot to death with arrows by my machine. Why were you destroying those plants?”

“I don’t know” was the first response that came out of Stan’s mouth, and he had a feeling in retrospect that it was the wrong one.

The old player sneered. “I’ve been away from Element City for a whole year now,” he replied in his ancient yet powerful voice. “They banished me, so I was just looking for a little peace out here. I don’t need juvenile delinquents like you destroying my beautiful sugarcane farm like that.”

Stan was confused for a moment, and then he understood. “Oh, those were your plants?” he asked as he pulled the sugarcane from his inventory. “I’m sorry, sir, I didn’t know. Here, take them back.” He tossed the sugarcane stalks back to the old player, and they landed at his feet. He bent over and picked them up, never taking his eyes off Stan.

“How do I know that you aren’t just one of King Kev’s spies?” asked the old player, stashing the cane in his inventory. “I’ve kept my agreement. I’ve stayed out of the city, and I have had absolutely nothing to do with any potion-related activities going on in Element City.”

“Wait, you’re a fugitive from the King?” asked Stan.

“What, you don’t know who I am?” asked the old player incredulously. “Anyone who’s been on this server for more than a few weeks or so knows who I am!”

“Sir, I’m only level nine,” said Stan as he realized at the same time that he had, to his horror, been stripped of his armour and weapon. Good thing Charlie had the clock and compass, he thought. “I’ve only been playing Minecraft for a little over a week now.”

“What? Really? But you’re so good with that axe, I’d have thought that you’d seen a good few fights,” replied the old player, who seemed genuinely impressed.

“Wait, are you saying that you don’t know who I am?” asked Stan. He’d have thought that the King would have put his face on wanted posters all over the kingdom by now.

“Should I?” the old player asked.

The words “I’m the one who tried to assassinate the King!” fell out of Stan’s mouth, but an instant later he regretted it. What if the old player was actually in cahoots with the King? He might have just earned himself a slow death by arrows! But instead of pressing the button, the old player looked at Stan, his eyes widening in awe.

“You? You’re the one who tried to kill the King? At level nine? Good lord, son, you’re either very brave, very stupid, or a liar. OK, you can come out of there for now, but don’t expect your axe back until I’m one hundred per cent sure that you’re not one of King Kev’s cronies.”

Stan stepped apprehensively out of range of the machines, and, at the old player’s gesture, followed him out of the cobblestone room. He noticed his axe hanging at the old player’s side, right next to an iron sword and a bow. He gulped, not sure what he was going to find in the next room.

What he did find was unlike anything he had ever seen before. There were rows of wooden plank tables, all of which were covered by stands that held bottles, which themselves held bubbling liquids of various colours. Chests lined the wall. In one corner of the room was a black table covered in a red velvet tablecloth embedded with diamonds, a book levitating over it. Around this table were shelves that held books of all sizes and colours. In another corner was a bed, next to which sat a furnace, a crafting table and two chairs. The old player sat in one of these, and he gestured for Stan to take the other. A quick look out of the glass pane windows revealed that it was late afternoon and that they were still in the jungle.

“I’m sorry that I had to knock you out earlier. You see, ever since King Kev banished me from Element City a year ago, I’ve had to be very wary about who enters and who leaves this jungle. He’s sent his men in on me multiple times, whether they be hired Griefers to give me a hard time or spies to try and figure out what I am up to. But I am sure that none of them would even joke about trying to assassinate their master.

“So, I will introduce myself. My name is Apothecary1.” He extended his hand, which Stan shook.

“My name is Stan2012, but you can call me Stan. I have a quick question, though. Are King Kev and the King of Elementia the same player?”

The Apothecary laughed. “Ho, ho, I had forgotten how little you know! Yes, they are the same. The same ruthless, tyrannical fiend. You do agree with me, don’t you?” he asked quickly.

“Are you kidding?” said Stan angrily. “He killed three friends of mine for no good reason, and I’ve tried to kill him! I don’t think he and I are going to be friends anytime soon.”

“Ah yes, you claimed to have made an attempt on the King’s life. I’m not positive that I believe that story, but I do want to believe it. He’s killed a good number of my friends, too, and banished a few more.”

It was at that point that Stan suddenly remembered. “My friends! They’ll be expecting me back!”

“What?” the Apothecary asked.

“My friends, Charlie and Kat. It’s almost night-time. They’ll be expecting me back soon. We’re making a base back by that lake you found me at.”

Instantly the Apothecary became suspicious. “What do you mean? You brought others with you? How many?”

“Just the two,” replied Stan. “I have to go back to them.”

“And how do I know that you’re not part of the King’s army since there are more of you, Stan? If that’s even your real name? How do I know they aren’t watching this house right now?” The Apothecary was on his feet, his hand going to the iron sword at his side.

Stan decided to take a huge gamble. If it failed, he would be killed. If it succeeded, he would convince the old player that they were on the same side. “Because we’re planning to overthrow King Kev.”

The old player stared at him. Stan knew, based on what he had said, that even speaking about overthrowing the King was highly treacherous. The Apothecary had a different look growing in his eyes. It was respect.

“Are you serious, my young friend?” asked the Apothecary.

“One hundred per cent,” replied Stan. “If you’d like, I’ll explain to you everything that’s happened to me so far in this game, and how we plan to go about overthrowing him. My only condition is that I go and find my friends.”

The Apothecary agreed, and he gave Stan his axe back. He also gave Stan a compass to find his way back to the lake. When he got there, he found a hole in the ground with light coming out of it and some pumpkins scattered around it. Upon examining the hole, Stan found that there was a ladder going down the side of it. Stan climbed down the ladder and at the bottom found an underground room.

There was a dirt roof, a stone floor, and walls made of a combination of the two. In the corner sat a furnace, a chest, and a crafting table. Two beds sat against the wall, while Charlie stood at the crafting table making a third one. On the nearest bed sat Kat, who had a stone shovel in her hand and looked exhausted. Lemon and Rex sat on the bed beside her. They all looked up when Stan entered.

“Hey, man, please tell me you brought in a lot of wood, because we need tools real bad,” said Charlie.

“Guys, the most amazing thing happened!” He told them about his exchange with the Apothecary. Kat and Charlie listened to his story with steadily widening eyes. When he was finished, there was a moment of silence before Charlie spoke.

“So, you didn’t bring back any wood?”

“And more important,” said Kat, her voice rising quickly, “you told our plans to a total stranger?”

“Weren’t you listening?” said Stan, exasperated. “He wasn’t a total stranger. He’s an experienced player who’s been on this server a long time, and he hates the King! He’s got knowledge of the server. If we’re going to overthrow the King, we’ve got to start somewhere. Why not with the Apothecary?”

“Is that his name, the Apothecary?” asked Charlie, standing up. “Doesn’t that mean, like, a pharmacist, or a healer?”

“That’s right,” said Stan. “Maybe he knows about healing. Does anybody else know any potential medics that could help us in a battle with the King? I mean, if he does know medicine, then maybe he could train other medics!”

“Maybe you’re right!” said Charlie, nodding fervently.

“Are you even listening to yourselves?” yelled Kat. “Stan, you gave this man classified information after he shot and gassed you! And now you—”

“Hey, that knockout gas worked instantly! Do you know how to make knockout gas, Kat?”

That stopped her. She closed her eyes for a second. Then, slowly, a smile spread across her face as she imagined the effect that a cloud of knockout gas could have on a group of enemies. She opened her eyes again.

“OK, let’s go meet him. But let’s make some new weapons, so if he betrays us and steals our stuff, we’ll have backups here.” Stan rolled his eyes, but Charlie nodded in agreement.

Charlie hadn’t found any iron ore during his mining expedition, just a bit of coal and almost two stacks of cobblestone. His pickaxe was worn out and broken, and he had to craft a new one from the little wood he was able to gather by hand. Kat had also crafted a stone shovel and pickaxe to expedite the process of creating the house. The remainder of the wood had been used to make torches together with the coal.

Stan quickly used his axe to gather a fair amount of wood, which he then converted into planks through crafting. Then they made sticks, which, with the cobblestone, became a stone sword, a stone axe and a stone pickaxe. For good measure, Kat used leather from some cows she had killed to craft a cap and tunic, leaving her iron armour in the chest. She also crafted a new cap for Stan. They put their good weapons and all their excess materials in the chest, and Stan used the compass to find his way back to the Apothecary’s house.

It turned out that Kat’s worry for her tools’ safety was for naught. The Apothecary didn’t even ask for their weapons upon their entering his house. Stan saw that he had set up two new chairs to accommodate the extra guests. Stan was excited. The Apothecary seemed to have been anticipating their arrival. They were all introduced and then sat down.

“So, now that we’re all here, tell me: Why do you hate the King so much, and why do you want him overthrown?” asked the Apothecary.

With the help of Kat and Charlie, Stan told the Apothecary everything that had happened to them since they had joined Elementia. They omitted no details, even though there were certain things that Kat obviously would have preferred they had left unspoken, such as the part where she had almost killed Stan and Charlie. But as Stan recounted every injustice, every instance of prejudice, every senseless murder, it only increased his feeling of hatred for King Kev and the overwhelming desire to convince the old player sitting across from him to join their cause.

The Apothecary said nothing until Stan finished the story of Charlie acquiring Lemon (who was sitting outside with Rex, guarding them from monsters and the King’s men). Then he spoke. “Well, I can certainly understand why you so dearly want to see my old friend King Kev dead,” said the Apothecary gravely.

“What do you mean, ‘your old friend’?” said Kat quickly, and Stan noticed her hand moving towards the stone sword at her waist.

“Oh, don’t worry, he certainly isn’t my friend any more,” said the Apothecary, and Kat’s grip relaxed, though her hand didn’t move from the sword. “Trust me, that evil dictator is the reason I have to live out here as an old hermit. If I had my way, I would reopen my chain of apothecaries in the city.”

“Wait, you mean you owned all those abandoned apothecaries that we saw in Element City?” asked Kat.

Stan remembered. There was at least a store on every street, all closed up and abandoned. All of them had “Apothecary” written on signs above each empty window display.

“That I did. You told me your story. Would you like to hear mine?”

Stan and Charlie nodded enthusiastically, and even Kat said, “Yes, please, sir.”

The old player chuckled. “All right then, please try not to get bored and fall asleep. Let’s see, where to begin …

“I joined this server in its very earliest days. Elementia was one of the first extremely successful Minecraft servers, and I joined Elementia within a week of its founding. King Kev, the operator of this server, used his operating powers to found Element City in that meadow. He and I were good friends, as we were with a number of others. However, I always felt unfulfilled, like I was meant to do something else in Minecraft besides build.

“Then we learned of the alternate dimensions. Soon thereafter, the King opened Elementia’s first portal to the Nether.”

“Excuse me, sir,” interrupted Charlie, “but could you please explain to me what, exactly, the Nether is? I’ve heard people talking about it, but I don’t really get what it is.”

“Of course,” the Apothecary said. “The Nether is a dimension reached by constructing a portal. It is a hell-dimension of lava and fire, populated by mobs far more terrible then those of the Overworld we are in now. When the portal was first opened, most of the players stayed away from it, fearing the dangers. But I kept finding myself drawn towards it. I explored every aspect of the Nether, yet I couldn’t find what it was that I was looking for.

“One day, on an update, Nether Fortresses were added. These were even more treacherous than the rest of the Nether, but they held two valuable pieces of loot: Nether Warts and Blaze Rods. The rods were used to craft brewing stands, and the warts were the bases for potions.

“I had found my calling. The brewing of potions is what I am good at. I loved it so much that I opened up a chain of apothecaries around the city, and even changed my name to Apothecary1. Those were the good days.

“But then, with the server being as successful as it was, there was an influx of new players to the server that continues to this day. All of them wanted a piece of the upper class. Naturally, the King tried to spread the wealth, but there were just too many players. I had gained a seat on the King’s Council of Operators by this time, and there was a player on the council who was the King’s best friend, named Avery007. Avery was an advocate for the new players, and he wished to eliminate the class barrier. He was gaining a huge following. He was a very gifted public speaker.

“It was at this point that the King became incredibly paranoid, afraid that he would lose his absolute power. He had granted Avery operating powers a while before this, and he was afraid that Avery was going to overthrow him. This led him to implement the Law of One Death, changing the mode of this server to Hardcore PVP, meaning that you cannot return to Elementia after death. He and Avery then battled, using their operating powers to fly high over the city. I tell you, it was a spectacle – two operators battling is the most amazing thing you will ever see. In the end, though, Avery was overpowered. He was killed and banished from the server. By the next day, the King had killed three other people with strong followings on the server. With Avery gone, the King was the only operator remaining.”

“That is very interesting, sir,” said Stan, which he sincerely meant, “but where do you come into this?”

“Oh. Well, you see, I was still very much in the King’s favour, although I was very upset with him for killing and banishing those players, all of whom were my good friends. But paranoia had twisted King Kev’s mind by that point. There were rumours of a rebellion going around, so any of the alleged leaders of the hypothetical rebellion were killed. That’s why no sane player who is in league with the King today would even joke about overthrowing him.

“My problems started when a rumour came up that the apothecaries in Element City were providing potions to a rebellion movement. I was lucky. Four of my friends and I were accused by King Kev of treason on the same day. There was me; there was the chief of Redstone Experiments, Mecha11; and there were the three Chiefs of Exploration, Bill33, Bob33 and Ben33. There was a high amount of unrest in the kingdom due to the number of people that the King had killed, so he pledged to never kill anyone again unless they were proven guilty. Instead of killing us, King Kev banished us from the city, warning us to never again run into a government official, or we would risk dire consequences. I opened my own Nether portal here in the jungle and began stockpiling potions. I have no idea what happened to the Mechanist, or to Bill, Bob and Ben.

“So you see,” said the old player, and Stan sensed that he was about to say something important, “if you truly want to overthrow the King, I would be happy to use my knowledge of Elementia’s inner workings, as well as the potions I have stockpiled, to help you in any way that I can.”

“Thank you!” Charlie threw himself at the Apothecary, and began wringing his hand. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

“Yes, we really appreciate your help, sir,” said Kat, and Stan could tell that she finally trusted him.

“So I have a question, sir,” said Stan, voicing something that had been on his mind since that morning. “How many people do you think that we’ll need to launch an assault on the King’s castle in Element City? If we can take the castle, then we’ll have control over the city.”

The old player thought for a moment and then said, “Well, I imagine that the King probably has around two hundred men in his military. You see, King Kev has the ability to call any of his citizens to do anything at any time. While he typically commands the lower-level players to take care of jobs in Element City, his military of two hundred players is made up of only the best fighters in Elementia … mainly upper-level players, that is. So, assuming that the lower-level citizens of the army were to abandon the army if you attacked the castle, you would still have, say, another one hundred and thirty or so men to face.”

Stan was shocked. He looked at Charlie and Kat. “Where can we possibly get that many people to invade the city?”

Kat was about to answer, but the Apothecary cut her off by saying, “How about the Adorian Village?”

There was a moment of silence. Then Kat said, “Um, sir, weren’t you listening? The King’s riot control destroyed the Adorian Village. Everybody who lived there is dead now.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” said the Apothecary with a smile. “New players join Elementia every day. Most of them will still be inclined to follow the path to the Adorian Village. And also, don’t be so sure that all the people that were in that village are dead.”

“How could any of them have survived?” asked Charlie incredulously. “They blew up all the stone houses and burned down the wooden ones!”

“Well,” the Apothecary replied, “One thing that I didn’t mention in my story is that the King has largely ignored the Adorian Village, as have the majority of the Council of Operators. Avery and I were the only ones on the council who aided young Adoria when she was a new player on the scene who wanted to create a village for the new players of Minecraft. We helped her design the village, and the houses within.

“Every few days, the Adorian Village has a drill. You must have missed it since you were there for such a short time. They prepare for a large-scale Griefer attack, which was essentially what you described to me. Each of those houses has an underground survival cellar, which can sustain four people for a month. The entrance is very inconspicuous; only the most observant soldier would recognize it. They also have that mine to hide in. I’d be surprised if more than a third of the inhabitants of the Adorian Village were actually killed in that attack.”

Stan’s heart lifted at the thought that there might have been far fewer casualties of the attack on the Adorian Village than he had originally thought.

“And I’ll bet that those survivors are furious with the King right now,” added Charlie. “And I’ll bet that Jayden and Sally and the others are still training those players, and they have no clue where to go now.”

“Well, that’s settled, then,” said Kat. “The survivors of the Adorian Village will be our main reinforcements when we attack the King’s castle. One of us should go back to the village and tell the others of our plan. The other three should try to find some supplies, like diamonds, steaks and golden apples. We need enough materials for an army of, say, one hundred.” She looked at the Apothecary. “Any idea where we might find all that? Because Charlie and I have been discussing it all afternoon, and we’ve got nothing.”

The Apothecary replied, “I actually might.”

Stan was caught off guard. He had expected the old player to shoot down all their ideas, not offer to help them prepare for their battle.

“Oh, hold your horses. I don’t know for sure where it is. But what I do know is that in the days of my seat on the Council of Operators, I heard rumours going around that the King had created a secret stash of armour, weapons, food – everything he would need to re-create his army if he was ever ousted from power. There were several rumours about where the stash was, but the one I heard most said that it’s underground, at the centre of Ender Desert. I’m not positive that’s where the stash is, but there definitely is a stash, and there was too much talk about that location for there not to be at least something there.”

Stan jumped up. “Charlie!” he yelled.

Everyone looked at him, and Charlie replied, “Yes?” with a concerned look on his face.

“Charlie, you have the best mining instincts of anyone. G said so himself! If there’s anyone who could find an underground stash of supplies, it’s you.”

The Apothecary stood up and slammed his fist on the table. “It’s settled then! I myself shall go back to the Adorian Village and work with Adoria’s pupils to train their new players for battle with the King’s forces. The three of you must go into the Ender Desert and find the secret stash. I swear to you, if the stash isn’t there, something will be, and maybe it will be something that you can use to your advantage.”

The old player walked over to a chest and put his leather armour into it. With a start, Stan realized for the first time that the Apothecary had a skin, or appearance, that was strikingly similar to Crazy Steve’s, save the white beard and the potion sashes. The Apothecary reached into the chest and pulled out a diamond chestplate. He stared at it for a moment.

“This place has given me so much, and then taken it away,” said the old player to his reflection. “It’s time for me to make this server a place that future generations can call home.”

He pulled the chestplate on over his head, and Stan watched in awe as the Apothecary pulled out a full set of diamond armour, including boots and leggings, and slipped them on. He then drew out his weapons of choice: two diamond pickaxes, glinting in the torchlight. He turned back to the players.

“Charlie, come here please,” said the old player. Charlie obliged, wondering what would happen next.

“Charlie, I want you to have this,” said the Apothecary as he reached out towards Charlie, diamond pickaxe in his hand.

“What? Wait,” said Charlie, eyes widening in disbelief. “Are you serious right now?”

“Completely,” said the old player, as Charlie took the pickaxe. “A good pickaxe is the best weapon and tool that you can have underground. This old pickaxe has served me well. I’ve brought it with me on several deep-mining expeditions, as well as every time I’ve gone to the Nether. Besides, I have two, so I want you to have that one.”

Charlie spun the pickaxe in his hand a few times and tapped the diamond pick of the tool. “Thank you,” he said in silent awe, still staring at the weapon.

“OK, I have a few things for the rest of you. But first, let me ask this: Are any of you over level, say, ten?”

Stan was about to say no, but Kat jumped up and said, “I am! I killed a bunch of animals this morning, and I levelled up to fifteen!”

The Apothecary smiled. “Good, good. Now, would you like to exchange your levels for enhancements to your gear?”

“Would I!” exclaimed Kat. “How can I do that?”

“With that,” said the Apothecary, and he gestured to the black table with the diamonds and red velvet on top. The book still levitated. They all walked over to it.

“This is an Enchanting Table,” said the Apothecary. “If you have enough experience, this little gadget will let you exchange that experience for enchantments for your gear. Do you have any weapons or armour that you’d like to enchant, Kat?”

“Yeah, I have an iron sword, helmet and chestplate back at the base,” she said. “I also have this bow.” She lifted it up. “So are you saying that I could use this table thingy to give my sword special powers?” she asked excitedly.

“Yes.” The Apothecary smiled. “After I finish giving out the rest of the things you will need to pull off this revolution, you can go back and get it,” he said. He then proceeded to walk back over to his chest and pull out a smaller chest. This one was black, and it appeared to be locked with a green orb.

“This is an Ender Chest,” the old player explained, handing it to Stan. “If you put any items in this chest, they will be accessible from all other Ender Chests everywhere, even in other dimensions like the Nether. The King doesn’t use Ender Chests – he doesn’t trust them. When I get to the Adorian Village, I am going to put down a second Ender Chest that I have, which, as far as I know, is the only other Ender Chest on the server.

“Now, quick note about Ender Chests: They’re incredibly hard to make, and once you put them down, if you pick them up again, they won’t work. So only put down the chest once you’ve located the secret stash. When you put items in the chest, the green lock on my chest will emit purple particles, and I will take the materials out and give them to the Adorian fighters. This is the only practical way that we’ll be able to transport the giant amount of materials from the secret stash to the Adorian Village.

“You got all that, Stan?” the Apothecary asked, and Stan nodded. This was a brilliant way to discreetly transport materials across the server in an instant without arousing suspicion.

The Apothecary walked over to the brewing stands on his table. He plucked off twelve potions: nine red ones and three orange ones.

“These are potions that will help you on your way to finding the stash. I have four for each of you. I could give you more but they’ll just take up space in your inventory. Just swigging one of the red Potions of Healing will give you a good health boost in the middle of a fight, and if you accidentally fall or tunnel into lava, that orange Potion of Fire Resistance will keep you safe.” He handed out three healing potions and one fire resistance potion to each player. They firmly attached them to their belts, ready to swig at a moment’s notice.

“Now, Kat, are you ready to enchant that sword of yours?” asked the Apothecary.

Kat, who had been squirming in anticipation like a child about to pee, yelled out, “Are you kidding? Let’s go!” She whipped out her stone sword and sprinted towards the door, threw it open, and stopped.

“What’s the holdup, Kat?” asked Charlie as he pulled out his new diamond pickaxe and Stan pulled out his stone axe.

Kat was looking out the door. In the bright light from outside Stan could see the look of terror on her face. This was odd, he realized with a jolt, because it was the middle of the night.

CHAPTER 12
THE DESERT

The forest was on fire. The fire was about a kilometre away, but the light was still burning bright. Stan could tell that within minutes the entire area around their house would be burned down.

“The King’s men must have followed us out here somehow,” said Stan. “Do you think that they’ve found our stuff?”

“Yes,” replied the Apothecary, who was already pulling some cooked pork chops from his inventory. “They most likely found your items and deduced that you are still somewhere around here, and are now burning down the jungle in an attempt to flush you out. The fire will burn out before it gets here, but the King’s men will still find this house. You three need to get out of here, now.”

“But won’t they find you out here?” asked Charlie anxiously.

“I’ll hide underground,” the Apothecary replied. “And before they get here, I’ll lay down some trip wires that will activate the arrow dispensers. They’ll find the house, and they’ll think it’s been abandoned and try to loot it, but when the traps go off they’ll decide it’s not worth it. I’ll be fine. I’m experienced at hiding. But if they find you, they’ll execute all three of you on the spot.”

“But what about my sword?” Kat asked, as the Apothecary handed some bread to Stan.

“I’m sorry, Kat, but you’ll have to enchant something else. What about your stone sword?”

“Nah, that’ll wear down really fast … I know!” She pulled out her bow. “So, what do I do?”

The Apothecary replied, “Just sit down, put your weapon down on the table, and stare at the book. The right enchantment should instantly take to your bow.”

Kat walked over to the table and kneeled in front of it. She put her bow down on the table, and the book opened. She stared into it, and her blocky eyes started to glow, as did the book and the bow. Seconds later, there was a flash of light, and Kat fell to the ground.

“Are you all right?” asked Stan, helping Kat up.

“Yeah, I’m OK,” she replied. She stood up and picked up her bow, which was now glowing purple with power. “Whoa,” she said in an awed voice. “Infinity enchantment.”

“Excellent,” said the Apothecary, as he belted several potions. “Now any arrow fired from your bow will reappear in your quiver. You’ll never run out of arrows again. The table must have known that you’re going on a long journey.”

“To that point, we’d better get going! The fire’s getting closer,” yelled Charlie.

“Right,” said Stan. “Sir, thank you for everything you’ve done for us. We’ll meet back up with you at the Adorian Village after we find the stash.”

“Right. Good luck,” said the Apothecary as he laid a tripwire across the floor, and the three players, dog and cat rushed out of the back door.

They sprinted through the forest, weapons drawn. They had to fight off some monsters but had no time to pick up what the monsters had dropped. They kept on running and didn’t stop until they had reached the desert and had run a good distance into it.

They looked back at the jungle behind them. Stan could see that it was raining again. He sighed with relief. That should put the fire out. He guessed that it didn’t rain in the desert.

Stan looked up and realized that he was looking directly into the sun. They had run through the night. He also realized that he was famished – he hadn’t eaten since the previous day. He ate two of the loaves of bread that the Apothecary had given him, and he distributed the remaining two to Charlie and Kat. As he ate, Stan looked out into the desert to see what lay ahead, and his heart skipped a beat.

It was the tall, spindly figure that he had seen the previous morning in the jungle trees. In broad daylight, it looked menacing. Stan found its unnaturally long, thin arms and legs and its purple slits of eyes to be incredibly unnerving.

“Charlie, Kat, look!” They both looked up and saw it, too.

“What is that?” asked Charlie. “And why is it shaking?”

For the figure was indeed trembling, as if shivering with cold. Its jaw hung open, revealing terrifying black fangs, and it was staring at Charlie. Then, all of a sudden, it vanished in a puff of purple smoke. All three players looked at each other, scared to find out what would happen next.

Then, without warning, there was an earsplitting clang. Stan spun around and saw that the black figure had appeared behind Charlie. It had grabbed him by slamming its hands into the sides of Charlie’s rib cage. Stan watched in horror as the thing lifted Charlie, whose face showed unspeakable pain, into the air and proceeded to slam him, full force, into the ground headfirst. Charlie fell onto his front and was still.

The monster then let out a shriek. It was bleeding purple ooze from a cut on its side that had been inflicted by Kat’s sword. Kat drew the sword back and thrust it towards the fiend, but right as the point was about to pierce its back, the monster disappeared again in a puff of purple smoke. His instincts tingling, Stan whirled around and saw that the monster had indeed teleported about ten blocks behind him and was sprinting towards him fast. Stan raised his axe and threw it as hard as he could at the monster. The axe impaled itself in the monster’s chest, and the monster teleported away again after another shriek.

Seconds later, the monster reappeared between Kat and Stan, axe still in its chest. However, before it did anything, the monster looked up at the rising sun and, with a hateful glance at Stan, teleported away. Stan stood at the ready, waiting for the monster to reappear, but it didn’t. He sighed. Then he remembered.

“Charlie!” He rushed over to his friend. Kat had rolled him over onto his back. Charlie’s face was red and he wasn’t breathing.

Refusing to consider the worst, Stan surveyed his friend and saw that the monster’s arms had dented the sides of the chestplate, which were now pressing into Charlie’s side and making it impossible for him to breathe.

“Kat, give me your sword, quick!” Kat didn’t hesitate, and with two swift strokes of the weapon Stan cut the sides of the damaged iron armour and pulled it off. Charlie took a deep breath. Stan noticed that the iron helmet was dented beyond repair, too. He pulled it off and threw the useless thing aside. Charlie gave a sigh of relief.

Kat yanked one of the red potions off Charlie’s belt, popped the cork, and poured the potion into his mouth. He swallowed and sat up.

“Charlie!” Kat hugged him as Stan exclaimed, “Thank God you’re OK, man! Geez, you seem to get beat up a lot, don’t you?”

Charlie gave a weak smile as Kat let him go. “Hey,” he said in a strained voice, “it isn’t the first time I’ve been beaten up, and I think we all know that it won’t be the last.” They all chuckled. “And I remembered reading about that thing in the book. It was called an Enderman. It has really powerful physical attacks and the ability to teleport, and it gets provoked when you look at it.”

“Well, it certainly was powerful,” said Kat. “It made you lose your armour and one of your healing potions. And you lost your axe, Stan.”

In the excitement of Charlie’s recovery, Stan had momentarily forgotten about his axe. He sighed in disappointment.

“Man, why do you have such a hard time holding on to your weapons?” commented Kat. “What is this, the third one you’ve lost now?”

Stan counted on his hand. “There was the one the Zombie Pigman destroyed, the one that I left back at the house, this one … yep, this is the third. Where am I supposed to get a new weapon in the middle of the desert?”

As if on cue, there was a pained grunting sound behind them. They all turned around to see a lone Zombie burning to death in the sunlight. When this Zombie fell, there was the usual rotten flesh, but Stan saw a glint as well. They walked over to the corpse and saw that the Zombie had dropped an unused iron shovel, which he must have had in his inventory when he died. Stan fed the flesh to Rex and picked up the shovel.

“Well, it’s no axe, but it’ll have to do,” said Stan as he gripped the shovel like a baseball bat.

“Well, the centre of the desert should be to the southeast, if I remember correctly,” said Charlie as he pulled out his compass. “Let’s go.” And he led the trio out into the desert.

It was a long, boring walk. The desert was incredibly flat, and they passed nothing except a few cactuses and the occasional pond here and there. There were a few Creepers roaming around that tried to chase them, but they backed off when Lemon hissed at them. It turned out that the explosive creatures really were scared of cats.

When the three players arrived at what Charlie judged to be the approximate centre of the desert, they found a small cave opening in the side of a sandstone hill. Charlie pulled out his diamond pickaxe, and with one last glance at the sun, Stan and Kat followed Charlie down into the unknown mines.

Geno looked down in satisfaction as the sound of explosions reverberated out of the ground. Geno was his full tag, not just his nickname. He wore torn camo trousers, a biker’s jacket with tattoos and an eye patch over his left eye. On his jacket was a badge with the name of his team, RAT1, written on it in black letters. He was smiling down into the small hole. If there had been any life down there, it was gone now.

The explosions stopped, and a few moments later a head of black hair and olive skin, topped by an iron helmet, popped out of the ground.

“Find anything, Becca?” Geno asked in his brutal voice.

“Nah, there’s nothing down there,” replied Becca as she pulled herself out of the hole. It was now plain to see that she was wearing a full set of iron armour. “I didn’t see any items scattered. They must’ve known we were coming.”

“Gee, it couldn’t have been that fire that you set on the trees, could it, you idiot?” spat Geno.

“Don’t you call me an idiot, you moron,” growled Becca.

“Oh, well then let’s go right now!” yelled Geno, the vein in his temple popping, as he drew his diamond sword.

“Bring it!” yelled Becca, drawing the iron sword from her side. The two charged towards each other and were about to start fighting when two arrows glanced off their armour and stopped them in their tracks.

“Hey! We don’t need no fightin’, kids, all right? We’ve got a job to do here,” yelled the archer, a black player with a samurai armour skin covered by a leather tunic. “And for the record, Geno, it was me that started that fire last night, ’K? It was an accident. I used my fire bow instead of my powerful one by mistake. So shut up, or ya both get an arrow through the head.”

Geno and Becca lowered their weapons. As well as they could fight with swords, they knew that Leonidas could kill them in a second if he wanted to. They had never seen him miss with a bow.

“Whatever, Leo,” said Geno, sheathing his sword. “But tell Little Miss Bomb-Happy here to not immediately destroy every non-block she sees.”

“Oh, come on though, it’s so fun,” squealed Becca. It was true. She was RAT1’s resident demolition expert, a job she took very seriously.

“Hey!” yelled Leonidas, so loud that the other two shut up instantly. “If y’all remember, this is exactly how the last mission started out, with y’all foolin’ like noobs! We fail one more time, the King is gonna hang our heads on his wall. So come on! If there’s nothing in their old house, let’s go out into the jungle and look for ’em there.”

And with that, he pulled an arrow into position and shot something he sensed moving up in the tree. He walked over to the corpse that had fallen to earth and saw that it was nothing important, just an ocelot with items to collect. He walked into the jungle, and Geno and Becca followed, swords still in hands.

As they scanned the trees for clues, Becca growled under her breath, “Stan2012, where are you?”

CHAPTER 13
THE ABANDONED MINE SHAFT

I miss my axe, thought Stan as he plowed through the dirt with his shovel. He’d had to fight off several monsters so far in the darkness, and he felt awkward and clumsy beating a Spider to death with a shovel. He would have much preferred the smooth decapitation that the axe would have given him.

He punched through another block of dirt and stopped. A sheer cliff face was in front of him. He had dug through to the side of an underground ravine. Kat took the lead. She had found an abandoned underground house a while back with nothing inside except a chest containing a stack of torches. She placed the torches on the wall, illuminating the path ahead, keeping her bow held tight in her other hand. A few times a Zombie lumbered along the cliff face towards her, and once a few arrows sunk into her tunic from a Skeleton across the ravine. All of these attacks saw the monster silenced by her infinite supply of arrows.

At the end of the chasm, Kat put up the last of the torches, and Charlie pulled out the compass.

“We should be near the centre of the desert,” he said excitedly. “If there is a secret stash, it should be around here.”

And with that Charlie pulled out his diamond pickaxe and began tunnelling into the wall. He went three blocks in, and his pickaxe struck wood.

“What the …” he exclaimed as he dislodged the diamond pick from the wood and saw that he’d hit a wooden plank. “What’s a manmade block doing this far underground?”

“Maybe it’s the entrance to the stash room!” Stan exclaimed excitedly.

“Maybe …” said Kat. “But you’d think that the King, guarding his most precious supplies, would guard the stash with something you can’t punch through.”

“Well, in any case, it’s something,” replied Charlie, and he began to punch through the wood with his fist. This would go a lot faster with my axe, thought Stan glumly as Charlie broke through.

Light flooded through the hole. As Charlie punched more wood planks around the first one, Stan could see that they had entered a network of tunnels, which appeared to be supported with fence posts. Train tracks ran across the ground, but they weren’t complete. Torches were on the wall, and there were chests against the wall to their right.

Charlie jumped up through the hole and examined the fence post supports. Stan followed and looked down at the tracks. He wondered if he could craft a train to run on them. Then he heard Kat yell.

“Hey guys, check this out!”

They walked over to her, and she started pulling things out of the chest she had just opened.

“Excellent!” she exclaimed, pulling two iron ingots out of the chest. “I can make a new sword out of these! Oh man, there’s tons of stuff!” said Kat. She pulled out a handful of white seeds. “These look like pumpkin seeds. They could come in handy at some point. But what’s this?” She pulled out a handful of chalky blue stones.

“I think that’s lapis lazuli,” said Charlie. “It’s used to make blue dyes.”

“Not particularly helpful,” said Kat, but she pocketed it anyway. She continued pulling things out of the chest. “There are also three pieces of bread in here … and a bucket … what kind of seed is this?” She pulled out the bread and a handful of black seeds.

“Melon seeds,” said Charlie.

“How do you know all this stuff?” asked Kat, impressed.

“I read that book at night before it got burned up back in the forest. I know about lots of stuff. For example, we are currently in an abandoned mine shaft. Nobody dug this. It was here before any players knew about it. Anyway, anything else good in this chest?”

“Just this,” she said and pulled out a handful of red dust. “Redstone dust, right?”

“Yeah … hey, let me see those gold ingots.” She handed them to him. He punched four wooden planks off the wall and quickly constructed them into a crafting table. He laid the gold ingots and redstone out on the table, and moments later he had made a new clock. The face showed that it was about noon above ground.

“All right, so I guess we should look around this mine shaft,” said Charlie, pocketing the clock.

“Good idea,” said Kat, drawing her sword. “Maybe there’ll be some more chests down here.”

“Or maybe,” said Charlie, “the King decided to put his secret stash somewhere in here. From what I understand, these things are pretty hard to navigate.”

“Uh, guys?”

Kat and Charlie turned. In the excitement of finding the chest, they had forgotten about Stan. He had followed the train tracks down the corridor, and now seemed to be looking down another corridor that branched off at a right angle.

“You guys might want to check this out,” he said slowly.

Kat walked over to him, followed by Charlie and the animals. The hallway in front of Stan was completely blocked off by thick Spider webs, stretching from floor to ceiling. The webbing continued down the hallway as far as the eye could see.

“What do you make of this, Charlie?” asked Stan, looking uncertainly at Charlie for an answer. Charlie was shaking his head, apparently at a loss. Kat, on the other hand, stepped forwards and slashed at the cobwebs with her sword.

“Kat!” cried Stan, pulling her back.

“What? There’s gotta be something that way, right?” she snapped, yanking herself out of Stan’s grip and continuing to slash the strings in front of her.

“But what if there’s a trap? There could be anything down that hallway. We can barely see three blocks in front of us,” said Charlie, and it was true that, with the cobwebs and lack of torches down the hall, visibility was very limited.

“Do I look like I care?” said Kat, still hacking through the cobwebs. Followed by Rex, she continued on to the point where she was out of sight of the boys, and they could only hear her voice. “I’m sick of all this hiding from the King. I want to find this stash. And if I get in a fight, then so be it. I’d personally prefer a straight fight to all this—aaaaaugh!”

Kat’s anguished scream reverberated around the walls of the mine shaft, making it seem three times louder than it actually was. Stan sprinted into the darkness towards his friend, weaving through the path Kat had hacked through the Spider webs. Stan heard a pained whimper as he approached where he judged Kat to be. He pulled back his shovel and swung it, baseball style, as it connected to the Spider that was digging its teeth into Kat’s chest as she lay unconscious on the stone floor, with Rex lying lifeless beside her.

As the Spider fell down onto the floor, Stan noticed in the low light that it was small, only about two thirds the size of a normal Spider. It had the same red eyes, but it appeared to be blue. He only noticed it for a moment, though, before another one came barreling out of the darkness, straight towards him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Charlie kneeling down, tending to Kat, so he batted the Spider back with his shovel as he had the first one. This one landed on its feet, and he had to hit it a few more times before it finally succumbed to death.

More Spiders kept coming, and their numbers were increasing. Stan wondered what was happening. Hostile mobs did not attack like this. There were a variety of them, and they didn’t spawn this frequently, even in such low light.

Then, slowly, as he batted down more and more Spiders, with Charlie now fighting at his side, he noticed a faint glow in the distance. He dodged a Spider and stepped close. What he saw was a black cage, one block in size. Every now and then, a small glow of fire would burst from the cage, and Stan could see a miniature Spider, blue like the ones he was fighting, spinning inside. Immediately after each burst of fire, another Spider would appear, which Stan would hastily beat down.

Stan realized that this thing was spawning swarms of Spiders, and if he didn’t destroy it soon, they would have a serious problem on their hands. Then he saw Kat’s stone sword lying on the ground, and he knew what had to be done. Without thinking, he snatched up the sword, cut aside two of the Spiders, and, with all his strength, thrust the sword into the heart of the cage, impaling the miniature arachnid inside.

There was a burst of light. Fire flew from the cage, and there was a loud shrieking noise, like thousands of Spiders being murdered at the same time. Then, the cage was silent. The fire within it had died, and no more monsters were being spawned from it. Stan picked up his shovel, cast aside the remains of the ruined sword, and turned back to Charlie, who was just puncturing the body of the last Spider with his diamond pickaxe.

“Good thinking, man,” heaved Charlie, wiping the sweat from his brow.

“Thanks,” replied Stan, and he looked down at Kat, who now appeared to be shivering in a puddle of her own vomit. “Is she going to be all right?”

“Yeah, but it’ll take a while,” said Charlie gravely. “Those things were Cave Spiders. They didn’t do much damage to her, thanks to you, but they poisoned her. The poison will make her throw up anything in her system. I was stupid and tried to feed her one of her potions, but she just threw it back up. Her system will rid itself of the poison eventually. We just need to give it time. When she wakes up, she’ll be very weak and very hungry.”

“Man, I’m so glad you read that book,” chuckled Stan. Then he had a thought. “Oh God, you didn’t get poisoned, did you?”

“I doubt it,” he replied. “None of those Spiders even touched me. You?”

“I don’t think so,” said Stan in relief. “That’s good. Even with the bread we got from that chest, we only have six loaves left, and I think that at least two of those are going to Kat when she wakes up.”

Indeed, after a while the unconscious Kat woke up, and the first words out of her mouth were incoherent grumbling, asking for food. Charlie gave her two loaves of bread and one of her two remaining healing potions. Even after this, Kat was very weak and had to walk slowly. She was also on edge.

“What do you mean, my sword’s gone?” Kat barked at Stan when he explained what had happened after she was knocked out.

“I told you,” he said, “I used it to destroy the Spider spawner.”

“And you couldn’t save it or something?” Kat spat in disgust. “You’re useless, you know that? Absolutely useless.”

“Shut up! If you hadn’t just barged in like that, we wouldn’t have been ambushed by those Spiders. It’s no one’s fault but yours that your sword is gone. Stop blaming me.”

“To that point,” added Charlie, who had just finished healing Rex with some rotten flesh, “I still have that stone pickaxe. You can use that until you can craft a new sword, Kat.” He pulled it out and gave it to her. She looked at it in disgust.

“I need to get a new weapon,” she said, spinning the pickaxe over in her hand.

“Welcome to the club,” sighed Stan, his shovel still gripped in his hand. “You, at least, have your bow.”

They wandered the mine shaft, taking side tunnels they had never seen before, trying to find some way out or, even better, an entrance to a secret stash room. Before long, they became hopelessly lost in the labyrinth of tunnels. Stan was just about to say that they should tunnel back up to the surface when something caught his eye.

At the end of the corridor to their right was a door. It was made out of metal, and there were torches on either side of it, as well as a button. He could see a ton of light streaming from the window of the door. But what most caught his attention was the sign above the door.

It read Underground Base of Avery007.

CHAPTER 14
AVERY’S STORY

“Avery007?” said Charlie when Stan pointed the sign out to him and Kat. “You mean that guy from the Apothecary’s story? Does that mean that he lives down here?”

“Not any more,” said Kat, staring at the sign. “Remember what the Apothecary said? The King killed him. He’s banished from the server forever. This must’ve been where he lived at one point.”

“Didn’t he have operating powers?” remembered Stan.

“Yeah …” said Charlie, an idea striking him. “And if he had operating powers, that means he probably had some pretty good stuff!”

“OK, let’s go in then,” said Stan, shovel at the ready. “But be careful this time. We don’t know what could be in there.”

Charlie nodded, and he raised his diamond pick, ready to defend himself. Kat also drew her pickaxe and held it at the ready. Stan pressed the button on the wall, and the iron door slowly swung open.

He stepped inside, and immediately his foot caught on some string lying across the ground. An arrow flew out of nowhere and snagged his leather cap off his head. Another arrow immediately afterwards glanced off his iron chestplate.

“Hit the dirt!” he screamed, and fell to the ground as arrows continued to whiz over his head. Behind him he heard Charlie and Kat doing the same. He looked up and saw that the arrows were being fired from a machine, the same kind that the Apothecary had trapped him with when they first met. He realized that he had stepped on a tripwire that had activated the machine. He hastily brought the blade of his shovel down on the trip wire, destroying it. The arrows stopped immediately.

Stan got up and looked around. They were in a well-lit room, made mainly of stone. Here and there, sections of the wall had been replaced with brick. There were various crafting tables and furnaces around the room, as well as chests. A bed sat in a corner.

“Well, this is disappointing,” said Kat, examining a painting of a sunset on the wall.

“Yeah, it is,” agreed Charlie, pulling a pair of iron leggings out of the chest. “This is the lair of Avery007?”

“It does seem a little basic …” said Stan, but then he noticed something. Lying on top of one of the crafting tables was a book, similar to the one that he and Charlie had found on their first day in Minecraft. The title on the book they had found on Spawnpoint Hill had read Welcome to Minecraft, with the author signed as Bookbinder55. But this book’s title was My Story, and the author was signed as Adam711. He picked it up.

“What’s that?” asked Charlie, walking over, Kat right behind him.

“It’s a book, written by somebody named Adam711,” replied Stan, examining the book. “What do you suppose it’s doing down here?”

“I don’t know,” said Kat. “Why would Avery007 care about whatever this Adam711 had had to say?”

“Let’s find out,” said Stan, and he opened to page one and began to read aloud.

MY STORY:

The Tragedy of the Rise and Fall of Avery007

0 AWA

This first entry of my diary is written on the day that they added writing in books to Minecraft, hence the entry number, 0 After Writing Added. I am leaving this record of my life to whoever may find it, with the hope that the wisdom within should help another to carry out my cause should my enterprise fail. I shall start by explaining that though my name is presently Adam711, I first entered Minecraft under the name of Avery007. This name, to me at least, is, and always will be, who I am: the great and powerful Avery007, who tried to change the world in his valiant quest for the equality of his subjects but was destroyed in the process.

Let me start by telling of my history. I joined this server Elementia when it was new. King Kev, the creator of this server, was my best friend. He granted me operating powers and worked with me to establish the great Element City, which most likely will still exist whether this account is read three days from its writing or three hundred years. I was on the governing body, the Council of Operators, in that city, and I tried to help pass laws that would benefit the lower-level citizens that were the future of Minecraft.

As the server grew, so did my friend King Kev’s fear that the younger generation would overpower the golden-age players, as he called those who had played in Elementia since the beginning. I believed him to be quite wrong on this account, and I voiced this opinion on multiple occasions, not allowing any laws to pass that would unfairly give unlimited power to the upper class.

My actions prompted the King to pass the Law of One Death, which eternally banishes a player from Elementia upon dying once. I was horrified at this law for the sake of the lower-level players who were so inexperienced and prone to dying. Never did I dream that the law was intended to rid Elementia of me.

I tried to rebel against the King but failed. I myself was forever banished from the server. Avery007 was no more. However, I am still determined to lead the lower-level citizens of Elementia to victory over their King under my new identity, Adam711. As I write this, I have already played the game from the beginning, and have gathered enough resources for myself to lead a rebellion against the King. From my days on the Council of Operators, I learned of the King’s secret stash of enough supplies for an entire army, hidden in a secret catacomb beneath the Ender Desert. I am on a voyage there now, determined to find these resources and use them to build an army to destroy the King.

Stan paused for a minute to look up. “So Adam711 was Avery007 in a past life?”

“I guess,” said Charlie. “But the important thing is that there is a secret stash down here! I knew it!”

“Hold on,” said Kat. “But Avery was looking for it, too. What if he found it and the stash is gone now?”

“I guess there’s only one way to find out,” replied Stan, and he continued reading.

2 AWA

I have arrived at the secret catacombs but I have discovered no treasure. Through examination of the premises, however, I found a log of the King’s that says that he moved the secret stash to a mysterious alternate dimension known as the End, where it will be much safer and better protected. I also learned that he has given up his operating powers. That is good. It will make him much easier to kill when I do build up an army.

5 AWA

I have met with a group of low-level players, living together in a group in the Southern Tundra Biome. I am still looking for the entrance to the End, but the Eyes of Ender suggest that it is somewhere around here. Hopefully I will manage to convince these players to help me overthrow the King.

Stan flipped to the next page. It was blank.

“It stops there,” he said, tossing the book back on the crafting table.

“So the secret stash is somewhere called the End,” said Kat, looking confused. “Do you know what that is, Charlie?”

“Beats me,” he said, looking down. “The only alternate dimension I was aware of in this game was the Nether.”

“Forget the secret stash for a second,” said Stan slowly. Something didn’t add up. Why did the book just stop like that? He asked the other two what they thought.

“I dunno,” shrugged Kat. “Maybe he just got bored of writing in his little diary.”

“Or maybe he was killed,” suggested Charlie.

Stan was about to voice his opinion, but he was cut off by evil laughter emanating from behind him.

Stan whipped around, as did Kat and Charlie. There, dressed in full diamond battle armour with a diamond sword in his hand, stood Mr A, his black sunglasses dangerously glinting in the torchlight, a sly smile creeping onto his face.

Stan braced himself for a fight with his shovel, strongly wishing that he still had an axe. Charlie drew his pickaxe and Kat her bow, both braced for battle. All three of them sat ill at ease. They knew that with their limited armour and less-than-ideal weaponry, they would be lucky to make it out alive.

Mr A laughed. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to kill you … yet,” he said, putting his sword away and smiling. “I think that it would be a shame for you to come all this way and not at least hear the conclusion of the story of Avery007, wouldn’t you agree?”

Stan was caught off guard. He lowered his shovel for a moment. “What are you talking about? How do you know the story of Avery007?”

“Because I knew Avery007,” replied Mr A quietly. “He was like a brother to me.”

There was a stunned silence. Charlie stared at Mr A, convinced that he was insane. Stan’s face took on a mask of one trying to process this implausible information. Kat, on the other hand, merely laughed and said, “Ha! Nice try, buddy. Even if I believed for a second that that was remotely possible, from what I understand Avery was a friend of lower-level players. You, on the other hand, if you recall, have tried to attack us multiple times. Somehow, I don’t think you two would have gotten along very well.”

Mr A’s face contorted with rage, and he drew his sword again. “Fine! Don’t believe me! Then let me tell you what happened! It just so happens that after he met those worms that you read about in that book, Adam tried to raise an army with them to overthrow the King. When he told them his idea, they figured that he was a dangerous madman and beat him to death with their stone tools. Just like that, Adam711 was gone from this server, like Avery007!

“And so now, I have made it my sole duty to dispose of all the worthless lower-level scum on this server: the citizens whom my friend tried to help, the citizens who turned on him in his hour of need. The citizens who truly are the bane of Minecraft!”

Mr A was screaming now, the vein in his head popping. He gave an almighty scream, “And now you die!” Then he rushed in with his sword, straight towards Charlie.

All four warriors attacked at the same time. Mr A thrust his sword at Charlie’s heart. Charlie threw his pickaxe at Mr A’s head. Stan swung his shovel’s blade towards the front of Mr A’s stomach. Kat fired an arrow aimed at a chink in Mr A’s chestplate. The arrow missed and knocked the sword to the side, causing it to strike Stan’s iron chestplate, which shattered on impact. The pickaxe missed its mark and embedded itself in the wall, and the shovel flew up and knocked Mr A’s helmet off.

Stan and Charlie scrambled to recover their weapons. Stan could see that Mr A was dizzied by the blow to the head, while he himself felt like he was about to throw up from the blow to his stomach. Still he snatched up his shovel and ran back in to engage Mr A, but he stopped short when he saw that Mr A was already taking heavy fire from Kat. Her never-ending supply of arrows flew out of her bow rapid fire, glancing off the diamond of Mr A’s armour and knocking him backwards into the wall.

“Hey guys! I think we may have a problem here!” Stan heard Charlie yell. He turned towards Charlie and saw that his diamond pickaxe had hit a button on the wall next to a bookshelf. Simultaneously, he heard a rumbling coming from above him. Seconds later, the roof exploded and sand blocks fell down into the room, burying the entire underground bunker in a vortex of darkness and coarse, grainy earth.

Stan found himself buried. He couldn’t judge which way was up or down, and he couldn’t breathe inside the coarse blocks. He slowly realized that he still had his shovel in his hand. He came to his senses and punched around with it, finally figuring out which way was up. He dug up quickly, and just when he thought he couldn’t hold his breath any longer, he punched his way into the fresh air.

CHAPTER 15
THE PORTAL

It was afternoon, and Stan had never thought that he would be as grateful for the sight of the blocky clouds in the blue sky as he was at that moment. He took deep breaths of the fresh air, amazed that, after all that had happened in the past day underground, he was still alive.

Then he remembered his friends; they were nowhere to be found. Stan was about to panic when he heard a barking behind him. He turned and saw Rex trotting around in the sand next to him. Stan was puzzled. How did the dog get out? Then he remembered that the dog was able to teleport to wherever Kat was. So if the dog had teleported aboveground, that could only mean that …

Sure enough, at that moment he heard a fist punching through sand, and Kat surfaced, breathing heavily from the effort. She looked at Stan.

“Don’t ever let me hear you complaining about that shovel again!” she panted, down on her hands and knees trying to catch her breath. “It let you tunnel up way faster than this useless thing!” She held up the stone pickaxe.

Stan was about to reply when Lemon appeared in front of him, followed seconds later by Charlie’s diamond pickaxe punching its way out of the ground. Unlike Kat, though, Charlie wasn’t breathing heavily at all.

“Nice going, Charlie,” spat Kat.

“Yeah, honestly man, of all the places on that wall that you could have hit, why the button that destroyed the place?”

“Nice to see you, too,” Charlie sighed, wiping the excess sand off his clothes. “And you should be thanking me. For one, I probably trapped Mr A down there, too. I don’t think he’ll manage to get out of this one alive. He was already pretty weak from Stan’s shovel attack. And for two, I managed to grab this!”

He pulled out a book from his inventory. The title read The Nether and the End: How to Get There.

Kat’s jaw dropped, and Stan asked in amazement, “Charlie! Where’d you get that?”

“Oh, I saw it on the bookshelf next to that button and thought that it might come in handy,” he said smugly. He stood up. “Now we can figure out our next move.”

They agreed to find some shade from the hot desert sun while they planned this next move. They looked around and saw that they were in the middle of a sinkhole that must have been created when the sand fell down and buried Avery’s base. They walked over and sat against the edge of the sinkhole that provided shade from the sun. Charlie opened the book to the chapter entitled ‘Entering the End’ and read aloud.

“To enter the End, one will, before all else, require twelve Eyes of Ender.” He looked up at his friends. “Does anybody know what those are?”

Neither of them did. Charlie found a glossary of Nether and End items in the back of the book and looked up the Eye of Ender. The picture showed an orb, green-grey in colour, which resembled the eye of a cat. The crafting recipe for it included one Ender Peal and one Blaze Powder. None of them knew what those were either, so Charlie opened the book first to the Ender Pearl.

“An Ender Pearl is most readily obtained by the killing of an Enderman,” Charlie read.

“Wait, an Enderman?” said Kat. “Isn’t that the thing that almost killed you this morning?”

Charlie sighed. “Yeah, it is. And it looks like we’re gonna have to kill twelve of them if we want to get to the End.”

Stan gulped. He remembered the Enderman’s overwhelming power well, and he wasn’t eager to face one again. “What about Blaze Powder?” he asked quickly. “How do we get that?”

Charlie turned the page and found what he was looking for. “Blaze Powder is a substance that is crafted from a Blaze Rod. The Blaze Rod can only be obtained by killing a Blaze, a creature indigenous to … the Nether,” said Charlie, his stomach lurching. After all he had heard about the Nether, he was not eager to go there.

“So, if we want to get to the End,” said Stan, piecing it together, “then we have to kill a bunch of Endermen, and we also have to go to the Nether and find these Blaze things?”

“Oh yeah!” cried Kat, pumping her fist in the air. “Road trip to the Nether!”

“Wait,” said Charlie quickly. “Not so fast. Who says that we have to go the Nether first?”

“Well, do you want to fight the Enderman again?” asked Kat. “Whatever’s in the Nether, it can’t be worse than something that can teleport and tries to kill you if you just look at it.”

“Not to mention,” added Stan, “that the King’s forces are definitely still looking for us, and they’re going to comb the entire Overworld before they start looking in other dimensions.”

Charlie tried to think of another argument of why they should not go to the Nether, but he couldn’t. He did agree with the reasoning of both of his cohorts. “OK,” said Charlie, resigning himself. “I guess our next move is to go to the Nether.”

As Charlie flipped through the book to figure out the way to enter the dimension, Kat kept on doing fist pumps and jumping around like a hyperactive puppy. She was obviously very excited to explore the place. Stan felt nervous, but he too had a growing sense of exhilaration. He was very much anticipating, with potent curiosity, the exploration of the new dimension, whatever it might hold.

“OK, apparently to enter the Nether we’re going to have to build a portal,” said Charlie, referring to the book. “It has to be five blocks high, four blocks wide, hollow in the centre, and made out of obsidian. From what I understand, obsidian is created when running water hits stagnant lava. It’s almost indestructible, and it can only be mined with a diamond pickaxe.”

“We passed an entire lake of lava on the way here, remember?” said Stan.

“Oh yeah, I remember that!” agreed Kat.

“OK, so we have stagnant lava,” said Charlie. “But how are we going to get a flow of running water across it?”

“Are you stupid, Charlie?” said Kat with a laugh. “I found a bucket down in the mine shaft!”

“Oh yeah,” said Charlie, feeling, indeed, a little stupid.

“OK, then!” said Stan, clapping his hands together. “Let’s make camp in this sinkhole overnight, and tomorrow we’ll hike out to the lava lake and make a portal to the Nether!”

And they did just that. Kat walked over to a pond in a grassy oasis nearby and filled her bucket with water, while Charlie and Stan used all the sand and dirt in their three combined inventories to make an inconspicuous sand house against the corner of the sinkhole. They quickly threw together a crafting table, a furnace and three beds with the wool made from the string of the cave Spiders.

They also made preparations for their impending quest. Charlie made torches out of the coal and wood he had found while mining, and he used the remaining coal to smelt the iron ore he found in the furnace. He used the resulting iron ingots to create two new iron chestplates for himself and Stan. Kat still had her leather tunic and cap.

After crafting the chestplates, there were three iron ingots left. Stan wanted a new axe, but Charlie said he needed one of the remaining ingots to combine with flint he had found underground. He had read in the book that the way to activate the Nether portal was to light the inside on fire, and to do that he would need to craft a tool known as flint and steel. After he created this, the two remaining ingots went to a new iron sword for Kat.

They had some leftover string and wood. These Charlie crafted into a chest and a new bow, which he gave to Stan along with twenty arrows that he had collected from Skeletons underground. The chest was filled with the group’s items that they would not be taking to the Nether: some dirt, a lot of cobblestone, the book, the contents of the chest from the mine shaft except for the bucket, and the Ender Chest. With all their necessities on them and all extras safely stored in the chest, the three players, the cat and the dog were all happy to go to bed.

As the wool mattress of the bed beneath him conformed to his body, Stan thought, for the first time, about the Griefer whom he had probably just killed beneath the desert. It was incredibly conflicting. Although Stan was quite happy that they now had a dangerous enemy off their tails, and he knew that they could not all walk away from that fight intact, Stan found his insides squirming with guilt when he remembered the agony of being crushed by the sand himself. Suffocating in that buried room must have been a dreadful way to die. Even if Stan had dismissed Mr A’s story about Avery007 as being completely untrue, Stan still felt as though Mr A did have an underlying reason for his hatred of lower-level players. And now that he was dead, they would never find out what that was.

Regardless of his guilt, Stan was too tired from the events of the day to dwell on it for long. It was only a matter of time before he succumbed to sleep.

It seemed like forever to Stan since they had had a really good night’s sleep, but it was a peaceful night, and Stan woke up to the crowing of a chicken, feeling refreshed and ready to tackle whatever the Nether had to offer.

They wasted no time leaving. They clipped their remaining potions to their belts, along with their weapons and arrows. Stan and Kat slung their bows over their shoulders. Kat and Charlie commanded their pets to sit and hide, as Charlie had read that Rex and Lemon would be unable to enter the Nether.

Before the clock even showed that the night was over, the trio was retracing their steps back towards the lava lake. They passed some burning mobs on the way there, but they were too preoccupied to pick up the materials. They reached the lava before the sun was high in the sky.

Stan was amazed. At a passing glance the body of molten lava had seemed like a lake, but now he could see that it expanded for kilometres, forming what could more appropriately be called a lava sea. Kat was equally amazed. Charlie, on the other hand, wasted no time placing the water from the bucket on the shore of the lava. Initially Stan was confused as to why the water from the bucket seemed to stay confined to one block on the shoreline. Wasn’t water supposed to flow? However, water then began to flow from this single source block, eventually spreading out into the lava and cooling a fair amount of it instantly into the black-as-night obsidian blocks. Ignoring the coal ore and stone rimming the lake, Charlie picked up the source block of water with the bucket. With the source gone, the water flowing from it quickly drained away. Wasting no time, he took his diamond pickaxe to the obsidian.

It was hard work. The sun was soon high in the sky, and the heat from the lava didn’t make it any easier for Charlie to continue hacking away at the black rock that seemed to resist all his efforts to break it. After ten minutes, the obsidian block finally broke, and Charlie snatched it before it could fall into the lava below. Charlie, relieved to have attained his first obsidian block, gritted his teeth and got to work on the second one.

Meanwhile, Kat and Stan stood poised at Charlie’s back, bows raised, ready to shoot down any attackers that ventured too close to them. It was boring, but Stan just kept the image of finally entering the Nether in mind, and he kept his poise, as did Kat.

Charlie was just collecting his ninth obsidian block when, without warning, the ground in front of Stan exploded. Stan was knocked back by the force of the blast, and he skidded along the black obsidian that Charlie had created, stopping just before the edge of the lava sea.

Kat had trained her bow on the cloud of dust and was ready to attack the first thing to rise from it, when a figure burst out of the hole in the ground. Before Kat could react, the figure threw a series of fire charges to the ground, thickening the smoke and setting the ground on fire. Kat tried to stare through the thick smoke to see who was attacking them, when an arrow flew through the smokescreen right at her.

It was too fast for her to dodge, but she ducked her head and the arrow snagged the leather of her cap, damaging the armour but leaving her unharmed. She sent arrows into the general direction of the attacker, and she was drawing another one when another figure ran out of the smoke. This was the first one whose features could clearly be seen. His blond hair was cut to his head, and he wore camo army trousers and a black tank top, with an eye patch covering one of his eyes. He held a diamond sword, and he was rushing straight towards Kat.

His attack was cut off by Stan, who had gotten up by now and swung his shovel at the player’s feet. As the attacker tripped, Stan yelled back to Charlie, who was about to help them, “We can handle this, Charlie! Finish the portal so we can get out of here!” At the same time, he sensed something to his right, and he turned and caught Kat’s eye.

“Stan, here! You need this more than I do!” she yelled, and she dodged an arrow while simultaneously throwing her sword in his direction. He responded by yelling, “Thanks!” and grabbing the sword just as the eye patch guy got back on his feet. Stan drew back and shot a couple of arrows at the player, which were effortlessly deflected, and when arrows became a futile effort he engaged the player with the sword.

Kat, meanwhile, could now see the player she was having a ranged arrow-battle with. He had dark skin and black hair, and he was wearing a leather tunic over Japanese samurai armour. The bow he was using was glowing just like hers – it had been enchanted. She had a feeling that the enchantment on a bow owned by someone who had attacked them without provocation would be considerably more evil than the Infinity enchantment on hers.

Charlie was vaguely aware of Stan’s sword flying out of his hand in his battle with Mr Tank Top, and of more and more arrows catching on Kat’s tunic in her arrow fight with Mr Samurai. He knew he had to finish the portal quickly. Charlie hastily placed the last three obsidian blocks into place atop the black obelisk and then jumped to the ground, pulling out the flint and the steel ring. He was about to light the portal when a figure burst out of the ground right behind him. He whipped around, pickaxe in hand, ready for a fight.

This player was wearing full, glowing iron armour – it was enchanted, too. The blocky black ponytail extending to her waist distinguished her as female. She didn’t attack Charlie. She didn’t even notice him. She pulled something out of her inventory: a handful of redstone dust, and a torch that was glowing electric red. Charlie stared, baffled, as she laid the dust along the ground and then touched the red end of the torch to the dust. Instantly, the dust illuminated and sent off faint red sparks.

“Contact in five!” she bellowed, and she whipped out her iron sword and sunk into a defensive stance. Kat stopped, having bent over to pick up her iron sword, as she wondered what this meant. Stan looked equally as confused, but the effect on the other three was immediate. The eye patch guy and the samurai whipped out shovels and dug holes into the ground. Charlie realized in horror what was about to happen. He ducked behind one of the obsidian pillars of the portal, screaming, “Get down! She’s about to—”

He was cut off when the world exploded.

Stan was knocked back twenty blocks as the sand beneath him exploded in a whirlwind of earth and rock. He was sent flying through the air, and he felt dizzy, becoming aware that he was spinning.

He landed on the ground, dazed, and looked into the dust cloud where the battlefield used to be. He was confused, too paralyzed by fear and injury to do anything but grab and swig one of his healing potions. Instantly, the effect of the potion kicked in. He felt alert and completely healed, and his thoughts immediately turned to the safety of his friends.

Then he saw her. Flying through the air, smoke billowing from her burning leather armour, iron sword miraculously still clasped in her hand, the body of his brave friend, propelled by the amazing force of the explosion, sailed like a graceful kite, disappearing upon plunging into the fiery depths of the lava sea.

Stan’s vision went white. He couldn’t hear. He couldn’t feel the bow in his hand. All of his senses seemed to shut down as he processed the impossible information. His body seemed to be refusing to accept what he knew to be facts. For Kat could not possibly be dead, there was no way that it would be allowed to happen …

Stan’s thoughts were refusing to connect, so his instincts took over. He grabbed his iron shovel from the ground next to him and ran towards the samurai archer who was now aiming an arrow at Charlie’s head. Charlie’s face was white, his eyes wide and his jaw slack, as he stared at the spot where Kat had made contact with the molten liquid, oblivious to his own impending doom. Stan drew back his shovel and slammed it against the archer’s head before he could fire.

The archer was knocked down to the ground, his head twisting at an odd angle. Stan could not tell if he was dead, but if not, he was definitely unconscious. Becoming aware that he was screaming in fury, Stan whipped around to face the other two. He saw the guy with the buzz cut dashing towards him, diamond sword in attack position, with the girl close behind. Both were seething with rage, their veins popping, ready to avenge their fallen friend. But the rage over Kat’s death had elevated Stan’s fighting abilities, even with a shovel. Stan’s anger rose up in him like a pot boiling over, and he was sure that he could easily take these two armoured gorillas. He was about to shoot a preemptive arrow with his bow when something behind them caught his eye.

There was a disturbance in the surface of the lava sea. A ripple, or rather a bubbling, was appearing right next to the shore. What happened next was so unbelievable that, had Stan not been there, he wouldn’t have believed that it had really happened, no matter how many eyewitness accounts he heard.

Out of the lava burst a player, surrounded by a glowing red aura, her iron sword red with the heat it had absorbed from the lava. Kat flew out onto the sand and without hesitation proceeded to thrust her sword into the back of the girl in full iron armour. The sword melted a hole through the back of the chestplate and out the front.

The look on the girl’s face changed from outrage to shock as the sword entered her body. Kat, on the other hand, looked like the embodiment of a demon as she used all her superhuman strength to fling the girl over her head, off her sword. The glowing iron body flew through the air and it entered the lava right near the edge of the stone shore.

Stan didn’t allow himself time to think about how his friend wasn’t burned to death, nor did he allow himself time to be happy. All he knew was that the one remaining fighter with the buzz cut would be upon him soon, and he would be livid that his two companions were down. He ran towards the obsidian frame, where Charlie stood in shock.

“Light the portal!” he bellowed, and he became aware that Kat was running right behind him, deflecting arrows from the buzz cut player with her sword as she did.

Charlie pulled out the flint and the steel ring and struck them together. Sparks flew out upon collision and then fell into the obsidian base. The sparks flew into the air, beginning to glow purple. When they reached the centre of the portal, they grew until the entire inside of the portal was glowing purple. The portal to the Nether was open.

Charlie jumped into the purple glow and disappeared, purple sparks flying through the portal. Stan threw aside all hesitancy he had about entering the new dimension, and he dived through the purple barrier. He suddenly felt like he was buried in the sand above Avery’s base once again, being squeezed from all sides. The very unpleasant sensation lasted for about three seconds, and then Stan tumbled out onto a surface that felt like dirt that was crusted over. He refilled his squeezed-empty lungs with warm, dry air.

On the other side of the portal, Geno was dragging the body of Becca out of the lava. He pulled out two illegally brewed potions from his inventory and poured them into her mouth. The flames that were burning her armour and skin immediately subsided, and she gave a weak cough. Relieved, he quickly whipped around and poured a third potion into the open mouth of Leonidas. There was a faint click, and Leonidas’s head spun around and back into place.

Geno looked up and through the portal. On the other side, he could see that all three players were punching the bottom block of the obsidian portal. Realizing what they were about to do, Geno desperately sprinted towards the portal, trying to dive through before it closed. Just as he was about to fly through, there was a crack, and the bottom obsidian block of the black frame ceased to exist. There was a flash of purple light, and the entrance to the Nether disappeared.

Geno skidded to a stop right before his momentum could carry him through the empty obsidian frame and into the lava sea. He cursed in anger, and he looked back at his companions. Leonidas was sitting up and caressing his neck. Geno knew that he would be all right. Becca, on the other hand, was still lying on the ground, her breathing shallow. Geno was worried about her, but he was sure that there would be at least one medic in the legion of the King’s army awaiting RAT1’s command in the jungle.

It was all for the best, decided Geno, as Leonidas slowly got back to his feet. Geno was confident that under his command, RAT1’s battalion of troops would ensure that Stan and his friends, now stranded in the Nether, would not make it back to the Overworld alive.

CHAPTER 16
THE NETHER

Stan’s knuckles ached from helping Charlie punch through raw obsidian. He wasn’t worried, though. His entire brain was processing two simultaneous emotions. He was breathing hard, amazed and relieved that they had managed to escape those thugs back in the Overworld.

He was also amazed and in shock as he stared at Kat, who was still glowing red from the molten lava. But now, as Stan took a closer look, he could see that the glow wasn’t coming from the residual heat of the lava. Kat seemed to have a red aura surrounding her body. She was sitting on the ground next to Charlie, panting, but other than being winded, she looked completely unharmed.

“So tell me, Kat,” panted Stan, talking for the first time since entering the Nether. “How exactly did you manage to survive swimming in lava?”

Kat looked up at him. She lifted up an empty bottle. “Potion of Fire Resistance,” she huffed, tossing the bottle to the side. “And a healing potion to get rid of the damage from the burns.” She tossed a second bottle to the side. It shattered next to the first one on the red-and-black speckled rocks. The sight of these odd blocks prompted Stan to look around the area.

Beyond the eleven remaining black obsidian blocks of the broken portal, Stan could see the walls of a cave, which they had spawned inside of. The entire cave was made of the black-and-red speckled rocks. Stan guessed that this was a fairly widespread block in the new dimension. The cave was wide open, and he could see that one end was illuminated. The air was arid and very warm. Stan imagined that water was nonexistent here.

Charlie glanced at the broken portal. The obsidian block that they had had to punch out had cracked into three pieces. There was no way to repair the portal with the remaining chunks of the black rock. “We’re gonna have to find some new obsidian if we’re going to fix the portal,” he said with a sigh, chucking the useless obsidian chunks to the side. “Well, let’s not even try to fix it just yet. Whoever that was who just attacked us, I bet that they’re with the King,” said Stan. “And I’ll bet that it’s just a matter of time before they make their way into this dimension and hunt us down. We’ve got to find these Blaze Rods as quick as we can, and even when we do figure out how to fix the portal, we shouldn’t do it until the last possible minute so they can’t follow us.”

Kat and Charlie nodded, and Stan suggested that they make their way out of the cave. They picked up their items and left the broken portal behind them. They walked to the mouth of the cave, and three jaws simultaneously dropped at what they saw.

The entire world seemed to be a colossal cave, made almost entirely of the red-and-black speckled rocks. Flooding the bottom of the cave was a sea of lava that made the one they had just left in the Overworld seem miniscule. A few small, dark red islands dotted the face of the lava. Hanging from the ceiling, which ranged greatly in height, were stalactites made of a glowing type of crystal as well as several giant lava falls that flowed viscously from holes in the ceiling and into the molten basin. It was beautiful in a fiery way, but it was also terrifying. All three players were simultaneously imagining the unknown perils of exploring the scorching land.

The players’ first view of the Nether was soon obscured, however. After about ten seconds of surveying the landscape, a giant white form rose in front of them. Stan stepped back in awe. The giant creature appeared to be a white, levitating jellyfish. Its body was a cube, and there was a mess of tentacles hanging from underneath it. Its eyes were shut, as was its mouth. Stan was amazed. It was by far the largest mob he had ever seen in Minecraft.

Suddenly, the monster’s eyes and mouth opened, and it gave out a scream. It was a high-pitched, baby-like screech, even shriller than that of the Enderman, which seemed odd in contrast to the blazing fireball that came shooting from its mouth.

“Get down!” Kat screamed, dropping to the ground.

Not needing to be told twice, Charlie and Stan followed suit. Stan’s eyes followed the path of the fireball until it hit the back wall of the cave, at which point it exploded. This explosion was different than a TNT or Creeper explosion. The blast of a Creeper was stronger than this blast, although it emitted a shockwave of heat that scorched Stan’s eyebrows from a distance. The remaining blocks that weren’t destroyed were set alight and began to burn brightly.

Another fireball came flying, and the players rolled to the side just in time to avoid impact, while the section of the ground they had been standing on was blown apart. Stan looked at the hole that had been blasted in the ground and saw that they had been standing on a ledge. One wrong step and they would fall down into the lava sea below.

Stan whipped out his bow and arrows and tried to snipe the next fireball out of the air. He missed. The arrow instead hit the flying monster in the forehead. Its eyes flew open, and the monster gave an animal bellow of pain. The mob levitated upwards and spit three more fireballs that hit the roof of the cave. The entire top of the cave exploded, leaving the three players exposed to an absolute rain of fireballs from the evil mob.

“We’ve got to split up!” cried Charlie as he tumbled sideways to dodge another fireball. “It can’t shoot at all of us at once!”

“But there’s nowhere to split up to!” yelled Kat desperately, and she was right. They were backed up to a cliff, and the ledge had been completely blown apart by fireballs except for the part where the three players were standing. The giant jellyfish opened its mouth, and the fireball that was sure to drop them all into the burning sea below flew out, right on a collision course with the players. Stan held his shovel in front of his face and prepared himself for an explosive death.

Right before the fireball could make contact, a form burst out of the wall behind Stan and flew in front of him. It was a player dressed in a scarlet jumpsuit with olive skin and black hair. He held a diamond sword in his hand, which he hastily swung in front of him in midair, hitting the fireball, and then he landed on the cliff below him. The projectile changed trajectory and headed on a return course to the monster that had shot it. The fireball exploded in the mob’s face, and it tumbled backwards a few feet, screaming.

“Get behind me!” yelled the player, as the monster recovered and blasted another fireball their way. Stan, Kat, and Charlie obliged and watched, amazed, as the player deflected another fireball, this time missing the monster and sending the fireball deep into the cave. Another player burst through the hole in the wall.

This player was dressed the same as the player with the sword, but he had red hair and pale skin, and he held a fishing rod in his hand. Stan watched in astonishment as the player threw the rod back and cast it, the bobber flying towards the jellyfish. The hook entered the monster’s head, and it cried out in pain again. It tried to fly away, but the redheaded player expertly maneuvered the line, dragging the mob back down. All the while the monster was still shooting fireballs, and the swordsman kept deflecting them.

“Nice cast, Bill!” yelled the swordsman as he parried another fireball to the side.

“Thanks, Ben!” the redhead cried in response as he repeatedly changed the power of the cast to keep the monster from flying out of range. “The Ghast is in optimal position! We’re ready, Bob!”

At this, yet another jumpsuit-clad player burst out of the wall, this one pale and blond. He held a glowing bow in his hand, and he fired an arrow at the monster in midair. He landed on the ground and looked back at Stan, Kat, and Charlie.

“If any of you three are archers, now’s the time! Aim for the eyes!” said the blond archer, Bob, with a manic grin on his face. Stan was a little unnerved by the grin at first glance, but he then noticed the same expression on the face of the fishing rod player, Bill, and the swordsman, Ben. They weren’t just fighting off this mob, which he had heard one of them call a Ghast – they were loving it!

Stan and Kat pulled out their bows and began shooting at the Ghast. The monster’s eyes were punctured by the dozens of arrows protruding from them, and its fireballs seemed to be shooting in a more confused pattern. One of the fireballs flew towards Kat, and she whipped out her sword and deflected it, just as Ben had been doing.

“OK you three, let up!” cried Bill, pulling back hard on the fishing pole.

Bob lowered his bow and got back against the wall, but Kat and Stan looked at Bill, confused.

“But it’s still alive!” yelled Stan.

“Yeah, why should we let up?” asked Kat.

“Because Ben loves this part!” bellowed Bill, laughing like a maniac, as he threw his full weight back against the fishing rod. The damaged Ghast lurched back down towards the ledge. It was very close to them now. Stan flinched as he felt the heat of the desperate Ghast spamming out yet another fireball.

Ben, a glint in his eyes, deflected the fireball off into the distance and ran towards the Ghast, which was now almost level with the ledge. He took a flying leap at the Ghast, his sword in his right hand, and he drove his weapon into the forehead of the giant monster. It screamed in anguish as Ben grabbed the Ghast’s face with his left hand while repeatedly thrusting his sword into the Ghast’s head. The giant mob stopped launching fireballs and started to fall apart from the repeated sword slices.

Ben pushed off the monster’s face with a white item in his hand. His sword spiralled down and landed on the ledge. He landed next to the weapon and pocketed the white item. Ben’s companions stood next to him, looking on with satisfaction as the hacked-up corpse of the Ghast fell into the lava sea below. Bob turned around.

“And that, gentlemen and lady, is how we amazing people kill Ghasts.”

And with that, the three fighters bumped their fists together in midair and yelled in unison, “YEAH!”

“OK, that was officially really impressive,” remarked Kat, still sweating from the battle with the Ghast.

“Well, we’ve had practice,” said Bob, slinging his bow over his back. “You kids have got to be more careful. Ghast fighting can be a rather unpleasant experience if you’re not good at it. It’s really easy to get blasted sky-high in this place.”

“You guys seem like you have a lot of experience here,” said Charlie. “How many times have you three been to the Nether?”

“Are you kidding? We live here, man!” Bill laughed. “And that’s not an exaggeration either. We’ve lived here ever since that backstabbing jerk King Kev banished us here.”

“And by the way,” said Ben as Stan opened his mouth in surprise. “We don’t care what you think about the King. If you have a problem with our opinion we’d be more than happy to fight you, too.” Bill and Bob nodded in agreement.

“Oh trust me,” Kat said, smirking, “I’d use a considerably more vile word to describe the King.”

“Yeah,” said Charlie. “I agree with that, and I’m sure Stan does, too. After all, he was the one who tried to kill that terrible King.”

“Wait, what?” Bob did a double take. “You tried to kill the King? Man, you got guts, noob!”

“How could you possibly still be alive?” asked Bill, amazed.

“Did you come to the Nether to hide from the King’s forces? ’Cause there’s no way that you would still be alive if you were in the Overworld,” commented Ben.

Stan looked up. “No. As a matter of fact, we’re trying to overthrow—” but he was cut off when Kat punched him in the arm.

“Shut up, you idiot!” hissed Kat. “Don’t give away too much—”

“You’re overthrowing the King?” interrupted Bob in a hushed, awed voice.

There was a moment of silence. The look on Kat’s and Charlie’s faces confirmed that Stan’s outburst was indeed true. Kat slapped her head, sure that these three players were about to reveal that they were really secret agents of the King. But then—

“Man, that is wicked awesome!” cried Bill. “It’s about time someone stood up to that pile of pig crap.”

“If we weren’t banished to this dimension with no way to get out,” said Ben, “we would have done it sooner or later.”

“Wait a minute … do you guys have a portal out of here?” asked Bob. This got the others’ ears perked up.

“Yeah! It’d be great to finally get out of this awful dimension. We’ve been here for so long …”

“Yeah … maybe the Apothecary is still around …”

“Wait, you know the Apothecary?” said Stan. “We met him back in the jungle! He’s helping us organize a rebellion with the people in the Adorian Village. How do you know him?”

“We used to work with him on the Council of Operators back in Element City,” said Ben. “We were the Chiefs of Exploration before the King associated us with some fake rebellion and threw us into this place.”

“Oh yeah! He mentioned you guys!” said Charlie, remembering their lengthy conversation with the old player. “You guys must be Bill33, Bob33 and Ben33.”

“Testify,” said Bill, raising his fishing rod and then lowering it. “Although nowadays, we go by the title of the Nether Boys.”

“Anyway, do you guys really have a portal out of here?” asked Bob. “We’ve been marooned in this blistering wasteland forever. I’d kill just to see a sheep or a cow or a tree again!”

“Well, we do have a portal,” said Kat. “But it’s broken right now. We need one obsidian block to fix it. We have the means to fix it – I have a water bucket and Charlie has his diamond pickaxe.” Charlie raised it in confirmation. “But we can’t leave here until we get some Blaze Rods. If we’re gonna pull this rebellion off, we’re going to need access to the King’s secret stash of supplies in the End, and we can’t get there without the rods.”

“Also,” added Charlie, “we can’t fix the portal until we’re ready to leave, or else the King’s forces will be able to get in to follow us and we’ll all be screwed.”

“Well, it ain’t gonna matter one way or another,” said Bill. “You’re in the Nether now, kids. Water will evaporate the instant it leaves the bucket, so there’s no way to make obsidian here.”

Stan’s heart sunk. How were they going to get out now?

“Still, I think that we may be able to help you out. It just so happens that we have one block of obsidian back at our house,” said Ben. “We’ll make a deal with you. We’ll give you the obsidian block so you can fix the portal. You let us use your portal to get out of the Nether, and in exchange, we’ll help you get your Blaze Rods.”

“Sounds good,” said Stan, and he looked at Charlie and Kat for confirmation.

Both nodded and smiled, and Kat said, “You’ve got yourself a deal.”

“So where exactly are we supposed to find these … Blazes?” said Charlie, remembering that Blaze Rods were dropped by this type of enemy.

“We’ll talk about getting your Blaze Rods when we get back to our house,” said Ben.

He jumped into the hole that he and the other two had made in the wall, and the six players followed the tunnel. It went down for a good while, and when they came out they were at the level of the lava sea. They began walking across the open plain of red-and-black speckled stone, which Bob told Stan was called Netherrack. At the edge of the plain was a small rise, and before they crossed over it, Bill raised a hand.

“Hold up. We should check to see if there are any monsters on the edge of this rise. Bob, Stan, you two go and check. Shoot down any hostile mobs that you see, and then we’ll go on. The house is just over this plain.”

Stan pulled out his bow and walked with Bob over to the rise. Bob poked his head over and looked at the plain. His eyes widened.

“Whoo-whee! This oughta be fun, right, Stan?” said the blond archer. Stan poked his head over the wall to see what Bob was talking about. What he saw made his stomach fall out.

He had seen these mobs before. On a stormy day, en route to Element City, he had fought a great battle against one of these creatures. Could these possibly be the same mobs as the one that he had fought with his friends in that terrible battle? But there was no mistaking the pink, rotting skin, the brown loincloths, the golden swords …

It had managed to take down Charlie, Kat and Rex, and it was only because of the lightning-charged Creeper that Stan had managed to defeat it. And that was just one.

But now, Stan was staring into a plain, a wide-open stretch of flat land with lava on both sides. And roaming around this wide-open space was an entire herd of about fifty sword-wielding Zombie Pigmen.

CHAPTER 17
THE FORTRESS AND THE BLAZE

Stan drew back the arrow without thinking. All he knew was that he wanted to get this massive fight over with, and with as little sword fighting as possible. He let the arrow fly, right as Bob cried out, “Stan, no!”

The arrow went right through the hollow eye socket of the nearest Pigman, which fell to the ground. The others around it looked down at their fallen comrade, and in one motion all their eyes locked on Stan. The entire herd of Pigmen surged forwards in a swarm towards Stan and Bob.

“Man, those things are neutral!” cried Bob as he downed another one of the Pigmen with an arrow. “If you don’t attack them, they won’t attack you!”

“What do you mean?” asked Stan as he pulled out his shovel and knocked one that had almost reached the top of the rise back down the plain. “In the Overworld one attacked me!”

“Well I don’t know why that was, but right now we’ve got a serious problem on our hands!” He clubbed a Pigman with his bow, and it flew backwards and landed in the middle of the herd that was now climbing the rise. “Get back, get back!” Bob continued to yell as he walked backwards and fired arrows into the throng.

Stan and Bob ran back down towards the others, and Bob yelled, “Zombie Pigmen, incoming!” When the other two Nether Boys looked at Bob in confusion, he said, “Stan shot one of ’em.”

Kat and Charlie looked at Stan in horror. Remembering the one from the Overworld, he said, “There’s, like, fifty of them coming now! Prepare yourselves, this is gonna be one big fight!”

The Zombie Pigmen started to stream over the rise. Stan, Kat, Charlie and Ben raced in to battle the herd. Bill and Bob stayed back and started attacking with their respective weapons.

The fighting was intense. Ben was an expert at disarming the rotting pig-warriors and then cutting them out of existence. Kat, on the other hand, required a lot more effort to defeat the Pigmen than he did, being unfamiliar with the sows’ fighting techniques. Charlie had adopted a unique strategy. He had used his pickaxe to swiftly hack a ditch in the brittle Netherrack ground, and when the Zombie Pigmen stumbled into the ditch in pursuit of him, Charlie drove his pickaxe into the monsters. Stan meanwhile adopted the timeless Zombie-fighting strategy of beating them into submission with a shovel.

By far, the ones doing the most damage were Bill and Bob. Bob’s arrows downed pig after pig after pig, and Bill had adopted an unusual strategy of catching the Pigmen on his fishing hook from afar and casting them deep into the lava sea. They didn’t burn, but instead they just swam around aimlessly in the molten lava, not interested in the fighting anymore.

It took a while, but the seemingly endless supply of Zombie Pigmen finally trickled down and eventually stopped when Kat decapitated the last one. Bob went to check whether the coast was clear. It was, and the six players walked across the plain and soon came to the house of the Nether Boys at the base of a steep Netherrack hill. The house was entirely covered in Netherrack, so it blended into the environment in such a way that you would have to know the house was there to see it. The inside was made entirely of cobblestone, which, for Stan at least, was a sight for sore eyes. It was the first of the familiar block that he had seen since entering the nightmarish Nether.

They saw a crafting table, a furnace and some chests. Other than that the house was completely empty. Stan asked why they had so few possessions after living here so long.

“We were banished here, don’t you remember, kid?” said Bill, slinging his fishing rod over his back. “And besides, if you try to sleep in a bed in the Nether, the bed will explode.”

“OK.” Stan didn’t even bother questioning it. He was so past wondering about the many breaches in the laws of physics in this wonderful, dangerous game called Minecraft.

“So to get your Blaze Rods,” said Bob, sitting on the cobblestone floor and leaning against the wall, “we’re going to have to get to the Blaze spawner in the Nether Fortress.”

“Yeah, the Apothecary mentioned something about the Nether Fortress,” said Kat, chiselling her initials into the cobblestone wall with her sword’s point. “What exactly is the Nether Fortress?”

“It’s a maze made out of dark red brick that’s incredibly dangerous to navigate,” replied Ben. “Luckily, we happened to live right near the closest Nether Fortress, and even luckier is the fact that we’ve done a little exploring and it shouldn’t take too long to get to the Blaze spawner. We’d better be prepared, though. Once we enter that room we’re going to be up against a never-ending swarm of Blazes, and those things are a nightmare to kill.”

“What makes them so hard to kill?” asked Charlie.

“Well, for one, they can fly,” said Bill. “And for two they have the annoying tendency to spam fireballs at you. When the three of us first made it into the Blaze spawner room, we barely made it out alive. Great fun, really, but we didn’t even try to fight them.”

“Mind you,” interjected Bill, “we’ve had a lot more experience fighting Ghasts since then, and we could probably figure out a winning strategy for killing Blazes, but we should still be careful.”

“The Nether Fortress is very close to this location,” said Ben. “We actually chose to build our house here in case we ever wanted to explore it some more. We have a few times. It’s awesome to explore that giant labyrinth. Anyway, it’s right up this hill outside.” He exited the house and started up the hill, followed by the other five.

It was quite a sheer hill – more like a cliff face, really. At one point, another Ghast tried to blast them off the cliff side, but Ben managed to kill it with deflected fireballs, and they kept climbing.

“Oh man, why is it so hot in the Nether?” said Kat, gritting her teeth as she wiped the sweat from her brow. She was closely followed by Charlie and then Stan.

“Well … I’m guessing … the fireballs and … the lava sea may … have something to do … with it,” panted Stan as he dragged his shovel behind him. “And who are you … to complain? You’re … wearing shorts … and a T-shirt!”

“And also you’re … not wearing … one of these wicked heavy … iron chestplates!” gasped Charlie. Kat glanced down quickly at her neon-pink shorts and then again at the light tunic over her orange T-shirt. She blushed in embarrassment and did not speak again for the rest of the climb.

At the top of the Netherrack cliff, there was a monster standing by that tried to attack them. It was a large cube of magma of various shades of dark red, and had glowing yellow eyes that opened up like a spring as it leaped forwards to attack Ben. He calmly identified it as a Magma Cube and sliced it in two with his sword. Stan was totally caught off guard when the two halves of the monster morphed into two smaller Magma Cubes. One of them caught him unaware as it tackled him, and he would have been knocked back down the cliff had Bill not caught the strap of Stan’s chestplate with his fishing rod. Ben kept killing the Magma Cubes, and the pieces of the dead ones kept reanimating. They were easy kills, though, and soon all of them were dead, leaving a pasty orange substance on the ground that Bob pocketed for later use.

“Magma cream,” he pointed out. “You use it to make Potions of Fire Resistance.”

Now that the Magma Cube was good and dead, the players turned their attention to the structure in front of them. It was composed entirely of dark crimson bricks, and there were stairs that led up to a tunnel made out of the bricks, which had torches lining the walls. The tunnel went straight into the side of another Netherrack cliff. There were no distinct architectural features of the building. In fact, Stan was surprised to see that the exterior looked very plain.

“Those torches weren’t put there naturally,” said Ben. “We put those up the last time we visited this place. If we follow them, it should lead us straight to the Blaze spawner room.”

They walked into the corridor. Stan was pleased to realize that it was slightly cooler within these brick halls. He followed the Nether Boys as they took turn after turn, following the torches. Slowly, Stan began to realize just how big the complex was. There were windows in the sides of the corridors, and more often than not there was nothing to see out of them except for Netherrack. However, now and then he could see that they were suspended over the lava sea, and a few times he saw magnificent lava falls flowing from the ceiling of the Nether and into the lava sea. Stan realized that he might well die during the fight with these monsters, so he took the time walking down the corridors to appreciate just how beautiful the landscape of Minecraft was.

After going down endless corridors and through a few rooms with staircases and small farms of some type of seed that Stan guessed was the Nether wart the Apothecary had told him about, they finally arrived at a corridor that was not lit with torches. At the end of this corridor, Stan could see a block with a yellow figure revolving within a black cage, very similar to the block that spawned Cave Spiders in the abandoned mine shaft. He knew that they had reached the Blaze spawner.

“So, what’s our strategy?” asked Charlie eagerly.

“Personally, I say we should just go in there and beat the things to death before they get a chance to attack us,” said Kat, pulling her sword from her waist.

“Not so fast, sister,” said Bill. “Those spawners can set up to three of those things on you at a time. As much fun as it would be to just charge in there and beat the Blaze Rods right out of them, I think we have to think this one through a little more. Anyone have any ideas?”

There was silence for a moment. Then much to Stan’s surprise, Charlie spoke up and said, “How about I drink my Potion of Fire Resistance and draw their fire, while Bob, Kat, and Stan shoot them down?”

“Nice thinking, bro,” said Bob. “Be careful, though. Even if you don’t catch on fire, the Blazes can still do melee attacks and the fireballs still damage you.”

Charlie agreed to be careful, and they got ready to execute their plan. Charlie gave all of his things to Kat to hold, and Ben and Bill hid behind Bob, Kat and Stan, all of whom had their arrows notched, ready to fire.

“Wait, I’m almost out of arrows,” Stan said. “Do you have any extras, Bob?”

“Sure,” he said, and he handed half his arrows to Stan.

With everything ready, Charlie swigged his fire resistance potion, and he charged into the Blaze spawner room.

Charlie could see that the room was jutting out of the side of a Netherrack mountain, and that the walls were completely composed of fences. In the centre of the room, the black cage gave off some fire particles, and the yellow figure within started spinning rapidly. Before Charlie could study the little figure any closer, a full-sized Blaze appeared right above the spawner. Charlie couldn’t help but stare. It was the most bizarre thing he had ever seen.

The head of the Blaze was a yellow cube flecked with orange, and it had beady eyes that were locked on to him. The head was on top of a column of smoke, which had a lot of yellow rods orbiting around it. The entire thing was engulfed in flames. Charlie was just getting over how zany the entire composition looked when the Blaze opened its mouth and three fireballs shot out.

Charlie rolled to the side. The three fireballs hit the walls in three great puffs of flame. The Blaze’s head rotated and fixated on Charlie again, and it rose into the air and shot out three more fireballs. Charlie dodged again, and before the Blaze could take another shot, three arrows flew out of the corridor and impaled the Blaze’s head. The blaze fell to the ground, extinguished, with only an orange stick remaining, which Charlie snatched up. He barely had time to examine the Blaze Rod when two more Blazes appeared, and six more fireballs flew towards him. One of the Blazes fell from three more arrows, but it didn’t drop a rod. The other one fell seconds later, and the rod fell to the ground. Charlie was too preoccupied with the four more Blazes in the room to pick up the rod at that moment.

Back in the corridor, the archers were shooting arrows as fast as they could, but the spawners were creating new enemies faster than they could shoot them down. Bill sat solemnly against the wall. He knew there was nothing that a fishing rod could do in such a closed-off space. Ben, on the other hand, stood rigid behind the archers, sword gripped in his hand. Like the other Nether Boys, he was a pretty easy-going guy, but if there was one thing he hated, it was to be left out of a fight.

“He must’ve collected enough rods by now! Let’s go in there and destroy the spawner!” He made to go down the corridor, but Bill pulled him back.

“No, Ben, not yet,” Bill said calmly. “You can go in there when it’s time, but right now nobody has a chance of surviving in there besides Charlie.”

“Do you see a better time on the horizon?” Ben asked in exasperation.

Indeed, back in the spawner room, Charlie did not see the fight ending well at all. There were now eight Blazes circling around the room, with the spawner creating them at a rate of two spawned for every one shot down. He had more than enough Blaze Rods to craft the twelve Blaze Powder units required. He sincerely wished that they would hurry up and direct their fire towards the spawner before the potion wore off. He had already been hit by numerous fireballs.

Charlie was momentarily distracted by a shout from down the corridor. He turned to see what it was, and in that second he was knocked to the ground by a fireball to the back of his head. Dazed, he wondered whether or not the potion was still working, when the crimson-clad figure of Ben burst into the room, turned his sword to the side, and thrust it through the bars of the cage. There was a hissing noise, and the little Blaze inside the cage ceased to exist. Ben dodged the fireballs of the remaining Blazes, and Charlie watched in awe as he took out three of the flying creatures with one well-timed sword slash, not getting hit once. The archers shot down the rest of the Blazes a moment later, and as if on cue, the red aura around Charlie’s body that distinguished him as fire-resistant evaporated, leaving him vulnerable once more.

“Well, that was fun,” he said, grinning.

Ben pumped his fist in the air and yelled at the top of his lungs, “Ye-yah!”

The six players met back in the corridor and congratulated each other on their spectacular performances against the Blaze spawner. Stan was much more excited on the way back than he had been on the way there, seeing as they were finally going to get out of the fiery new dimension.

They reached the final turn that would lead back to the Nether Boys’ house and were about to turn the corner when they heard voices from ahead.

Ben, who was in the lead, held up his rectangular hand to stop them, and he peered around the corner. An instant later, he pulled his head back around, and he fell to the floor, eyes wide, breathing quickly.

“What is it?” Kat asked.

“What’s out there?” Charlie breathed.

Stan remained silent. He was just imagining. He had seen all kinds of terrible things throughout the two worlds of Minecraft, but only one thing could provoke such terror on the face of a fugitive.

Ben closed his eyes and grimaced, and Stan knew what he was about to say even before the words left his mouth.

“It’s the King’s forces,” said Ben gravely. “They’ve found us.”

CHAPTER 18
A DARING ESCAPE

Geno looked down at his partner sprawled out across two wool blocks on the Netherrack ground. Geno knew from experience that sleeping in a bed in the Nether was a bad idea, so he had decided that the wool blocks would have to do. Obviously, it would have been better for Becca if she could have lain down in a bed. However, King Kev had made it clear to RAT1 that they must catch the assassins at all costs. Geno had decided that the unconscious Becca would have to get her rest in the new dimension. As he thought this, Becca started to stir.

“Oh God …” she moaned, slowly sitting up as she held her stomach. “It hurts so bad.” She noticed Geno sitting there. She looked around and saw the fires burning everywhere, and she snapped into focus when she saw the armoured men patrolling with bows in hand. “Geno, what the … what is going on? Where are we?”

“We’re in the Nether,” he said. “Hold on, I’ll explain everything.” He sat down on a lone Netherrack block next to Becca.

“Well, what’s the last thing you remember?” Geno asked.

“Ah …” Becca mumbled. “Crap … well, Stan had just hit Leo with a shovel. And we were going after him … and then … then … that’s it. After that it was extremely painful for a second, and the next thing I know I’m waking up here. How long have I been out?”

“Almost a day,” Geno said. “Seriously, though, how do you remember their names? I looked at those pictures of them just as many times as you did, and I know what they look like, but I still don’t know them by name.”

“I still don’t know how you haven’t gotten that yet. Leo and I both did,” she said, condescension dripping from her voice. “But anyway, what happened?”

“Well, it turns out that the girl that flew into the lava—”

“Kat,” interrupted Becca automatically.

“Whatever,” continued Geno. “Well it turns out that she had a fire resistance potion on her, and so she went back through the lava and jumped out behind you. She stabbed you in the back and flung you into the lava. I dragged you out of the lava and healed you and Leonidas, and while I was doing that they escaped through the portal and broke it.

“After that, I set you up on the bed in your inventory, and Leo stayed to guard you while you rested up. I ran back to the jungle and led the legion of troops back here. The medics got to work fixing you and Leo up, and we fixed the portal. I sent a couple of scouts into the Nether to see where they were. When they came back, they told us that they had just entered into the Nether Fortress.

“So here we are. As far as we know, they’re still in the fortress. Thirty men are circling, ready to take them out if they try to escape. We know better than to try to find them inside that maze, so we’re trying a … different tactic.” A sly smile broke on his face at these last words.

“And …” said Becca, a wide smile spreading across her face as well. She liked where this conversation was going.

“We’re gonna blow the entire fortress off the side of the mountain,” Geno said, sounding like a child eagerly anticipating Christmas. “Right now Leo and a team of ten guys are laying TNT around the structure. When they’re done, they’re going to detonate the entire fortress, and if they’re still in there, they’re going to die, and if they try to escape, the snipers will get them.”

“Excellent!” Becca chortled. She loved watching stuff blow up, and if her stomach didn’t hurt so much she would have insisted on marching up there and helping them lay down the explosives. “When are they getting back?”

As if in response to her question, Leonidas jumped down from atop the fortress, redstone torch in hand.

“Well, that’s it,” he grunted. “Dynamite’s all over this fort. Soon as they lay the redstone down here, we’re ready to blow this thing up.”

“What took you so long?” sneered Geno. It had taken twice as long as he had anticipated for Leonidas and his team to set up the explosives. “Hurry it up or they’ll get away!”

“Hey, at least you don’t see me waitin’ around here like a useless sheep for your girlfriend to wake up!” snapped Leonidas.

“He’s got a point, Geno,” said Becca. “It was nice of you to stay here and all, but next time you should go and help lay down the explosives.”

Geno grunted and turned away from his friends. Honestly, he thought, sometimes I wonder why I don’t just kill both of them.

The figure in iron armour laid down the final redstone wiring along the ground, and he looked up at Leonidas.

“The wiring is ready, sir, and the premises have been evacuated. You may commence detonation when ready.”

Leonidas nodded, and the player backed away from the redstone wire, closely followed by Geno, who looked irate as he carried Becca over one shoulder, the latter of whom was still prattling on about how Geno needed to think things through more. Leonidas was about to touch the redstone torch to the wiring when he hesitated for a moment.

Did he really want these players dead? No, he did not. As a matter of fact, though he would be killed for admitting it, he secretly admired that they had enough defiance and courage to try to overthrow the tyrannical King. The server had been so much better before the King had become so paranoid.

Leonidas remembered an earlier time, a time of peace, a time of prosperity, when the King was fair and kind to those of all levels. Then came the darker influences on the King, mainly his advisors, Caesar and Charlemagne. They had stolen Leonidas’s peaceful life in the desert. With the threat of the death of his family, the King’s men forced Leonidas to commit heinous acts for RAT1 until he was completely desensitized to murder.

And now he was about to kill three players who were trying to prevent his fate from falling upon the other young players of Elementia.

All of this ran through his head in less than a half a second. Leonidas wished he could refuse, but he knew the consequences, and he knew that there was nothing he could do to prevent it from happening. There was no hope for him any more.

Leonidas touched the redstone torch to the wire, and the pain that he had kept bottled up was projected in the tear that trickled down the side of his blocky cheek as the entire Nether Fortress exploded in a shockwave of fire.

Stan was a half mile underground, but he was still seriously shaken when the mega-explosion above him went off. He had to give credit to Charlie. It was his quick thinking and mining instincts that had gotten them deep enough to be safe from the explosion created by RAT1. He knew now that they were being hunted by the assassin team known as Royal Assassin Team 1, or RAT1, which was composed of sword master Geno, demolition expert Becca and archery prodigy Leonidas. Apparently, according to the Nether Boys, they were a highly esteemed search-and-destroy group that the King sent after particularly evasive or dangerous targets.

Well, thought Stan as Charlie began to tunnel upwards, he was honoured that the King believed that he and his friends were a threat worthy of addressing with the most highly acclaimed assassins in Elementia, but this also came with a problem. Namely, that the King believed that he and his friends were a threat worthy of addressing with the most highly acclaimed assassins in Elementia. If these guys were willing to follow them all over two worlds, Stan guessed that he and his friends would have a pretty hard time finding their way to the End with these assassins in pursuit.

For the time being, however, Stan thought as Charlie hollowed out a little Netherrack room for them to plan their next move in, they had to focus on getting out of the Nether. Stan voiced this opinion to the others as soon as Charlie had finished the room and set up the torches.

“We have all the Blaze Rods we need, so the next thing we need to do is get out of here and break the portal. That way,” he reasoned, “we’ll be able to start hunting the Endermen, and they’ll be stuck in the Nether, at least until they figure a way out. We can use that time to get as far away from the portal as possible.”

“Good thinking, Stan,” agreed Kat. “Now that we’ve got people after us, we’ve got to get to the End as quickly as possible.”

“Yes, I agree,” said Charlie, nodding. “We’ll stop back by our old house to get our stuff and pick up Rex and Lemon, and then we’ll go off into the desert. We’ll keep moving around so they won’t find us, and we’ll hunt Endermen at the same time.”

Kat nodded, and Stan said, “OK then.” He turned to the Nether Boys, who had been huddled together away from the others whispering. “So, what about you guys?” he asked. “What are you going to do when you get out of the Nether?”

“Well, first, we’re going to kiss the sand beneath our feet,” said Bill.

“Then, we’re going to breathe in air that’s under thirty degrees Celsius,” said Bob.

“And then, perhaps, build a shrine to the clouds and swear that we’re never going to take them for granted again,” said Ben.

“OK,” said Kat, rolling her eyes. “We get it. You’re going to be very happy to be back in the Overworld. But what are you going to do? Long term, I mean.”

“Oh,” said Bill. “Why didn’t you just say that?”

Charlie sighed.

“Well, we were just saying that we want to go back to the Adorian Village to help you guys organize the rebellion.”

“Really?” asked Stan, his heart lifting.

“Absolutely,” said Ben. “You keep your end of the deal and get us out of this stupid dimension, and we’ve got nothing to lose by helping you guys out.”

“All right, well, thanks, guys,” said Charlie. “Now, it’s only a matter of time before they realize that we weren’t killed in that explosion, and after they realize it, they’re going to look everywhere, including underground. Now, if my calculations are correct, we should be located right under the cave that has the portal in it. If they got in here, that means that they’ve fixed the portal themselves, so that shouldn’t be a problem anymore.

“So here’s what I want everyone to do.” They all leaned in to listen. Charlie had clearly thought this through. “I want Kat and Bob to jump out of the hole that I’m going to make above us, and be prepared to shoot down anyone in the vicinity. Stan, Ben and I will run towards the portal, and we’ll attack anyone who gets in our way. However, we shouldn’t have that many people to deal with, because I want Bill to use his fishing rod to fling any people between us and the portal out of the way so that Bob and Kat can shoot them. Any questions?” Nobody said a word.

“OK then, get ready,” said Charlie. Kat and Bob drew their bows and arrows out, Stan drew his shovel, Bill drew his fishing rod and Ben drew his sword. Charlie took his pickaxe and, trying to conceal his heart pounding within his chest, he gave three swift blows to the Netherrack block above him. It shattered, and Kat and Bob burst out of the hole, quickly followed by Stan and the others.

Exiting the hole, Stan had to do a double take to truly believe their good luck. He had thought that this was a daring escape, certain to be met with some opposition – but there were no guards around the portal, which was indeed glowing purple and complete once again. Stan looked back as he dashed towards the portal. He could see five men guarding the mouth of the cave, but the six players were silent as they dashed towards the portal, and the guards could not hear them.

Stan was still giddy at their good luck as Charlie dived through the active portal. Charlie was closely followed by Ben, and Stan was about to dive through himself when a figure stepped around the edge of the portal and into his path.

Stan didn’t even think or look at the figure as he beat it senseless over the head with the shovel. The figure fell, and it gave a squeal of pain. Stan was stepping into the portal when he realized that something odd had happened. Why would it squeal?

Stan looked down at the unconscious body and realized that he had not just knocked out a guard – this was a Zombie Pigman, and he had just knocked it dead. He looked around in horror for the horde of angry, undead warriors charging at him, lusting for his blood. But there were none. This Pigman had apparently been alone. However, he did see an even scarier sight.

The sound of the Pigman’s death had alerted the guards to his presence. The five of them were now charging towards the portal, shooting arrows as they ran. Stan became aware of Kat, Bill and Bob diving through the portal, and he did, too. He experienced the horrible squeezing sensation for the few seconds, and then tumbled out onto the sand in the dawn’s early light.

“They’re coming through!” Stan yelled to his five friends, who lay panting on the sand. Stan raised his shovel and began beating the bottom right block of the obsidian portal, and Charlie joined him, as did everybody else. Through the purple particles, they saw the five guards rushing towards the portal, coming to attack them. At the head of the pack was a player who had the skin of a cow but wore iron boots, leggings and a helmet and held an iron axe in his hand. Stan punched faster and faster to break the black block that was so frustratingly solid, and the block broke into several useless chunks at the same moment that the cow-man burst through the portal and set his axe on the nearest target, Kat.

The other five players stepped out of the war zone as Kat and the barbaric warrior battled, their iron weapons moving as fast as silver spirits in the dim pink light. It was obvious that Kat was the superior fighter. She remained calm, while the axe-fighter’s wild attacks became increasingly desperate. One false swipe later and the axe flew out of the player’s hand and skidded across the ground, coming to a stop at the base of the broken Nether portal.

Kat kicked the player to the ground and raised her sword. She held the sword above her head and looked down into the player’s face. He lay sprawled on the ground, breathing heavily from the kick that Kat had inflicted upon his chest. Kat raised the sword.

“Kat,” said Stan suddenly, putting his hand on her shoulder. “Don’t. He’s unarmed. What good will it do?”

“It’ll stop him from ratting us out to the King!” said Ben.

“If we let him go, it’ll just come back to bite us!” cried Bill incredulously.

Kat’s sword was shaking. The look on her face showed pained confusion.

“Kat,” said Charlie. “Just don’t—”

But his response was cut off when Kat’s sword found its home in the cow-man’s chest.

CHAPTER 19
THE TOWN OF BLACKSTONE

The player’s items burst out around him in a circle, indicating the death that Stan had already known was coming. Kat pulled the sword out of the player, and she looked down at the body in disdain. She then looked over at Stan and Charlie, both of whose faces showed disbelief and horror at the murder of an unarmed player by their friend.

“I’m sorry,” said Kat, and Stan couldn’t tell who she was talking to, him and Charlie or the dead player. “I am so, so sorry.” On the last word her voice cracked and she sank to her knees and burst into tears.

Bill walked up to Kat’s weeping form and knelt down beside her. “I’m sorry, Kat, but these are the tough things about war. It’s eat or be eaten. If you had let him go, then he would have followed us and relayed our position back to the King’s forces, and we’d be captured within the next week.”

Kat had stopped crying, and she looked up to face Ben. “I know that,” she sniffled, wiping her eyes on her T-shirt sleeve. “But it doesn’t make it any easier.”

“I know that,” said Ben. “You know, when I first joined Elementia, I had to kill my old sword-fighting mentor to save Bill’s life. I realize that killing people, even if it is in self-defence, is hard. But if we are truly going to overthrow the King, then there are certain things that are going to have to be done. We are going to have to kill people to get to where we need to get. That is a fact. But we’ll be saving hundreds more and making life better for thousands. You understand, don’t you, Kat?”

Kat stood up, breathing deeply. “I understand. You’re right, Ben. Thank you.”

The two players hugged. Three of the other players looked on solemnly, but Stan looked away. He was filled with an overpowering feeling of disgust, and right then and there, he swore that he would never kill a player unless he himself was in mortal danger, no exceptions.

After the moment of peace was over, the Nether Boys stood back as Stan, Kat and Charlie looked through the stuff that the player had been carrying. Stan picked up the iron axe, relieved to finally have his choice of weapon back, while Kat pulled on the iron helmet, leggings, and boots. Charlie picked up everything else: apples, fire charges, TNT blocks, redstone dust, a redstone torch and a compass.

“So, do you guys know what you’re going to do now?” asked Bob.

“Yep,” replied Stan. “Thank you for all your help. We’ll rendezvous with you guys and the others back at the Adorian Village after we’ve made our way to the End.”

“All right, see you guys then,” said Ben, and the three Nether Boys turned and ran back towards the looming jungle trees in the far distance. As they were running off, Ben turned around one last time. “And be careful in the End! I’ve never been there, but I hear it’s way more dangerous than the Nether!”

“We will! Thanks!” cried Charlie, and the Nether Boys ran off into the distance. As they did, Stan, Kat and Charlie ran in the opposite direction, back towards their old campsite. Even without the compass, Charlie knew the way back, and they had reached the sand abode before the sun was at its highest point in the sky. Needless to say, the animals were very happy to see their owners again.

“Hey, boy! How’ve you been?” Kat laughed as Rex pounced on her and started licking her face, and she fed him some rotten flesh she’d picked up from a passing Zombie. Charlie stroked Lemon behind the ears, and he purred affectionately, rubbing up against Charlie’s hand. Stan went over to the chest and took some things out, readying for their departure. They had decided as they walked over that they would leave some nonessential things in the chest to give the illusion that the base was still in use. Stan put the Ender Chest and the book on entering the Nether and the End into his inventory. The rest of the items they decided to keep in place. They also decided to leave their beds – as they would be travelling a lot, they would have no need for them.

The three players resolved to spend the time until dark – when the Endermen came out – to hunt for food. All three players went in separate directions, but they stayed fairly close to the sinkhole. Stan went to the far side of the hole, and he saw a herd of cows wandering around the oasis where they had got the water for the obsidian, eating the grass and drinking the water. He walked up to them and started downing them with his axe, one after another. He was chasing one cow with an axe, ready to kill it, when he noticed something. About twenty blocks in front of him was a straight line of train tracks stretching in both directions as far as the eye could see, with one end headed towards the jungle and the other headed out into the desert.

Intrigued, Stan walked closer to examine the tracks, but he stopped when he heard a rumbling sound coming from the jungle-end of the railroad. He noticed something in the distance coming down the tracks. Fearing it to be the enemy, Stan dived into a shallow trench near the edge of the tracks that was deep enough to conceal him yet still allowed him to see.

The train passed Stan at high speed. It consisted of seven mine carts, four of which contained chests and two of which contained what appeared to be furnaces. In the remaining mine cart, which was situated in front of the two furnace cars and behind the chest cars, sat a player with pale skin in an army uniform. The train thundered past and into the distance. Stan was incredibly curious as to where this player was going. Resolving to be back before Kat and Charlie noticed he was gone, he ran down the railroad tracks after the train.

The train was much faster than he was, and before long it had disappeared from view, but Stan kept running, following the tracks. He was wondering how he was ever going to catch up to this player when he heard another rumbling behind him. A lone mine car with a furnace was chugging down the line, spewing black smoke as the two before it had. Stan supposed that this cart must have fallen off another train. He had noticed that on the previous train the carts hadn’t fastened to each other very well. Willing to accept the gift, Stan let the mine cart catch up to him and he jumped on, riding it at full speed towards the end of the line.

The sun was showing it was about noon by the time Stan saw the buildings in the distance. They were simple wooden huts, and they were the lone structures in the middle of the endless miles of desert. Wondering why in God’s name anybody would want to build their house in such a barren land, Stan jumped off the cart just before it entered what appeared to be a train station.

He snuck over behind two chests, and he noticed the train that he had seen before. The player that had been riding it stepped out, and he appeared to be talking with another player who was dressed like Abraham Lincoln and had a distressed and desperate look on his face. Eager to hear what was happening, Stan crawled underneath the station platform so that he was right below the two men and could hear every word they were saying.

“… is no excuse for you not producing your quota,” said the player in the army uniform in an angry tone.

“But, sir, please, as I’ve been trying to explain, our miners have run into problems,” responded another desperate voice. “We were mining out the areas that you had requested, and we hit a rather large lava spring. We are going to have to slow production until we can fix it. Otherwise the environment would not be safe …”

“Do you think the King cares about your safety?” barked the soldier. “He needs all the resources he can get his hands on, especially in these troubled times. As I’m sure you’re aware, there is an assassin on the loose.”

Stan gulped. He sincerely regretted coming this close to the soldier now.

The soldier continued: “And the King needs all available resources to put the assassin out of commission! It is my responsibility to make sure that the town of Blackstone, as Elementia’s primary coal producer, generates more than its share, not less! If there isn’t enough coal, the King gets angry with me, and therefore, I get angry with you! This is your last warning, Mayor. If you fail to produce your quota one more time … well, you can imagine …”

There was a clinking sound and the mayor cried out in terror. Stan jumped up to come to his aid, forgetting that he was under the wooden platform. He hit his head on the underside of the plank above him and he saw stars. When his vision came back into focus, he saw the soldier leaving on his train, and he realized in horror that the block of wood above him had been burned away. The clinking had been a steel ring against flint! And it was a wooden station …

The mayor was doing all he could to punch out the flames, but they were spreading too fast. Throwing caution to the wind, Stan stood up through the hole and helped the mayor put out the flames with his fists. The mayor’s eyes widened in surprise, but he did not question Stan’s sudden appearance. He was simply grateful for the help he had miraculously received, and within a minute all the flames were extinguished.

“Thank you, kind stranger,” said the mayor, bowing his head in respect. “Without your bravery, we might have lost one of the few respectable buildings we have left in this city.”

“No problem,” said Stan. “I’m glad to be of help. So what is this place, exactly?”

“This, my friend, is the humble town of Blackstone, population twenty-three, and Elementia’s chief producer of coal,” replied the mayor. “And may I ask where you come from, my good sir?”

So he doesn’t recognize me, thought Stan. That’s good. Generally attention doesn’t work too well in my favour. “I’ve lived in a lot of places,” Stan said.

“Well, if you are in need of a place to stay for a while, we would be happy to have you here,” said the mayor. “It is rare that anyone shows such kindness to the people of this town, and on the rare occasion that it happens, they deserve to be rewarded.”

“That is very kind of you, sir,” said Stan, “but I have to return to my friends by night-time. Do you by any chance have anything to eat?” Stan had only had an apple since breakfast, and he was very hungry.

The player smiled. There were wrinkles in his blocky cheeks. “Of course, sir. Right this way. He walked out of the station, followed by Stan, and they began walking down the main street of the town.

Stan had never seen such a pathetic-looking excuse for a town in his life. The unpaved main street was the only road, and on either side of it were ten or so small houses, all patched together with sand, dirt, cobblestone and sandstone so that it was impossible to tell what the original material was. Stan noticed that on the sides of a few of these houses were small wheat gardens, which were surrounded with fences. Players leaned against the front of these houses.

There was no way to describe the look of these players except as broken, defeated. Their heads hung, looking towards the ground, with the sun glinting off the metal helmets on their heads. Most of them had iron pickaxes dangling from their hands. They all wore leather armour everywhere except on their heads, which were obscured by the helmets, so it was impossible to tell them apart at a glance. When they sensed Stan walking into the town, a few of them glanced up. Stan could see pain reflected in their faces, which bore all variety of scars, and the players projected a defensive caution at this new player, young and whole, who had the audacity to waltz into their village unannounced.

“Just ignore them,” mumbled the mayor, sensing Stan’s unease. “They’re just tired and upset from all the extra work the soldiers have been forcing them to do lately. They’re looking for a fight. They need to take their anger out on someone. So don’t look anyone directly in the eye.”

Stan took the mayor’s advice and looked straight forwards towards the end of the street, keeping his hand cautiously but subtly close to the wooden handle of the iron axe dangling at his side by his belt. Keen to avoid eye contact with the temperamental miners, Stan forced himself to focus on the building at the end of the street. It was the largest and by far the most well-kept building. It was a rectangular complex made of brick blocks, with no windows and two side-by-side metal doors on the front. Unlike the patchy houses that held the miners, this building seemed to be in a state of good repair. Stan asked the mayor about its purpose.

“That is the government’s storehouse. They come by rail to this village every other day to collect the coal quota, but all other materials, including cobblestone, iron and even buckets of lava from the sources of springs that we encounter, go in there, along with any other ambiguous blocks we find.”

“Do you mean to say that the army controls the flow of materials leaving this village through that storehouse?” asked Stan.

“Yes. And we don’t get to keep any of what we bring up for ourselves. Even if some blocks of our houses are stolen, we have to smuggle cobblestone blocks up from the mines to repair them, an offence punishable by death. Our miners have actually gotten into fights and killed each other over accusations of stealing parts from one another’s houses.”

Stan sighed in disgust at this revelation as they arrived at the house directly adjacent to the warehouse. A sign next to the front door read “Mayor.” This house was a little larger than the other houses, though in an equal state of disrepair. The mayor pushed open the wooden door and they walked inside.

The inside of the house had a wooden floor, walls made of the same materials as the outside – suggesting the walls were one block thick – and windows, some of which still had glass panes. The entire house consisted of one room, which had a crafting table, a furnace, two double chests, two chairs and two beds. The entire room had a defeated air to it, and at each step the floorboards creaked in despair.

“Nice place you’ve got here,” Stan lied through his teeth, as the mayor grabbed two steaks from his chest and handed one to Stan. “I notice there are two beds here, and two chairs. Does somebody else live here with you?”

In response to his question, a burst of coughing issued from a hole in one corner of the room that Stan had not noticed before. From the hole emerged the most dishevelled player that Stan had seen so far. He was dressed in a white lab coat with grey trousers, and his grey hair stuck up in all directions. He would have looked like Albert Einstein if he didn’t look so beaten. His face was sallow and sunken in, he had an unearthly stench that Stan could smell from across the room, and he was completely covered in coal dust that was mixed with a shiny, red material that Stan identified as redstone dust. He held two bottles in his hands, one of which was empty and one of which held a liquid of a sickly blue-grey colour. The player gave an almighty belch before addressing the mayor.

“Hey, Turkey, we’re running low on SloPo, when do you think the nomads’ll be back?” his voice was slurred and giddy, reminding Stan of a player who was deep in the stages of delirium. “Are the nomads gonna be back tomorrow? They’ll be back tomorrow, and then I’ll get my SloPo. I do love my SloPo. But, wait, I’m gonna need money! Turkey, remind me to get some money later tonight, OK, old buddy, Turkey old friend?”

At that point, the player stopped his conversation with himself and noticed that he and “Turkey” (who Stan could only assume was the mayor) were not alone in the room. The player turned his dilated pupils to Stan and asked the mayor, “Who’s the new meat, Turkey? He another new miner to come from, from, from the Elementia prisons? Heh-heh, good luck, little buddy, you ain’t gonna last two days down in that ravine!” For some reason, the player seemed to find this extraordinarily funny, and he rolled around on the ground, banging his fist on the floor to the point where one of the wooden planks actually broke off.

The mayor simply walked over to the hysterical player on the floor and calmly said, “Mecha11, you are hereby sentenced to labour in the coal mines of Blackstone, in the Ender Desert, for as long as you should remain in this server.”

The effect of these enigmatic words on the player on the floor was instantaneous. He immediately got up and got on his knees and started crying. Through his tears he said, “As you wish, my King.” Then, without warning, he stood up and shook his head, his face looking confused. Then he appeared as if something was dawning on him, and he looked at the mayor in disgust.

“Why do you have to do that?” he demanded.

“Well,” the mayor replied, “that’s the only way that I can get you out of your trance when you’re SloPoed without a golden apple, and there’s somebody I want you to meet.”

Stan, who was extremely confused as to what was going on, nodded politely and tried to keep the look of confusion and fear off his face as the player was introduced as Mecha11, head of Redstone Mining Pioneering. The name rang a bell in Stan’s memory.

“Wait, you’re Mecha11?” he asked, dumbfounded that this wreck of a player was once in the same tier of people as the Apothecary and the Nether Boys. “I’ve heard of you! My name is Stan2012, and I’ve met the Apothecary and Bill, Ben and Bob!”

A flash of recognition crossed Mecha11’s face, but it soon returned to its uninterested state as he collapsed into one of the wooden chairs. “Well, I’m glad to hear that they’re still chugging. And speaking of chugging,” he said, and he went to drink more of the potion in his hand, but the mayor slapped his hand to the side.

“Mechanist, please, don’t be rude! This young man helped to stop the army from burning our train station to the ground.He deserves your respect.”

“Yeah, great job, kid,” the Mechanist sneered in a sarcastic drawl. “You made it so that we still have a gateway for the army to keep taking advantage of these people who’ve already wasted their lives slaving away in the Blackstone mines. So you’ll forgive me if I don’t thank you by offering you a free muffin.”

“Shut up, Mechanist!” whispered the mayor in urgent tones.

“What? You hate the army and the King, just the same as everybody else!”

“Yes, but there are those who you should not voice that opinion in front of!”

There was a moment of silence, and it lasted until Stan realized that they were referring to him.

“What, me? You think I’m a spy for the King?”

“He’s sent them in before,” said the mayor, still keeping a keen eye on Stan for any sudden movements.

“No, trust me, I am not with the King,” said Stan, and then, a thought occurring to him, he decided to take a huge gamble. “As a matter of fact, I intend to overthrow him myself.”

The Mechanist laughed. “That’s cute,” he said. “You really think that you’re capable of overthrowing the King, do you?”

Stan was taken aback. It was not the first time that his plot had been met with scepticism, but there was something in the Mechanist’s voice that made Stan want to hear what he had to say.

“Yes, as a matter of fact I do,” he replied firmly. “I’ve already raised an army, and as soon as we gather the necessary supplies, which we have access to, we are going to march into Element City, kill the King and his officials, and reform Elementia into a better place.”

The mayor’s eyes had simply widened a little when Stan first mentioned his idea to overthrow the King, but at this latest description, he was actually running around the room from window to window, checking to see that there were no soldiers listening in. The Mechanist, completely unconcerned with being overheard, threw back his head and laughed again.

“You really do think that you can do it! That’s cute.” Stan found the condescension in his voice infuriating. “But let me give you a piece of sound advice, kid: give it up!” He shouted this with such power and volume that Stan actually jumped, and the mayor whipped around with an iron pickaxe drawn, ready for an impending attack. Though none came, the Mechanist continued to talk in an unnecessarily loud voice.

“The King’s forces are spread far and wide, all over this server. All of them are equally as cruel and brutal as he is, and there are hundreds of them. The King is not an operator anymore, but he still has an almost limitless cache of resources from the days when he was! Also—”

“Hey, I already know all that!” interjected Stan. “And let me just point out that I intend to tap into one of those caches in order to gain the supplies for my army!”

“Kid, you have no clue what you’re talking about, because it’s not just the King you have to worry about! You realize that about a third of the population is heavily aligned with the King? He has a double standard for the upper class! My point is, even if you do manage to take down the King, which is an impossible dream itself, you’ll never be able to completely destroy the King’s evil ideals.”

“You don’t understand!” cried Stan. “I’ve met people, I’ve talked to them. You don’t understand just how much people hate the King and want him dead.”

“Ha!” sneered the Mechanist, an ugly look taking over his face. “The irony of you lecturing me on how people hate the King! You think I don’t know that? Listen to me, kid, and I’ll give you the full story of what King Kev has done to me personally! I was the head of Redstone Experiments back in the old kingdom. It was me who designed Element City’s monorail system, me who wired King Kev’s entire castle, and me who designed all the weapon systems that guard the King’s castle from invaders like you. For the love of God, I invented the TNT Cannon for him!

“And how does the King repay me? He banishes me to spend my life in this desert wasteland, just because people who hated him copied my weapons systems and used them against him! If there is anybody who wants the King dead, it’s people like me, like the Apothecary, like the Chiefs of Exploration, who were close to the King, and who he banished from his kingdom!”

“And that doesn’t make you want to want to try to take control of Elementia from him?” asked Stan, his eyes flashing with passionate rage at the King and at the old inventor across from him who was being so difficult. “For the record, the Apothecary and the Chiefs of Exploration have both agreed to join my army.”

“Then they’re bigger fools than you!” said the Mechanist with a joyless shout of laughter. “They ought to know that nothing good comes from rebelling against the King’s supreme authority. If you were wise, you’d do the same thing as me and try to make the best you can out of the world that the King has created. Me, I love making redstone mechanisms, and so I put my skills to use here by making piston machines to make deep-earth mining easier.

“I hate the fact that I’m helping the King by making mining easier for him, and so I don’t feel guilty when I get SloPo from gambling with the nomads that pass through here.” He raised his bottle of blue-grey liquid. “I’ve made myself a life out here. Thanks to the King, it’s not happy or fulfilling, but I can’t change it, so why not make it as nice for myself as possible?”

And with that, the Mechanist took another swig of SloPo. The effect was instantaneous, and his head fell back and rolled to the side as he passed out.

Stan was filled with a new level of infuriation at both the King and the Mechanist. He could never forgive the Mechanist for just giving up on life after it got hard and not even trying to fight back. On the other hand, his new knowledge of the kinds of mistreatment that the King had extended to even his friends, who had trusted and served him, imparted in Stan a furious desire to do something drastic against the King. He looked down at the mayor, who had been sitting in his chair, trying to block out the noise throughout the whole argument.

“Mayor, I need you to gather all the miners in the village in front of the warehouse. I have an announcement to make,” said Stan.

The mayor stood up and looked Stan in the eye. “If I do what you say, will I regret it?”

“I sure hope not,” replied Stan as he walked out the door.

He had noticed that there was a wooden platform in front of the brick wall of the warehouse, which was illuminated by torchlight. It was a perfect podium for the message he was going to try to get across to the desperate coal miners. By the time the sky was pink and the sun was about to disappear under the desert skyline behind the warehouse, all of the coal miners had congregated around the wooden platform. When they were all settled down, Stan stood up and began to speak.

“People of Blackstone! My name is Stan2012. Many of you may have heard rumours that an assassin has tried to murder Elementia’s dictator, King Kev, during his last proclamation to the public. I am here to tell you that that assassin was none other than myself.”

There were a few surprised intakes of breath from the crowd, and Stan saw a few miners move their hands and firmly grab their pickaxes, unsure of what was going to happen next.

“Since that incident, I have been on the run. Many have asked me what my motivation was for trying to kill one of the most powerful men on the server.” That part was a lie, but Stan thought it sounded impressive, and it was a good line to segue into the next part of his speech. “I am here to tell you that I tried to kill the King because he is an evil tyrant who needs to be brought down!”

A few miners looked around, half-prepared to see the King’s forces ready to attack them for treason, but most of the miners were staring intently at Stan, nodding with respect on their faces.

“I am currently raising an army against King Kev and I am going to lead this army to victory by taking control of the King’s castle in Element City! I intend to kill the King, along with any high officers who refuse to surrender. The days of the present terrorist regime are numbered, and the King’s Elementia will fall. It will be replaced by an Elementia where all men are given equal opportunities, and slavery, which is so commonplace in the kingdom now, including right here in Blackstone, is nonexistent.

“Many of you are probably wondering how I have the courage to speak against the King, when the possibility is high that I may be turned over to the authorities. And the reason for that is: I do not fear the King! I accept that the King is a powerful enemy, and he has resources that will make it easier said than done to bring him to justice. However – and this is the reason that I am willing to speak so freely – I believe that we have resources, too. I say we because I am positive that there are more of you in this village who hate the King than are sympathetic to him. If we all band together, we have a realistic chance to take the King down!

“I am going to walk over to the train station now, and all those who would like to join my army and take down the King with me should follow. Anybody who remains I will fight and kill in order to prevent them from giving information of my plan to the King. However, I also expect anybody willing to join me to help me fight against those who are unwilling. This is your test, people of Blackstone. You may join me and fight those who do not join, or you may not join me and fight those who do. Those who wish to join me have sixty seconds to walk over to the station, starting now.”

And with that, Stan jumped off the platform and ran through the crowd of people, who stepped to the side to let him through. He was vaguely reminded of the crowd on the day he shot at the King. He stood at the threshold of the train station and turned around.

Five seconds ticked by, and nobody moved. Stan wasn’t surprised. He hadn’t expected anybody to make up their mind right away. Then ten seconds ticked away, then fifteen, then twenty. When thirty seconds had passed and nobody had joined Stan, he drew his axe. He had promised to fight anybody who didn’t join him, and it looked like he was going to be in for the fight of his life. At forty seconds Stan was starting to panic, when there was a shuffling in the crowd.

One single miner, who looked similar to Stan although blackened with coal dust and wearing an iron helmet and holding a stone pickaxe, walked across the empty expanse towards Stan. Another followed, and then the entire mass of miners seemed to come over and join Stan’s side.

By the time the sixty seconds were up, there was not a soul left on the side of the warehouse. Every single miner had abandoned the building containing the materials that the government had claimed for its own. They now stood at the train station, ready to partake in Stan’s quest to overthrow the King.

The mayor walked up through the crowd to talk to Stan. “Thank you, Stan,” said the mayor, tears in his eyes. “You’ve inspired these people to fight back, and you’ve inspired me to lead my people to join in your army. Tell me what to do. I am at your service.” And the mayor bowed his head in respect to Stan.

The two talked for a few minutes, and they worked out a plan. The mayor would lead the miners of Blackstone down the railroad tracks, which they would follow until they reached the Adorian Village. There, they would tell the Apothecary and the survivors that they had met up with Stan2012 in the Ender Desert and had now come to join the militia. The mayor was convinced that the miners could put their skills to use in the Adorian Village’s mine, gathering blocks for use in the war effort. Also, the miners were apparently very good pickaxe fighters. Stan, meanwhile, was given a powered mine cart and some coal that would get him back to his friends, where he could continue his quest to enter the End.

Stan and the mayor shook hands, and Stan was about to leave when he thought of something else. He walked down the main street, where the miners were preparing for departure by emptying their houses of their meagre possessions. He passed the warehouse, which was now being looted for supplies by several of the miners. At last he came to the shared house of the mayor and the Mechanist. He opened the door, and the Mechanist was sitting in the chair, no bottles in hand, apparently waiting for Stan.

“Well, congratulations, kid,” said the Mechanist. He was not smiling. “You just convinced twenty-two more people to go on a suicide mission. Well done.”

Stan controlled his anger, and he looked at the Mechanist with a face of determined calm. “You know,” he said, “we could sure use an expert of redstone mechanics in the war effort. And if we win, you could reclaim your position as Elementia’s chief redstone inventor. What do you say, Mechanist? Are you coming?”

The Mechanist looked down at the ground for a few moments, his eyebrows scrunched up, clearly trying to decide. Then he looked up at Stan, looked him in the eye, and gave him a solid shake of the head.

Stan, resigning himself to the fact that this player would not join him, turned to walk out the door. He was just walking down the steps when something hit him in the back of the head, knocking him to the street. He spun around, axe in hand, ready to confront the Mechanist who had attacked him, but instead he noticed a book that had landed next to him. He picked it up, and in the dim light from the setting sun he read the title.

It said Full Schematics of Element Castle’s Redstone Defences, and the author was Mecha11.

Stan, amazed, looked up at the Mechanist, who was standing in the doorway, looking down at Stan with a sad expression on his face. “It’s your funeral, kid,” he grunted, and he slowly walked back into the house, pulling the wooden door shut behind him.

Stan looked in awe at the book, which would allow them to safely predict the locations of all the King’s hidden automated traps in his courtyard while they attacked. He only allowed himself a minute to admire the Mechanist’s gift, however, for the sun had just disappeared behind the desert skyline, and he could already see Zombies and Skeletons roaming around in the vast sandy expanse.

Stan ran back to the train station, where the miners were gathered in a huddle, preparing for their journey down the rail line. Stan shouted a hasty goodbye to the mayor, who waved back in reply, and he hopped into the mine cart and inserted some coal into the furnace of the engine behind him. The effect was instantaneous. The furnace ignited, and the train took off at a terrific pace.

Stan watched as the dim lights of the town of Blackstone disappeared in the distance behind him. He was rushing down the rails at high speed, and he was just finishing a pork chop that one of the miners had given him when an arrow glanced off his iron chestplate, nearly knocking him off the mine cart. He looked ahead and saw a Skeleton standing in the middle of the track, drawing back another arrow. He deflected this arrow with his sword and, thinking quickly, stuffed his second and third pieces of coal into the engine. The engine gave a puff of black smoke, and the train picked up speed. Before the Skeleton was able to fire its third arrow, the train slammed into it and the monster exploded into thousands of white fragments.

Stan sighed in relief, but he would have repealed that sigh if it were possible after seeing that the track in front of him was packed with the biggest swarm of Zombies he had ever encountered. There must have been at least twenty of them. And what’s more, he could see the sinkhole about twenty blocks behind them. He could only run over a few Zombies before he would have to jump out of the vehicle and face the rest on foot.

CHAPTER 20
THE MONSTER SLAYER

As the train sped towards the Zombies, they turned their attention to it and started mindlessly lumbering towards Stan. Stan stood up in the train car, his axe raised, ready to fight off any Zombies that tried to immediately attack him. The train hit the Zombie horde, and it plowed through the centre, automatically disintegrating about five of the twenty fiends. Stan jumped out of the car and ran back towards the sinkhole.

He slid down the sandy cliff with the Zombies in hot pursuit, and as he did, he saw Charlie, Kat and Rex outside engaged in a battle with two Spiders and a Skeleton. The Spiders were engaged and dying fast, but the Skeleton was far out of Stan’s friends’ range. He raised his axe and threw it at the Skeleton, clobbering it with one blow. At the same time, Kat stabbed the Spider’s eyes out and Charlie cut open the arachnid’s stomach with his pickaxe, tossing the corpse aside. Stan snatched up his axe from the dead Skeleton and joined his friends.

“Hey, he lives! Good to see you, Stan!” exclaimed Charlie, smiling.

Rex jumped up to lick him, Lemon rubbed up against his leg and purred, and Kat asked him where he’d been.

“Boy, guys, do I have a ton to tell you, but we’ve got other problems at the moment!” Stan yelled. The wave of Zombies had started to pour into the sinkhole. Charlie and Kat stared at the rotten green wave with dropped jaws of horror.

“What did you do?” screamed Kat.

“I don’t know. They just spawned! We’re gonna have to fight them!” Stan yelled over the moaning.

“We can’t possibly take down a Zombie horde that size, and we can’t go back inside either. The monsters already broke the door down!” exclaimed Charlie, panicking.

“We’ll have to try,” yelled Stan, and he killed the first undead mob with three swift axe blows to the chest. Kat, Charlie and Rex all rushed in to fight as well.

It was mayhem. Every Zombie they killed was replaced by what appeared to be two more flooding in from above the sinkhole. Stan gritted his teeth, and as he hacked and slashed his way through the horde, all he could think was, where are they all coming from?

In time, despite the rapid hacking, slashing, stabbing and biting of the three players and dog, the unending swarm of undead pushed them back against the wall of the sinkhole. Stan was starting to think about giving up from exhaustion and the sheer overwhelming number of Zombies when he heard a scream from above.

“Yaaaaaa-hoooooo!” the player yelled as he landed in front of the players. There was a metallic clang from his boots as he yelled, which was odd because they were made of leather and were glowing. Stan guessed that they had been enchanted to absorb fall damage. The player whipped out a diamond sword that was also glowing. As the Zombies closed in on him, he swung his sword back behind his head with his right hand and then swung it around him, cutting every Zombie in the front row of the onslaught.

Stan felt a powerful wave of energy emit from the glowing blade, and he could tell that it was no ordinary sword. Indeed, all the Zombies in the front row were knocked back by the invisible shockwave emitted by the sword, falling into the ones behind them and reducing the entire Zombie attack to a squirming pile of disorientation.

The player turned to face Stan and the others. He was dressed exactly the same as Stan, the standard look for Minecraft, but he had dark shades that covered his eyes. “Hey, guys!” he exclaimed. He had a heavy New York accent. “I thought you guys could use some help, so I’m gonna help you fight these stupid mobs off. Just FYI, there was an old dungeon caved in next to the train tracks with a Zombie spawner inside. Don’t worry though – I destroyed it. The Zombies’ll stop coming. All that we have to do is fight off the rest of these Zombies down here, and we’re home free. Don’t say anything. Just fight, and then we’ll talk.”

The player turned around, sheathed his diamond sword, and drew another one from the other side of his belt, this one made of iron but with a distinct red glow to it. Stan was too amazed by this saviour who had descended from nowhere to question him, at least until he and his friends were out of immediate danger. The Zombie horde was back on its feet by now, and Stan rushed in to greet the Zombies, exhilarated by the fact that there would be no more of them coming.

Though he was busy bringing down Zombie after Zombie with his axe, Stan couldn’t help but be amazed by the capacity for fighting that this mysterious player displayed. It was soon apparent what the glowing red enchantment on the iron sword was. The first time the player slashed a Zombie across the chest, the Zombie burst into flames, as if the night were over and the sun had come back up. This sword with the Fire Aspect enchantment cut through the Zombies with a level of sword-fighting expertise that Stan had never seen before, leaving the unfortunate victims as lifeless, flaming corpses on the ground.

By the time they were down to the last five Zombies, Stan, Kat, Charlie and even Rex had stopped fighting and simply stood out of the player’s way. They watched in awe as the player stabbed through one Zombie, threw it into two more and then rolled over to the three Zombies and killed them all with one downward thrust. He spun around and parried another Zombie’s attacking arm to the side, cutting the Zombie in two at the waist as he ducked under the monster’s armpit. Finally, he swung his arm backwards and decapitated the last Zombie, which was right behind him, without even looking to see where it was. With that, the player sheathed his iron sword and gave a sigh of relief.

The most impressive thing, however, was that though Stan and Charlie had dents in their iron chestplates and Kat had dents all over her full iron body armour from being repeatedly hit by the Zombies, as the sun rose Stan could not see one scratch on the mysterious player with shades. He did not wear any armour. He had pulled off the leather boots after landing in the sinkhole. This player had fought the entire battle completely unprotected, and he had not taken a single bit of damage.

Whoever this player is, thought Stan, I’m glad he’s on our side.

“That was amazing!” said Charlie, coming over and shaking the player’s hand. “My name is Charlie, and these are my friends, Kat and Stan.” They both nodded, distinguishing themselves. “What’s your name?”

“They call me DieZombie97,” said the player, wiping some sweat off his brow. “Former head of the Brotherhood of Elite Hunters, three-time champion of the Grand Elementia Spleef League world tourney, and self-proclaimed King of the Desert. However, you may call me DZ,” he added with a smile. “May I ask what you three are doing out here? Very few people choose to camp alone out here with all the monsters and nomads that roam this sandy wasteland.”

“Well, we’re kind of on a mission right now, and there are certain people we’d like to avoid,” said Stan, presently wary about giving away too much information to this stranger, even if he had just saved their lives. “What about you? I assume you live out here, Mr King of the Desert, and you don’t even have armour!”

“Excellent point, my young friend,” said DZ, leaning against the sandstone at the bottom of the sinkhole wall. “Well, the reason I live out here by myself is that I have found it to be a very pleasant life, detaching myself from the insanity of the modern world. I used to be very successful back in my day – you’ll forgive me for bragging – but I have found that it is quite nice to live alone out here, beating the living crap out of the night folks, and occasionally getting to ward off the nomads. As for the no armour, eh, it’s an old habit from my days playing Spleef.”

“What exactly is Spleef?” asked Stan. He had wondered about this a few times before, but he hadn’t had a chance to ask yet.

“Sheesh!” cried DZ, taking them all by surprise. “You people’ve never heard of Spleef? What levels are ya?”

“Why does it matter?” asked Stan defensively. He would not tolerate any more of this bias against lower-levels.

“Oh, I’m not prejudiced, don’t worry!” DZ laughed. “No, no, prejudice against the lower-levels was the reason I left Element City. I was just wondering because if you’d been on here for long, you’d have heard of Spleef.”

“Oh, well in that case, we’re all in the thirties,” replied Stan, which was true, what with all the monsters and animals they’d killed around the Nether and the Overworld. Kat, Charlie and Stan were now levels thirty-four, thirty-three, and thirty-one, respectively. Indeed, it occurred to Stan as he said this that the three of them wouldn’t even be considered lower-level players any more. Then he realized that DZ had also said something else. “Wait,” said Stan, “why’d you leave Element City again?”

“Because I hate the King,” replied DZ offhandedly. “Anyway, Spleef is a game where any number of people … well in the league rules the official numbers are—”

“Hold up,” interjected Kat. “Why do you hate the King so much?”

“Because he backstabbed a bunch of his friends because he’s a paranoid jerkface. Anyway, in league Spleef two teams of three players each go into an—”

“And so you hate the King? You’d like to see him overthrown?”

“Well, yeah, if anyone had the guts to organize a rebellion, I’d join. So you’ve got these two teams in the arena, and they destroy the floor, which is made of snow, and try to knock the guys on the other team through the gaps—”

“We’re doing that! We’re organizing a rebellion against the King right now!” Charlie exclaimed.

“And the last team with a player standing is … wait, what?” DZ started to pay attention to them for the first time. He lowered his shades and looked down at them. “Hold up … from what I know, nobody allied with the King would even joke about overthrowing him … you’re serious?”

Stan looked at Kat, and she looked at Charlie, and he looked back at Stan, and he knew they were all thinking the same thing. “Yes, we’re serious!” Stan said. “If you want, you can join us. We’re raising an army right now to try to overthrow the King. As soon as we get supplies, which we’re on a journey to find right now, we’re going to hook up with some players back in the Adorian Village and we’re going to storm Element Castle!”

“So … hold up …” DZ sat down, trying to take in the enormity of what Stan was saying. “So you already have an army … and supplies? But how are you going to infiltrate the castle? Even assuming your army could stand a chance against the King’s, isn’t Element Castle rigged with those … automatic … uh … redstone booby trap, er, thingies, that are meant to stop invading armies?”

Kat’s and Charlie’s faces fell, realizing that they had overlooked that particular part of their plan, but Stan reached into his inventory and pulled out the book that the Mechanist had given him. “I got this book from the guy who designed all those redstone traps for the King, and it tells what and where they are. We can use this to anticipate and avoid these traps.”

Stan’s friends, as well as DZ, looked at him, and he briefly explained about his detour to Blackstone and his meeting with the mayor and the Mechanist. Kat and Charlie were elated to hear that twenty-two new fighters were now heading towards the Adorian Village to help the war effort. DZ, meanwhile, took to their plan with enthusiasm.

“Well, if you guys have an army and are going to overthrow the King, then I want in! The sooner that jerkface comes down, the better. What can I do to help?” His face was split into a smile of determination. This was the most earnestly positive reception of their plan Stan had seen yet.

“Well, you can make your way back to the Ado—” started Stan, but he was cut off by Kat pulling him backwards. “What are you doing?” he asked as he was pulled into a huddle with Charlie.

“OK, guys, look. We have to kill, like, twelve Endermen if we’re going to get into the End, and who knows what we’ll find when we get there? They must have called it the End for a reason,” Kat said.

“Where are you going with this?” Stan asked.

“Well, how about instead of telling DZ to go back to the village with the others, we ask him to come with us? He seems to know what he’s doing,” Kat said.

“That’s a great idea, Kat!” exclaimed Charlie. “He seems to have a way with those swords.”

“Hold up, wait a second,” said Stan. “Are you sure we want to ask this guy we just met to come with us?” Stan, truthfully, had been a little put off by DZ’s reaction – it had seemed a tad too sincere for him.

“Well, why not? It’s worked so far, you know, with the Apothecary, the Nether Boys and these people in this Blackstone you told us about,” Kat replied.

“Yeah, and with the Apothecary you were yelling at me for pushing our luck, and now you want to push it some more? Can we say hypocritical?”

“Oh, come on, Stan!” sighed Kat in exasperation. “I have a good feeling about this guy. Just trust me on this one.”

“Are you sure that it’s not just because you think he’s cute?” sneered Stan, and he regretted it an instant later.

Kat let out a hiss of rage as she flew at Stan and punched him squarely in the stomach. Both of them flew backwards. Stan had the wind knocked out of him by the power of Kat’s fist, and Kat, in her anger, had forgotten that Stan was still wearing his iron chestplate. They were both on their feet again in seconds and were about to have another go at each other when something stopped them. Charlie’s hand shoved Kat back down, while his foot did the same to Stan.

“Enough, both of you!” yelled Charlie. “You’re acting like five-year-olds. Cut it out! Those are the people we’re trying to get rid of, remember?” He turned to Kat. “Kat, there is nothing wrong with being cautious, so don’t just completely blow him off.” He whipped around to face Stan. “Stan, that was just uncalled for, and besides, if he wanted us dead, he could’ve just let us be mauled to death by those zombies, OK?” He stepped back so he could talk to both of them at once. “I say that we invite DZ to come along with us, but we keep an eye on him until we’re one hundred per cent sure that he’s trustworthy, OK?”

Stan and Kat were silent for a moment. Then, they both nodded. They did not, however, look each other in the eye.

Charlie walked over to DZ, who had remained oblivious to the fighting and was now absentmindedly chiselling “Die King Kev Die” in the sandstone wall with his diamond sword. “DZ?” The warrior turned towards Charlie, sheathed his sword, and looked Charlie in the eye.

“Hey, Charlie. Have you decided what you want me to do yet?”

“Yes, we have,” Charlie replied firmly, with Kat and Stan lurking, embarrassed, behind him. “We would be very happy if you would come with us. We have to collect twelve Ender Pearls, and use them to craft twelve Eyes of Ender with our Blaze Rods so that we can find a fortress and enter the End. Would you like to come with us?”

DZ nodded. “I’m in. I’ve been living out here for so long, and it’s been fun, but I’m about ready to do something to give back to this server. It’s given me some fun times.”

Stan remembered what the Apothecary had said, right after agreeing to help them raise their army. This place has given me so much and then taken it away. It’s time for me to make this server a place that future generations can call home. In all his travels around Elementia so far, Stan had begun to forget the amazing things one could accomplish in this game, given the time and opportunity. People had had great times on this server, and they could really get attached to it. Time and opportunity, however, would not be available to Stan until after King Kev was slain. This he knew for a fact.

“And also, the End sounds freaking awesome. I want to find out whatever it is we’re supposed to do there, do it, and beat up anything that tries to stop us!”

This statement snapped Stan out of his thoughts, but one piece of it stuck in his mind. “DZ, what do you mean, ‘whatever it is we’re supposed to do there’? We have to find the King’s treasure – that’s it.”

“Oh no, Stan buddy, you don’t get it,” laughed DZ. “I’ve never been to the End … I don’t think anyone has, actually, barring the King … but I do know that it’s not a normal dimension like the Overworld and the Nether. From what I hear, there’s a specific task you have to do there, and until you do it, you won’t be able to leave.”

“And … what kind of task is that?” asked Stan apprehensively, not sure if he really wanted to know the answer.

“No idea,” replied DZ, shrugging. “Maybe a puzzle, a boss battle, a friendly game of Parcheesi … when we go there, we just have to go prepared, that’s all. You three seem like you know what you’re doing. I’m sure the four of us could tackle whatever ridiculous stuff is in the End.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” agreed Kat. “Anyway, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. What we have to do next is get twelve Ender Pearls.”

“Like these?” asked DZ, holding up a handful of several blue-green orbs.

“Yes! Oh my God!” Charlie cried out in amazement. “DZ … where did you get those?”

“Where do you think? I’ve been wandering this desert for longer than you three have been in Elementia put together. You know how many Endermen you run into during that time? I tell you, it’s stupidly annoying when you’re scanning the horizon and you accidentally look at one of those freaks.”

“Yeah, we know. We’ve fought one before,” replied Stan as Charlie took the Ender Pearls from DZ and counted them out. “They’re powerful, they teleport, and they get aggressive when you just look at them.”

“Probably the three worst qualities a monster could have,” added Kat solemnly.

“Testify,” replied DZ, as Charlie put the pearls into his inventory.

“OK, we have six Ender Pearls,” he said. “Thanks to DZ.” He shot an annoyed glance at Stan, who looked away in embarrassment. “So now we need to find and kill six more Endermen. Easy enough,” he said.

“Eh, not exactly, bud,” said DZ. “Endermen don’t always drop Ender Pearls. We’re gonna need to kill a lot more than six.”

“Wonderful,” said Charlie, hanging his head. “But where are we going to go now? We can’t stay at our current base, there’s no door and no wood around, and we can’t stay in one place too long anyway or the King’s forces will find us.”

“I know what we can do,” said DZ. “Sometimes, if I’m low on health and I need a place to stay, I look around for an NPC village. The guys that live there are nice, they know how to make food, and they’re always willing to provide you with shelter.”

“Oh, I don’t know if an NPC village is such a good idea,” replied Kat quickly.

Stan and Charlie looked at her in surprise. “Why not, Kat?” asked Stan. “What do you have against NPC villages?”

“Yeah, Kat, remember when we first met?” asked Charlie. “You said that you were looking for an NPC village because they’ll give you really good stuff.”

“Um, well, yeah, uh, about that,” Kat stammered as she fidgeted around. “Sometimes they, uh, don’t like people. I mean not all people, DZ obviously got along fine, I mean … uh …” Stan had never seen Kat look so uncomfortable before.

“Ah, come on Kat, the three of you seem nice enough,” said DZ, laughing. “I’m sure they’ll like you just fine. Besides, the King’s forces have a tendency to impose wheat quotas on the villages, so they all hate him. I’m sure they’ll take to us if we tell them we’re going to overthrow the King.”

“Well … then, uh … I sure can’t think of … uh … any reason not to go,” Kat said with an extremely forced smile. It was becoming obvious that, for reasons unbeknown to Stan, Kat wanted nothing less than to go to an NPC village.

“OK then!” exclaimed DZ with a smile, oblivious to Kat’s discomfort. “I’m pretty sure that there’s one just a day’s journey southeast of here. If we start now we should be able to make it there by nightfall, and we can start our Enderman hunt.”

DZ started walking towards the left of the rising sun, and Stan and Charlie walked enthusiastically behind him. Kat, on the other hand, had her head down and was plotting out the way she would handle being marooned in the terrible NPC village.

CHAPTER 21
OOB’S HELPING HAND

It was not long before Stan was beginning to seriously regret allowing DZ to come with them.

Neither his exceptional sword fighting skills nor the fact that he had already acquired half the Ender Pearls necessary for their voyage into the End made up for the fact that by nightfall of that day the NPC village was nowhere in sight. They had already exhausted the meagre supply of food that Kat and Charlie had gained through hunting the previous day. DZ was only able to contribute one raw chicken, which they could not eat for fear of food poisoning. DZ apologetically explained that his philosophy was generally to eat something directly after killing it, so he rarely had food on him. This revelation did not elevate Stan’s opinion of him as they continuously trudged through the endless sea of sand.

As the sun glowed bright over the pastel pink of the western horizon, Stan let out a shout of frustration. Charlie and Kat looked at him in concern.

“Do you have any idea where you’re going?” yelled Stan, the vein in his head pulsing and spit flying out of his mouth as he unleashed his anger at DZ.

DZ looked around unconcerned, apparently unaware that Stan was on the verge of sociopathic rage. He scratched his head innocently. “Well, now that I think about it, if the sun rises in the east and sets in the west … that means it moves … so if I keep going to the left of it … ooooh! Then I won’t be going southeast! I’ll be going in circles!” He laughed. “Wow! That was pretty stupid of me, wasn’t it?”

Only then did DZ come to the realization that all his comrades were staring at him with incredulous looks on their faces. Charlie was staring at him as if he had just stated that he was going to attempt a staring contest with an Enderman, and Kat’s mouth hung open, her eyes now wide enough to take up her entire face. Even Rex and Lemon were looking up at DZ, as if they too were aware that he had just done something remarkably dense.

Stan was the only one who was not looking shocked but about as ready as a lightning-charged Creeper to explode with rage. His eyes were closed, his teeth were gritted and the vein in his head was bulging.

“Do you mean to tell me,” said Stan in a quiet yet dangerous voice, “that we have been following you all day long, and you have been leading us in circles?”

“Apparently,” said DZ, shrugging. “Ah, quit worrying. It don’t matter much. We’ll set ourselves straight tomorrow.”

“And you are really still somehow oblivious to the fact that we have no food and no shelter, and that standing between us and daytime is night-time?” Stan yelled the last word so loud that Charlie actually fell backwards in shock. DZ just stood there with his mouth slightly agape and his eyes unblinking as Stan lashed out at him.

“You have been with us for less than one full day, and you have already caused us more trouble than you’re worth!” bellowed Stan. “We are now stuck in the middle of who knows where, and if tonight is anything like last night, we won’t survive! We have got it tough, you got that, DZ? We are trying to do something impossible! We’re fighting the King, we’re fighting nature, sometimes it feels like we’re fighting Minecraft itself as we try to do this thing! If you are not going to buck up and take it seriously, then it’s just as well that you get away from us so you can’t do any more damage!”

Stan was breathing heavily now, nostrils flaring, veins popping. Kat and Charlie were in awe. They had always known that Stan had a streak of recklessness and anger in him, but this display was far more violent than any they had seen from him before.

DZ stared at Stan with a new look on his face. It was a combination of shock, fear and sorrow. DZ looked Stan in the eye and sighed. “Hey, I’m sorry, all right? I’m doing the best I can. I’m used to being a nomad out here. I’m not used to finding places. I promise that I’ll try to take our job a little more seriously. But don’t forget to have fun, all right?” He gave a weak smile. “It is still a game, right?”

Stan gave a snort of derision. “This is more than a game, DZ. It gives people another life. You of all people should know that. And the King is making these people’s lives miserable, and it’s up to us to fix that. We can have fun after our work is done.”

DZ looked sadly at Stan. “I hear you, buddy. But just remember what they say: at the end of your life you regret the stuff you didn’t do more than the stuff you did do. So remember to have fun with what we’re doing, because out here, there’s no telling when our lives are going to end.”

The enormity, power, and sincerity behind this statement hit Stan like a shockwave, and he realized it was true. He could very well be dead by tomorrow in the middle of this desert, in the midst of this quest for justice.

They continued to trudge through the desert, nobody saying anything, and Stan looking downcast and humbled. The sun sank behind the desert hills, and the moon rose high into the star-speckled night sky. The optimistic view of the situation was that travelling was easier because of the lack of heat from the sun.

The pessimist’s view, and the view of all four travellers, was that they were out of food, they had no source of light, and monsters were materializing on all sides of them. The attacks of Zombies came in hordes, the Skeleton shot arrows from afar and the Spiders climbed up the cactuses that were everywhere and jumped down onto the players. Even the Creepers posed a threat. Lemon scared most of them away, but there was one point at which DZ was driven away from the main group by two Spiders and a Skeleton, and just as he managed to kill the second Spider, he heard the tell-tale hiss and was blasted into the air a second later.

DZ landed on a cactus and found himself unable to move due to a shooting pain in his right leg. He looked down and saw that the cactus had torn into his flesh. He knew that he couldn’t fight any more without food in his stomach to heal him. Instead he drew his glowing diamond sword and swung it into the horde of oncoming Zombies now upon him. The blade barely ripped the monsters’ blue shirts, but the shock emitted from the sword was enough to throw the Zombies back into a heap, averting that danger for the time being.

DZ gritted his teeth. He knew that he had to do something quickly. His thoughts drifted to the cactus beside him. He drew an iron shovel out of his inventory and quickly hacked away the sand around the cactus, pulling himself into the hole and resealing it with dirt he had on hand. The Zombies, now on their feet again, mindlessly wandered towards him, but they found themselves walking straight into the cactus with no brains to tell them otherwise. They kept trying to walk straight through the cactus until they were eventually felled by the spines.

When the last of the Zombie noises had diminished from above him, DZ destroyed one of the dirt blocks and popped his head out, confirming that all the Zombies were dead. He then looked over at Stan, Kat, Charlie and the animals, all of whom were quickly being overrun by the mobs.

“Over here!” DZ yelled, gesturing for them to come into the hole. They didn’t need telling twice. All three players sprinted over to DZ and hopped into the hole. To say they made it in the nick of time was an understatement. Lemon’s tail had just vanished into the dirt hole when a Spider leaped towards DZ. He punched it back and placed the dirt block, securing the four players and two pets into the dark hole. Too tired to do anything else, DZ barely heard Kat mentioning something about dropping her sword outside before he keeled over asleep.

“Hello? Hellooooo!”

“Go away,” muttered Stan sleepily. His exhaustion from fighting off the mobs last night did not increase his desire to sleep as much as his present dream, in which he and Sally rejoiced after the fall of the King. Whatever mundane task the others wanted him for, he was certain it could wait.

“Helloooo! Anybody home? You dropped your sword! Hellooooo?”

“Wha … what?” came Kat’s groggy voice from the other end of the hole. “Someone found my sword?” she asked in a stupid-sounding voice.

“You were dreaming Kat,” yawned Charlie, “now go back to sleep.”

“Helloooooooooooooooooooooo?”

Stan winced as the hole flooded with light. Kat had punched through the dirt roof to find the source of the caller. “Hello?” Though Stan was now pressing his hands to his ears to block out the noise, he could still clearly hear her. “Did someone say they fou …”

Kat’s voice faltered for a moment. When it returned, it was with a shaky. “Oh. He-hello, there.”

There was something in Kat’s voice that made Stan pause. Suddenly quite awake, he grabbed his axe and jumped out of the hole after her. He turned his head and asked, “What’s going …” But his voice, too, faltered.

Kat was standing, looking extremely uncomfortable, next to the strangest-looking player that Stan had seen. At least, Stan thought it was a player. It definitely looked like a player, but it, or rather, he, looked more like a Neanderthal than a modern person. He was wearing a brown robe over darker brown trousers and shoes, and he was the same size as the players. His face looked absolutely ridiculous – his head was taller than Stan’s, he had green eyes with a brown unibrow, and his nose was gigantic. It actually fell down lower than his mouth. His hands were clasped together in front of him, Kat’s sword grasped awkwardly between them.

Stan’s immediate response was to blurt out the question of what this thing was, but as long as it, or, he, was still holding the sword, Stan felt that he’d better try to be at least a little sensitive. Charlie, on the other hand, who had just come out of the hole, went wide-eyed and blurted out, “Whoa! Kat, what is that thing?”

Stan glared furiously at Charlie, and his hand instinctively went to his axe, but the thing did not looked angry. In fact, he was looking around the desert, and looking, truthfully, rather stupid. The thing looked at Charlie.

“My name is Oob,” he replied. “I found this sword on the sand early in this morning. I have looked for its owner and now I have found you.” Oob spoke slowly, as if he had to think about every word that he said.

“Hey, an NPC!” exclaimed DZ, as he climbed out of the hole after Charlie. “What’s your name, man? I’ve never seen you before, and I’ve been to most of the villages out here in the desert.”

“I am Oob,” the NPC villager said simply, and he began wandering around aimlessly. Charlie and Stan looked at Oob, wondering whether he was being inconsiderate or just extremely stupid. DZ just laughed, and then gestured to Stan and Charlie and muttered, so that Oob couldn’t hear, “Don’t worry, these NPC guys are pretty dumb, but after they get to know you a little they’ll take to you.” DZ approached the villager and tried to talk to him again. Charlie seemed very interested in Oob, but Stan had just noticed Kat.

She looked more ill at ease than Stan had ever seen her, including the time he told the Apothecary that she had tried to kill him and Charlie when they first met. The source of her discomfort was obvious. She kept acting all jittery every time the villager made the smallest move. She actually sneaked up behind him and snatched her sword back from him instead of asking him for it. He hadn’t seemed to notice.

“… because seven ate nine!” exclaimed DZ, finishing his joke and causing Oob to laugh hysterically. DZ had clearly spent a fair amount of time around NPCs and knew how to get them on his good side.

“I like you players! You are very kind to me and I become very happy when people are kind to me. Would you like to come and visit my village? We would be happy to have you with us,” said Oob to DZ.

“That’d be awesome, man!” replied Charlie before DZ could respond. “We’ve been out here for a while and we could really use some food. You seem like a nice guy, Oob,” said Charlie, and he gave Oob a friendly punch in the shoulder.

“Follow me then, my friends,” said Oob, and he walked out into the desert. Charlie walked right next to Oob, chatting with him and, judging by the occasional outburst of laughter, telling more stupid jokes. DZ was walking behind them, next to Stan, and he was smiling, but Stan was anxiously keeping an eye on Kat over his shoulder. She was walking behind them all, and the look on her face clearly said that she was dreading going to the NPC village, but Stan still had no idea why. He decided to find out.

He fell back next to Kat and she immediately made a noticeable effort to not meet his eye. “Kat, I don’t think it’s any secret that you don’t want to go to the NPC village,” Stan said.

Kat remained silent.

“When we first met, you told me that you found stuff in the chest of an abandoned NPC village. Judging by the way you’re acting, I’m beginning to think that that might not be completely true.”

Kat was still silent.

“Kat, what happened at that village?”

“I killed him.”

Kat had stopped walking. She had a look of incredible pain on her face. Stan was confused and disturbed by it. She looked like someone repenting for some awful crime. When she next spoke, her voice was detached and distant.

“I went to an NPC village, and all these villagers were being so nice to me. And I took their stuff. I took the sword, and I killed their blacksmith. And they all just stared at me. Then he told me to leave. Their priest stepped out of his church, stared at me, and told me to leave the village, and to never come back. And then … there was this stomping … and it got louder … and louder … and so I ran … I didn’t look back … I didn’t even have the decency to look that priest in the eye …”

Kat was staring down at the ground. She took a deep breath and then sighed. She looked at Stan. “I was a different person back then, Stan. I used force to get what I wanted, and I didn’t care what the consequences were, because I knew I could cancel out those consequences with more force.” Kat paused. “Just like King Kev,” Kat added in a mutter, echoing Stan’s thoughts.

“We’ve got to beat him, Stan,” said Kat. Her voice suddenly became serious, and she looked him straight in the eye. “After I met you guys, everything changed. I’m not the same person I was. You and Charlie are just so great. You get so legitimately upset over injustice, all injustice, even stuff most people just brush off. You’ve changed me. And I know that we’re doing the right thing. We have got to take this lunatic down and bring justice to this place. And you’ve got to lead it, Stan. You’re something special, and you’re the right one to do it.” Kat was now radiating that same power she had when she burst from the lava and attacked Becca at the lava sea. Every word that she said went straight to Stan’s heart. He felt empowered.

Stan had not said one word throughout Kat’s entire monologue, but he knew that she was right. Kat was certainly a very different person than the girl who had ambushed them from the woods with a stone sword, and he knew that it was he and Charlie who had influenced Kat for the better. Furthermore, though he wasn’t sure how he felt about it yet, he knew that he was somehow special. He had been sure that some otherworldly power had possessed him to win his two-on-one fight at the sword fighting dojo, to effortlessly destroy that Snow Golem with the axe, and to shoot that arrow at the King. He had felt it again the previous night as he yelled at DZ. Those actions did not feel like they had come from him, but from some higher level of thinking, as if the universe itself was calling him to act.

Stan remembered how, a million years ago, a million miles away, in an Adorian Village not destroyed by hatred, Sally had asked him if he believed that he was special, and Crazy Steve had given him a calculating look. They knew. They had sensed something about him, some aura. In retrospect, they showed it, too. Sally had made him fight Kat and Charlie two-on-one, and had Crazy Steve not been killed in the midst of their talk, Stan was sure that he would have mentioned something about this sixth sense to him.

Stan had all these thoughts playing around in the back of his mind, but as the silhouettes of buildings appeared on the desert horizon against the rising square that was the sun, the prospect of food convinced Stan to store these thoughts away for later contemplation.

“Oh muhn, I nuvr tawdied misdah tashtah bredsamush,” mumbled Kat through a mouthful of bread. Stan agreed. The bread that the villagers had given to them was indeed a vast improvement over the hunger they had endured for the past day. The sun showed that it was almost noon, and while Lemon and Rex sat outside, Stan, Charlie, Kat, DZ and Oob were all sitting in Oob’s house in the NPC village.

The village itself, Stan found, bore a fond similarity to the Adorian Village. The majority of houses were made out of wooden planks and cobblestone, with glass pane windows and wooden doors. The entire village was centred around a cobblestone well with gravel paths branching out around it. Behind most of the houses were miniature farms that consisted of rings of wood blocks, inside of which were alternating rows of water, and dirt blocks with wheat crops growing from them.

Two buildings stood out from the houses. A tall cobblestone building with multiple stories was the tallest thing in the village. Oob had pointed it out to Stan as the church, where their priest, also their leader, lived. Next to the village was a wide building with the entire left side exposed, revealing two furnaces and a pool of lava. This building was called the forge, Oob said, home of the blacksmith who kept the villagers’ tools in good repair.

“We are very happy to have you here. It has been so long since we have had players act kindly towards us,” said Mella, Oob’s mother, who lived in the house with her husband, Blerge, and Oob.

“What do you mean, Mella? Have other players done stuff to you guys?” asked Kat.

“Oh, yes,” she replied, a grim look taking over her face. “Long ago, before Oob was born, the forces of the one named King Kev forced those in our village to pay a tribute of wheat from our farms. There were often shortages, and many of us starved.” Mella started to wander around the house again. Stan had realized that this was a quality of all NPC villagers – they all had a tendency to wander aimlessly regardless of what they were doing.

“What happened? Why did the King stop bothering you?” asked Kat encouragingly.

“What? Oh, yes,” replied Mella, as though she had momentarily forgotten that they were there. Stan suspected that she actually had. “Not long after Oob was born, a player made a deal with the King that in exchange for that player’s services, the King would no longer collect tribute from our village. We have seen no players since they took that brave player away.” And with that Mella again began to wander.

Seeing that she was obviously out of it, Stan chose to ask Oob, rather than Mella, the name of the player. Oob’s face took on a kind of elation in response.

“Oh, we have vowed to never speak the name of the Sacred One again! We have received a sign from the almighty Notch that in repayment for his sacrifice, we are never to speak the name of the Sacred One again!”

“The almighty Notch? Who is Notch?” asked Charlie, just as the back door opened and Blerge, Oob’s father, walked in from tending the farm.

“He’s the guy who created Minecraft,” hissed DZ under his breath to Charlie, out of the hearing of Blerge, whose face showed utter disbelief.

“You do not know of Notch, the Creator? Without the almighty Notch, life as we know it could not exist! At the beginning of time, Notch created this village, which protects our people from the evil mobs! Notch makes the sun rise and set, and he is the master of all the creatures of this world! Without him, we would all be at the unchecked mercy of Herobrine, master of evil and destruction.”

As Blerge kept on talking about the almighty Notch, Stan found himself intrigued. Did these villagers really worship the guy that created Minecraft? Well, it makes sense, he thought, their entire world is this game. Personally, he couldn’t see himself worshipping the guy, even though Stan thought Notch was pretty awesome for creating such an excellent game.

“That sounds really interesting, Blerge,” said Charlie. “So now I have a question. We’re trying to overthrow the King – you know, the guy who used to force you guys to pay him stuff?”

“Oh yes,” said Blerge, with his unibrow knitting over his eyes. “That man caused my people much suffering. I should be most happy if four kind players such as you were to take his place. You treat us very kindly, while the one called King Kev believed us to be inferior.”

Stan opened his mouth to interject, but he quickly caught himself. It was very hard to say that he was equal in any way to this race of NPCs, especially considering that since he had joined the village he had seen two villagers wander straight into cactuses and almost kill themselves. But Stan still had respect for the people, and that, he thought, was the difference between King Kev and himself.

“So,” asked Charlie to Blerge, “would you be willing to let us use your village as a base? We still have to collect six Ender Pearls in order to get to the End, and we could use a place to stay until we’ve killed enough Endermen.”

Blerge had begun to wander again before Charlie had finished his request, so it was Mella who answered Charlie, “I am sure that it would be fine for you to stay with us for as long as you need, my friends. However, before we may tell you certainly, we must consult Moganga, the priest and leader of our village. She will tell you whether or not you may stay. Come, I shall take you to her.” And with that, Mella started to the door. Oob followed her while Blerge still wandered around the house.

“Wait,” asked Kat, speaking for the first time in quite a while. “This is your house. Why does this Moganga lady get to decide if we stay or not?”

“Because the almighty Notch commands it,” Mella said, and she exited the house, as if this were a satisfying response. Oob and Blerge left behind her, followed by Charlie and DZ, then Stan and, after a moment, Kat.

CHAPTER 22
THE SIEGE

As the group walked down the gravel street towards the tall stone church, Stan was vaguely aware of Charlie, DZ and Oob chatting in front of him, while he himself kept a careful eye on Kat.

Ever since Kat had confessed to Stan what had happened to her in the last NPC village she had gone to, she had been very calm and pensive, quite in contrast to her usual self. She had also seemed much more at ease around the villagers after she had gotten her crime against them off her chest. Now, however, Stan did sense a diminished version of her previous tension as she approached the church. Still, she entered, and after Stan explained to yet another villager, this one named Libroru, that walking into a cactus would hurt, he followed Kat inside.

The church was made entirely of cobblestone, with a ladder on the side leading to the upper stories. There were torches on the walls, and a cobblestone altar sat in front. A villager in purple robes stood facing the altar. When the players, led by Mella and Blerge, entered, the priest turned towards them.

“Hello, players,” said Moganga, gesturing to Stan, Kat, Charlie and DZ. “Oob has told me of your arrival. Welcome.” She turned towards Mella and Blerge. “With what may I help you, my brother and sister?”

“These four players have requested the use of our family’s house as an outpost for their hunting of the Endermen,” replied Blerge in a powerful voice. “I appeal to you to ask the almighty Notch as to his judgement on the matter.”

“I see. I will attempt to connect with the almighty Notch, my brother,” replied Moganga. Her eyes closed, and her single eyebrow began twitching. She remained this way for about two minutes, and by the time her eyes reopened, Blerge and Mella had begun to wander around the church. Oob stepped forwards.

“What is the word of the almighty Notch, Mother Moganga?” asked Oob with a serious face.

“The almighty Notch has spoken to me,” replied Moganga, and Oob’s face lifted. “The almighty Notch has blessed the endeavours of these players and calls us to offer them refuge, provided that we are able to cope with the evil that will befall us beneath the full moon tonight.”

“Oh God,” muttered DZ. “Are you saying that the full moon is tonight?”

Moganga nodded, and Oob and DZ looked crestfallen. Charlie asked, “Wait, what’s the big deal about the full moon?”

A grim look passed over DZ’s face as he replied, “A siege is the big deal. Every full moon, if there are players staying in an NPC village, a giant horde of mobs will attack the village. And I mean giant. Makes the ones we killed off back at that sinkhole look like nothin’. And even though they’re mostly Zombies, you get plenty of the other kinds, too.”

“Years ago,” said Mella, who had stopped wandering, “when the Sacred One was still with us, the sieges used to befall us every full moon. We were able to survive as a species because in those days Zombies could not break through our doors. However, during every siege a horrible monster would terrorize our village alongside the Zombies: a Skeleton riding upon a Spider.”

“A Spider Jockey,” muttered Charlie. His eyebrows knitted, and his eyes widened in anxiety. “I’ve read about those things. All the range of a Skeleton combined with the agility and rapidity of a Spider. That does not sound like a fun combo to me.”

“Oh, you are right on that, bro,” agreed DZ, looking sober. “Whenever I see a Spider Jockey out in the desert, I avoid it. If it sees me, I run like anything,” he said. He looked at Moganga. “So every time there’s a siege, a Spider Jockey comes and attacks the villagers?”

“That is correct,” replied Moganga. “It would often kill one of us before the Sacred One drove it away, and the Sacred One was never able to kill it, despite his status as an elite archer. As a result, the Spider Jockey will return tonight. If you consider this, and the fact that the Zombies have recently learned how to break through doors, then you will realize that you players staying here will make the village a very dangerous place for our people.”

Stan wanted to add that that wasn’t saying much, seeing as he had seen three villagers almost commit suicide by walking into cactuses, but he kept the thought to himself.

“Therefore, I make this offer to you. You may stay with us in the village while you hunt the mobs called Endermen, and in return you will defend us from the siege and kill the Spider Jockey. Do we have an agreement?”

“Yes, ma’am,” replied Stan, and his friends nodded in agreement. Indeed, Kat and DZ both seemed thrilled about the prospect of fighting a horde of evil mobs. Charlie, on the other hand, still had a hint of the old nerves he had shown so often when they had first met. Stan had thought that this nervous tendency would be gone by now, after all they had been through, and he certainly couldn’t have a nervous Charlie in the End. As insurance, and a sort of final test of the power of Charlie’s nerves, Stan spoke up.

“OK, here’s how we should do this. DZ and Kat, you stay back in the village and kill all the Zombies that try to break into the village houses. Charlie and I will go out into the desert around the village, and we’ll kill all the mobs that spawn out there. We’ll also hunt the Spider Jockey.”

Charlie’s eyes widened. He opened his mouth in what Stan was sure would be a protest, but Kat had already said, “That works,” and DZ nodded in agreement. “OK,” she continued, “let’s suit up. The sun is setting, and this is gonna be a long, long night.”

With an apprehensive expression on his face, Charlie followed Stan, Kat and DZ back to Oob’s house, where they had stored their armour and weapons in a chest.

DZ’s arsenal was by far the lightest. With no armour, he held nothing but an iron sword glowing red with the Fire Aspect enchantment in his hand and two diamond swords at his side. One of these swords was glowing with the Knockback enchantment.

Kat, on the other hand, was the most bogged down with gear, being the only one with a full set of armour. She had on an iron helmet, leather tunic, iron leggings and iron boots, and she held an enchanted Infinity bow in her hand. Her arrows and iron sword hung at her hips.

Stan also had quite a bit of paraphernalia on him. He wore his iron chestplate, and he had his axe in his hand and a bow slung over his back, with arrows hanging at his side. Oob had provided him with a sash to strap across his chest, to which he attached the two Potions of Healing and the one Potion of Fire Resistance that he still had from the Apothecary.

Charlie was adorned in an iron chestplate, his diamond pickaxe grasped in his sweaty hand. He had the same sash as Stan, but no bows and arrows. Instead, he took the fire charges that he had taken from the dead soldier at the Nether portal and attached them to his belt and sash.

As the sun sank deeper and deeper towards the desert hills, the sky’s colour shifted from light blue to azure, then to pink, violet and finally, black. Kat, Rex and DZ took their places patrolling the gravel pathways of the village, while Stan, Charlie and Lemon walked down the main street towards the desert. It was like a ghost town. The NPC villagers were all holed up in their houses, preparing for the impending siege. The eerie wind blowing in off the desert hills contributed to the ominous sense of foreboding that now lay around the darkened village as Stan, Charlie and Lemon ventured out into the dune sea.

When they had gone a moderate distance from the village, Charlie looked at Stan. “OK, Stan, clearly you volunteered me to do this for a reason. Spill.”

“I wanted to make sure you were tough enough,” replied Stan, not looking at Charlie as he scanned the hills for any signs of a horde of Zombies. “The End is going to be terrifying whether you like it or not, Charlie, so better to buck up now than when we’re faced with that world.”

Charlie’s mouth opened in outrage, but it soon closed because he realized that Stan was right. Charlie felt that he had become much braver since meeting Stan, but whatever was in the End was sure to be much more dangerous than anything in the Overworld or the Nether. To ensure that he was up to it, Charlie agreed that he should not run from precarious situations when they arose, for the sake of training himself.

The sun eventually fully dipped below the distant sandy knolls, and the full moon was soon at its zenith in the sky above, the stars gleaming like diamonds in the black infinity of the sky. Neither Stan nor Charlie was able to appreciate the natural beauty around them, however. Both were now preoccupied with the very real likelihood of hundreds of Zombies pouring over the hills.

Sure enough, it wasn’t long after the sunset that Stan’s ear became vaguely aware of a rumbling, like the sound of hundreds of feet swarming forwards in unison. The sounds of bones rattling, Spiders clicking, Endermen crying and, most prominently, Zombies giving their empty moans of despair became louder and louder until, finally, the first wave of Zombies appeared.

Stan and Charlie rushed into action. There were hundreds of targets to choose from, so it was not long before the pickaxe and axe, in the hands of the two experienced fighters, had torn, smashed and beaten down dozens of the beasts. However, many more were now thronging towards the village. Stan rushed to engage them. Charlie was about to follow suit when he saw a sight that made his stomach dissolve.

Another wave of monsters had appeared over the horizon, this one composed not just of Zombies but of Skeletons, Spiders, Creepers and Endermen as well. And leading the charge, ordering the attack on the village by gesturing with its hand, was a Skeleton that was sitting, bow in hand, on the back of a Spider: the Spider Jockey.

Charlie knew that this was his fight. He had to be the one to obliterate that Spider Jockey. However, he knew that he could not do that with all the other hostile mobs streaming onwards. Formulating a plan, he pulled out a TNT block and a redstone torch that he had got from the dead soldier, placed it on the ground, and yelled at the top of his lungs, “Hey! Over here, you undead freaks!”

His plan worked. The mobs’ attention turned from the NPC village, and instead the dozens of mobs swarmed towards Charlie. With seconds to spare, he touched the tip of the redstone torch to the TNT block, scooped Lemon up in his hands, and jumped into a ditch a few blocks back. An instant later, just as Charlie saw an Enderman above him, raising its arm to strike, the TNT block exploded with the same force as a Creeper. Charlie was knocked back by the explosion, landing on his rear a few blocks away, but that was nothing compared to what happened to the mobs.

The explosion occurred right as the majority of the mobs were over it, and as Charlie looked down into the crater in the sand, he saw that none of the demons had survived. The crater was littered with bones, arrows, rotten flesh, and, to Charlie’s delight, two Ender Pearls. He picked up the latter and looked back to the horizon to see what remained of Spider Jockey’s henchmen.

Besides the Spider Jockey itself, the only mobs left in the desert were three Creepers, staring at Charlie from behind their leader. One of them began to shake in anger at the death of his comrades, and it began to lumber towards Charlie, but the Spider Jockey raised its hand to signal a halt. Charlie’s eyes locked on the empty eye sockets of the Skeleton. They both knew the same thing to be true: this fight was to be one-on-one.

Realizing this was to be the case, Charlie was sincerely wishing that he had brought a bow with him when, as if by a miracle, he noticed that one of the Skeletons had dropped one in the crater. He scooped this up, along with all the arrows lying alongside it. Though he had never been much of a shot at archery, Charlie was on such an adrenaline high from the massacre of the undead that he was sure that he could shoot just as well as Kat or Stan under the circumstances. Climbing out of the crater, he gave one last defiant look at the Spider Jockey, and he charged.

The Spider Jockey charged at the same time. The Skeleton fired off two quick shots with his bow, which Charlie dodged and knocked aside with his pickaxe. As he came up from his dodge, Charlie threw his pickaxe boomerang-style towards the Skeleton’s head. It seemed to be on a collision course, but at the last second the Spider pounced to the side, saving its rider for the time being.

Charlie was unfazed. He drew his bow and, while still running forwards, fired off three shots as the Skeleton did the same. Charlie dodged two of the shots, while a third deflected off his armour. The Spider Jockey was not so lucky. Though the Spider was able to hop out of the way of the first two arrows, the third one sunk straight into one of its eight red eyes. The Spider spat in pain and began thrashing around, causing the Skeleton to hastily jerk the arrow out of the Spider’s face, restring it in its own bow, and fire it back Charlie’s way.

Charlie ducked the arrow, and then he was upon the monster. The Spider bared its teeth and launched itself at Charlie, but Charlie delivered a quick jab to its face and it keeled over sideways – not dead, but certainly disoriented. Charlie took the opportunity to grab the pickaxe lying nearby on the ground. By the time the Spider Jockey had regained its footing, it was too late. The Skeleton notched an arrow in its bow just as Charlie drove his pickaxe into the Spider’s side. The Spider fell to the ground, twitching reflexively as it bled from the hole in its side. The Skeleton was thrown to the ground, its arrow fired haphazardly into the air, and as it looked up at the impending warrior that was Charlie, it waved its white bone of an arm forwards.

Charlie barely had time to ponder what this meant before he noticed three Creepers moving towards him. He closed his eyes and braced himself for the powerful explosions. Instead, however, he heard a hissing sound distinctly different from that of a Creeper. Charlie opened his eyes to see Lemon chasing the Creepers away, and Charlie pursued them until he reached a ditch in the sand.

Lemon stood at the top of the ditch, still hissing at the three Creepers, all of which were cowering in fear in the corner of the wall of sand. The Creepers were too scared of the cat to even look up as Charlie ended their lives with three quick strokes of the pickaxe. Relieved, Charlie turned, ready to scratch Lemon behind the ears in thanks.

Instead, Charlie looked up just in time to see an arrow pierce his cat through the stomach.

Time ran by in slow motion as Lemon descended in a graceful, almost angelic arc off the sandy ledge and into the ditch, finally coming to rest in Charlie’s waiting arms. Charlie’s stomach felt as though a knot were being tied in his gut as his cat gave one last feeble meow, and Lemon faded out of existence.

Charlie’s mind was white with shock. He stood staring into his empty arms, where his dying pet had just breathed its last breath, unable to comprehend what had happened. He had only had Lemon for a short time, but during that time he had become as fond of the cat as he had of Kat and Stan, knowing that whenever he awakened from this nightmare created by the King, he would have Lemon by his side.

Then, in an instant, the shock and horror within Charlie spontaneously morphed into rage and an insane, animal desire to destroy the one responsible for Lemon’s death. He looked up to the ledge above the ditch, and he saw the Skeleton that had been riding upon the Spider aiming another arrow straight at his head. Charlie’s reflexes, already heightened by battle, increased to the point of becoming superhuman as he caught the flying arrow in midair, inches from his own face. He notched it in his own bow and sent it back to its owner, the flint tip shattering the bone-dry skull into dust.

Charlie pulled himself out of the hole, still seething and bloodthirsty for the destruction of more of the undead. The desert was, however, completely vacant. Charlie had managed to kill all the Spider Jockey’s forces single-handedly. Though Charlie was still enraged that they had got Lemon, he did allow himself to take something that he never had before: credit. From the time the first mobs appeared to now, there was one emotion that he hadn’t felt at all. He had not been afraid.

Pride, sadness and fury swirling within Charlie, he raced back towards the light of the NPC village to combat the mobs he now saw roaming the streets.

Stan could have filled a chest with the rotten flesh of all the Zombies he and his comrades had felled while defending the village. Stan’s axe brought Zombie after Zombie to its second death. Kat was even more effective, her sword able to parry the Zombie’s attack aside, letting her fight them at close range alongside her dog. However, by far the most devastating blows to the undead came from DZ, his red-tinted iron sword needing only to cut a Zombie once while the element of fire did the rest.

Though the moon was still high in the night sky, Stan was just thinking that the siege was dying down when he suddenly felt himself lifted into the air. Though upside-down and very disoriented, he managed to glimpse an Enderman lifting him high in the air and about to smash him into the gravel street. Stan braced himself for impact when he felt a lurch, and he fell gently to the ground, his fall cushioned by the dead corpse of the Enderman. Eager to see who had killed the monster, Stan looked up just in time to see Charlie pulling his diamond pickaxe out of the back of the creature’s head, his expression dark and distant.

“Thanks, Charlie,” said Stan as Charlie helped him to his feet. “How did it go?”

“They’re all dead. The Spider Jockey, too,” said Charlie in a monotonous voice that seemed awfully out of character. Something had obviously gone wrong. Stan was just making the connection of what was out of place when Charlie muttered, “Lemon’s dead.”

It was like a dull blow to the stomach. Stan was filled with sympathy for his best friend. He knew how much joy Lemon had brought to Charlie, and he knew that Charlie would be a much different person now.

“How’ve you guys been holding up here?” Charlie asked, his voice lifting almost imperceptibly, as if he were involuntarily trying to make himself happier.

“I think we’re done,” exclaimed DZ, joining them after sticking one last Zombie. He had a small scratch on his left forearm, and he looked exhausted, but besides that he was fine. “I got the last one over here, and I’m pretty sure that Kat finished those over there.”

At that very moment, Kat’s face peeked out from around the corner of Oob’s house, but she did not look triumphant. Her face was pale and looked horrified.

“I think you guys need to see this,” she whispered, her lips barely moving.

The three players ran to see what she meant. As he was running, Stan heard Oob’s voice coming from inside his house.

“Players? Yoo-hoo! I have something to show you!”

“Not now, Oob,” muttered Stan in response as he rounded the corner of the house and saw what Kat was staring at. His gut contracted painfully at the sight.

Stan had seen many large groups of evil mobs together throughout his time in Minecraft, but never before had he seen one as large as the one now lumbering down the gravel path towards the NPC village. There must have been at least two hundred evil mobs in all. This group was not just made up of Zombies – there were Skeletons, Spiders, Creepers and Endermen, too.

“Players?”

“Not now, Oob!” barked Stan as he raised his axe. He was far too tired to fight any more, and his body was screaming at him to ignore these mobs and just go to sleep.

“But it’s very very very very very important!” came Oob’s exasperated, rushed response.

“Oob, buddy, we’re kind of busy defending your butt right now, so talk to us later, all right,” said DZ, and he did something that Stan had only seen someone do once before. DZ drew out two swords, with his red-iron sword in one hand and his unenhanced diamond sword in the other. Stan supposed that this was an advanced form of sword fighting.

“Oh, come on!” came Oob’s voice, and his face appeared in the window. “Don’t you want to see my new little brother?”

Stan suddenly snapped to attention. “Wait, what did you just say?” he asked.

“Oob, did you just say you have a new brother?” asked Charlie.

Oob’s face disappeared for a few seconds, and when he came back up he was holding up a miniature version of himself. It seemed that he did, indeed, have a new brother. “Mother and Father decided that if we are to remain in the village, we must have new members. Then they stared at each other for a few moments, a heart icon appeared above their heads, and my new brother Stull appeared!” Oob’s smile was so big that it was visible even beneath his colossal nose.

“Wait,” said Charlie, and Stan could tell that he had just realized something. “Oob … how many buildings are there in your village?”

“Including the houses belonging to those killed by evil mobs, there are thirty-one,” replied Oob.

“And, counting your new brother, Stull, how many people live in the village now?”

“I am the tenth resident of this NPC village,” answered Stull in a surprisingly deep voice for an infant.

“But that means that … if there are really ten …” said Charlie, completely ignoring the fact that his question had been answered by a newborn baby, “and thirty-one … then that means that … soon—”

Charlie was cut off by a metallic rumbling sound.

Stan, Charlie, Kat and DZ all whipped around as the figure charged down the road. The beast was enormous. It was metallic, a little taller than the players and about twice their width, and it had long, gangly arms. Vines grew all over its body, and save its gleaming red eyes its face bore a direct resemblance to a sort of grey NPC villager.

As the beast charged forwards, Stan was afraid for an instant that it was going to attack them, but it flew right past them and into the horde of mobs that had now entered the village. The thing raised its great long arms, and swung them side-to-side in rapid and crazy attack patterns, with each new swing knocking mobs apart as if they were life-sized sculptures of gelatin. The victims of this thing truly did end up liquefied under its pure physical strength.

“What is that thing?” asked Stan in awe, his mouth agape at the awesome battle taking place before him as the beast eliminated wave after wave of hostile mobs.

“It’s an Iron Golem,” replied DZ, looking at the beast with admiration. “They spawn in large villages and help defend the people against these sieges.”

“And Stull’s birth gave this village ten people, making the game officially classify it as a large one,” added Charlie as he watched the carnage.

The evil mobs were simply no match for the Iron Golem. The second they came within the range of the iron arm, they had no chance to initiate any attacks before they were crushed.

Stan suddenly remembered something, and he looked at Kat. Her face was solemn, as he had expected it to be. He remembered that she had described a metallic clanging noise that followed her after she pillaged the last NPC village she went to. That village had undoubtedly had an Iron Golem, too, placed there to defend the village from having its citizens taken advantage of. He expected her to look scared or at least a little uncomfortable, but Kat now seemed fully at ease and it appeared that she, finally, had forgiven herself.

For an hour, the four players watched in stunned silence as the Iron Golem laid waste to all evil mobs that entered the NPC village. The last mob to die was a Skeleton. Right before it could shoot, the Iron Golem delivered a roundhouse punch to its head, knocking it dead to the ground.

The Iron Golem then stood still, glancing into the horizon, ready to defend the village at all costs. It looked very impressive, silhouetted against the white square of the rising sun, a sure indication that the siege, at last, was over.

CHAPTER 23
THE TWELVE EYES OF ENDER

As the sun rose over the NPC village, Stan surveyed the village to see the effects of the siege. He was relieved to find that no villagers had been injured during the siege, but he was surprised to see that the villagers seemed truly devastated when they heard of the loss of Lemon. From what Stan understood, they had never seen a cat before Lemon, and they had had great joy in petting him.

“He was so gentle and kind,” said Oob with a frown on his face and a tear trickling down his cheek. “I am so sad that he is no longer with us.” DZ was about to comfort him when the villager started wandering again, making his consoling effort moot.

The villagers also seemed very fond of the Iron Golem, who seemed to showcase a gentler side when he was around them, and especially around the children. As the newborn Stull played a game of tag with another villager child, a girl named Sequi, the Iron Golem joined in, tagging the children with a light, harmless tap on the head, as opposed to the wild, fanatical arm swings he had used to destroy the evil mobs the previous night.

Stan, Kat and DZ were all quite contented that the village was safe, and Kat in particular was noticeably pumped up with anticipation for the Enderman hunt that was now next on their to-do list. Charlie, on the other hand, was taking the loss of his cat very hard. He spent the first day after Lemon’s death sitting on the wood blocks that made up the border of Blerge’s wheat farm, staring out into the desert sky, a pensive look on his face and an occasional tear rolling down his cheek.

As the afternoon rolled around and DZ entertained the villagers with more bad jokes, Stan and Kat caught each other’s eyes for a moment and knew that they had to talk to Charlie. They went around to the back of the house, and they sat down on either side of their friend. He raised his eyes slightly to both sides in acknowledgement of their presence, and then proceeded to look down at the sand below him.

“You doing all right, man?” asked Stan.

Charlie didn’t answer.

“What’s the matter, Charlie?” said Kat.

Charlie still didn’t answer.

“Charlie, I’m really sorry about Lemon,” said Stan, “but we’ve got to keep going. We’ve got a King to take down, remember?”

“What’s the point?” asked Charlie in a dejected voice. Stan was alarmed at how depressed he sounded. “All that’s going to happen is more people dying.” He looked up at Stan. “My cat just got killed, and I feel miserable. What’s going to happen if you get killed? Or you, Kat?” he asked turning his head the other way to face Kat.

“Charlie, there’s no other way,” said Kat, a grim expression on her face. “Believe me, if I thought there was any other way to change the way things run on this server, then I wouldn’t be with you guys right now. But sometimes war is the only option. It’s a horrible option, but it’s the only one we’ve got.”

“If we don’t take down the King, then things are going to just get worse from here. You know that, Charlie,” said Stan. “The King’s been abusing the people living here for too long, and he’s not letting up. And now, we have people, a lot of powerful people, ready to risk their lives to take him down, and we’re closer than ever to getting the supplies to do it. Are you saying you just want to give up?”

Charlie sighed before answering. “No, you’re right, and I know you’re right. It’s just …” He paused as a tear rolled down his cheek and he wiped it away. “It’s not any easier.”

Kat leaned over to Charlie and gave him a hug. Over her shoulder, Charlie glanced at Stan, and their eyes locked. Stan knew from the look in Charlie’s eyes that, as much as neither of them liked it, Charlie knew that they must carry on.

Stan became vaguely aware of another presence joining them. He looked up and saw Oob looking down at them, the Iron Golem standing just behind him.

“You are doing the right thing, Charlie,” said Oob, his face more serious than Stan had ever seen him. “And I thank you for making life better for us.”

Stan smiled. This was the reason they were doing this, he thought. The lower-level players, the NPC villagers. Wasn’t this the reason that they were ready to fight? These people weren’t able to defend themselves, and while the King capitalized on this weakness by extorting them, there would always be those willing to defend them. The Apothecary, the Nether Boys, DZ, even the Iron Golem, Stan realized, were ready to defend themselves and others if the need arose, but that didn’t mean that they were vicious monsters. Hadn’t Stan seen the Iron Golem, just this morning, playing tag with the villager children?

As if in response to his thoughts, Stan heard a metallic creaking and looked up. The Iron Golem had stepped forwards and walked right to Charlie. Charlie looked into the Golem’s red eyes, and the Golem extended its metal hand. Clasped in it was a red flower, a rose: the Golem’s gift to the heavy-hearted Charlie.

Charlie smiled and took the rose. “Thank you,” he said to the Golem, and the iron obelisk nodded its head with a metallic creak in response. Charlie stood up and looked at his friends. “Come on, guys. We’ve got some Endermen to kill.”

Glad to see that his friend was out of his stupour, Stan followed Charlie and Kat back to Oob’s house, where they found DZ already waiting and ready for hunting.

“Hey guys! You ready to kick some teleporting butt?” he asked, eliciting the first smirk anyone had seen on Charlie since the siege. DZ took notice. “Hey, Charlie, you doing better, man?”

“Yeah, I’m all right. I’ve gotta say, though, I do have an odd desire to kill some Endermen right now,” replied Charlie.

“Now that’s what I’m talking about, man! Enderman huuuuunt!” DZ sang, pumping his fist in the air and doing a little dance of excitement.

“Come on, guys. Let’s suit up and get out of here,” said Kat, pulling her armour out of Oob’s chest.

After they had put on all their armour and equipped themselves with all their weapons, the four players and dog set out into the desert, with Oob, Mella, Blerge and Stull waving goodbye from their house.

“OK guys, so here’s the plan,” said Kat. “We’ll all just look around the desert. The terrain is pretty flat out here, so we shouldn’t have much trouble finding any Endermen. When someone sees one, they call out, and everyone jumps to that player’s back to defend them. How many Ender Pearls do we have again?”

“Well,” replied DZ, scratching his head, “I had six. What about you guys?”

“I got two last night,” said Charlie.

“And I got one,” added Stan.

“Excellent!” said Kat, grinning. “We only need three more! All right, everyone, start looking!”

Stan was excited. He had not realized just how few Ender Pearls they still needed to collect. He started scanning the darkening horizon, and the sun had just ducked out of sight behind the distant hills when Stan spotted his first Enderman. It was holding a sand block, and upon realizing it was being watched, its jaw dropped, and it stared back and shook as if it were racked with spasms.

“I’ve got one!” yelled Stan, and the other three players rushed to defend his back. Sure enough, when the Enderman appeared behind Stan, it immediately found itself cut by two swords, an axe, and a pickaxe before it teleported away. It reappeared an instant later behind Kat, who spun backwards and decapitated it. She looked down at the tall, black corpse.

“Yes!” she exclaimed, as she scooped up a turquoise pearl from the Enderman’s body. “Ten down, two to go!”

And sure enough, the Enderman hunting was quick from there on out. With the desert plains providing minimum obstructions to their vision, they were easily able to locate two more Endermen very quickly and fought them by adopting the same strategy. Of the two, however, only one yielded an Ender Pearl.

“Yeah, that happens sometimes,” said DZ, seeing the look of outrage on Kat’s face as she found that the second Enderman had no pearls. “It’s no big deal. We’ll just kill another one.”

No sooner did DZ say that than Stan sensed a presence behind him. He spun around, ready to combat an incoming mob, but what he saw instead caught him totally off guard. Had he not been wearing an iron chestplate, Leonidas’s arrow would have impaled his heart. He gave a short shout of pain that alerted the others to the presence of his assailant.

They wasted no time in reacting. Kat and DZ hastily drew their bows and fired two arrows in Leonidas’s direction. He ducked one and the other caught in the wood of his bow. Charlie and Kat rushed in to engage Leonidas at close range, where they had their advantage. DZ, however, was otherwise occupied, as Geno had just burst out of the ground, diamond sword glinting in the moonlight. Stan pulled himself to his feet, watching as DZ and Geno, probably the two most powerful swordsmen he had ever seen, locked blades in ferocious combat.

Stan became aware of a sizzling behind him. He spun around and brought his axe down into the line of redstone dust on the ground, cutting off the electric charge that would have activated the TNT block that had somehow appeared directly behind him. He destroyed the TNT block in one punch, and he drew his axe to combat Becca, who was now rushing in to engage him.

Becca may have been the demolition expert of RAT1, but she certainly knew her way with a sword. Stan had had quite a bit of experience, and his prowess with the axe had doubled since he first learned the skill from Jayden in the Adorian Village. Yet Becca was able to fight him on an equal level. It was only by a lucky uppercut that his axe managed to knock Becca’s iron sword out of her hand and into the air.

Becca was not deterred. She immediately drew two fire charges, and with a quick flick of the wrist she was gone in a billow of black smoke. The force of the small fire knocked Stan backwards, and as he looked up he saw that there were also plumes of smoke where Leonidas and Geno had just stood. No sooner had he opened his mouth to ask where they had gone than an arrow came flying out of the smoke and embedded itself into Stan’s right forearm, which was unprotected by his armour.

Though there was pain shooting up and down his arm, Stan did not allow himself to look at the wound. Instead, he drew his bow and fired arrows into the smoke, dodging the ones that flew back out towards him, until he heard a grunt of pain that told him that he had hit his mark. Only then did Stan allow himself to yank the arrow out of his arm.

Stan ignored the throbbing pain, gritted his teeth and looked around. Becca was now engaging DZ in combat by sending fire at him with flint and steel, and Geno was fighting Kat. Stan did not see Charlie at all. The smoke in front of him had subsided enough for him to see the figure of Leonidas drawing another arrow.

Stan spun his axe around in midair to deflect the arrow, and he charged Leonidas. Leonidas fired two more arrows, but Stan simply knocked them aside with his weapon. Just as Stan was about to cut Leonidas’s bow in two with his axe, he caught the glint of something in Leonidas’s hand. Stan tried to change his course, but Leonidas had already thrown the potion bottle at Stan, and it burst on his forehead, dazing him and knocking him to the ground.

Stan felt dizzy, and the world spun around him. He was vaguely aware of wisps of grey smoke rising off his body, and found that he didn’t even have enough energy to lift himself up off the ground. Though he was aware that his axe was still clasped in his hand, Stan knew that whatever that potion was, it had dulled his nerves and reflexes. As he became aware of this, he also realized that Leonidas was pinning him to the ground with his foot, and he was yelling to Geno and Becca.

There was screaming, Stan was sure of it, and it was a girl. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Becca still fighting with DZ, and he knew that it must have been Kat who had fallen fighting Geno. His suspicions were confirmed when he saw Geno being pushed back by frantic attacks from both Rex and Charlie, clearly enraged at the state of Kat, whom Stan could not see. He knew, though, what he must do.

Leonidas was shooting arrows in Charlie’s direction, still standing on Stan. He therefore didn’t notice as Stan, with a great deal of focus to overcome the groggy effects of the potion, released his axe and fumbled around with his hand until his fingers clasped on his bow. Stan’s head was throbbing with the effort of moving, but he knew that this was the only way to save Kat. Feeling like his head was about to split open, Stan’s shaky hands notched an arrow in the bowstring, pulled back and fired.

The arrow shot straight upwards and into Leonidas’s tunic, through the leather into his chest. The wound was not deep, and Stan doubted that it would be fatal, but Leonidas still cried out in pain and surprise as he tumbled backwards off Stan’s chest.

The relief in weight helped Stan’s focus immensely. Immediately, the effects of the potion were only half as bad. Stan was now able to sit up. He saw Kat lying unconscious on the ground, and he noticed Geno turn for a moment and see his injured teammate. In the second of lost focus, Rex’s body slammed Geno in the stomach, knocking him backwards. He skidded across the ground, finally stopping when his head slammed into a nearby cactus. The thorns entered his head, and he lay limp and unmoving on the ground.

Stan heard a clang. He whipped his head around but regretted it as soon as he did, his head still aching from Leonidas’s potion. He watched Becca’s sword flying into the air. Wasting no time, she kicked DZ in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him, and ran. “Come on, Leo!” she cried as she sprinted off into the night.

Stan became aware that Leonidas was no longer next to him. He had gotten up and was now slinging Geno’s unconscious form over his back. He made to follow Becca, but then he stopped for a minute. He turned back to look at the players. DZ was still doubled over, and Rex was still growling in Leonidas’s direction, but Stan looked at Leonidas. There was something in his eyes, Stan suddenly realized, something that Stan couldn’t place. Was it pity? Sadness? Jealousy? Whatever it was, Stan knew it was out of place in the ruthless assassin that Leonidas was.

“Leo, run!” came Becca’s cries. DZ had gotten back to his feet now and, his face contorted in rage, had strung an arrow pointed at Leonidas. Then, with one last look at the three of them, Leonidas was gone in a burst of fire charges. DZ’s arrow flew into the fire and hit nothing but air.

In a moment, however, Stan realized that this was not true. A figure appeared from nowhere, engulfed in flames: an Enderman, DZ’s arrow sticking from its chest. Stan didn’t bother drawing a weapon. The monster was on fire, and it would die before it could reach him. Sure enough, the tall, spindly figure succumbed to death at Stan’s feet, leaving the twelfth Ender Pearl on the sand as the body evaporated.

Suddenly, Stan remembered what had happened to Kat. He ran over to her and saw that Geno’s sword had cut across her chest, just below her neck. Stan wasted no time in pulling out one of his two remaining Healing Potions and administering it to the wound. The cut instantly sealed, and Kat, though remaining asleep, gave a deep breath that Stan took to mean that she would be all right.

Stan was in deep thought as he sat on the front steps of Oob’s house. Mella and Blerge were inside the house caring for Kat, who was now lying unconscious in a bed. Charlie was in the village library, using the crafting table there to turn their Ender Pearls and Blaze Rods into the twelve Eyes of Ender that they would need to locate and enter the End. DZ, Oob, Ohsow the village butcher, Stull, Sequi and the Iron Golem were congregated around the well, talking and playing together.

Stan was aware that the next day they were to fight a great battle, and as he sat there with nothing to do but wait for the others to finish their tasks, he found it the perfect time to contemplate the thoughts that had become present in his mind over the course of their journey.

After last night, Leonidas was at the front of his mind. Stan wasn’t sure what it was, but there was definitely something off about the way that he had looked at them. He had fought Leonidas twice so far, and both times the player had initiated violence against Stan and his friends for no good reason. Stan had therefore marked him as equal in savagery to Geno, Becca, King Kev and the lot of them. Still, something about that look from the previous night made Stan feel slightly guilty about classifying him as such.

Then there was Mr A. They had thankfully not seen Mr A since their encounter in the abandoned mine shaft, but the Griefer’s self-professed motives for his hatred of Stan and his friends seemed awfully misguided. That was, assuming that anything he said was at all true, which seemed more unlikely the more Stan thought about it. What Stan had heard about Avery007 from the Apothecary was that he was a kind player, someone who stood up for the rights of those not able to do so for themselves. Stan could not imagine any scenario in which Avery might befriend a dark-hearted Griefer like Mr A.

He was definitely lying, decided Stan, and he told himself so firmly. Still, Stan believed that Mr A had fabricated the story based on a real experience. He had seemed too passionate while telling the story for it to not have some basis in fact. That being said, it was still true that Mr A’s hatred was ill advised, and Stan intended to tell him so should they ever meet again.

Stan’s thoughts eventually settled on himself. For some reason, everybody seemed to see something special in him. Crazy Steve had seen it, Sally had seen it, and Kat had seen it, too. Though he couldn’t pinpoint what it was, Stan believed that there was something, some force, some otherworldly entity, that influenced him in difficult situations. Despite the fact that he knew nothing of what that power was, how he was able to use it, or whether or not it even existed, he knew that this power of questionable reality would be put to the ultimate test in the End.

There was one more thing that Stan would definitely have liked to think about, dwell on, and consider the possibilities of. However, he refused to let himself think too heavily on it, for it might distract him in the End. No, not until he had conquered the End would he allow himself to think about Sally.

It was just as well, thought Stan as he became aware of Charlie leaving the house. His thinking time was officially over. He stood up and walked over to Charlie, meeting him in the middle of the gravel path.

“You’ve got them?” asked Stan in a whisper, though he was not sure why he spoke in this manner.

“Yeah,” replied Charlie, and he held up one of the Eyes of Ender. It was the same size and shape of the Ender Pearl from which it was crafted, but it looked like a green cat’s eye with a constricted pupil. Even as Charlie held it inactive in his hand, Stan felt a sense of electricity, as if the Eye itself was emitting energy into the air. Upon closer inspection, Stan noticed tiny wisps of purple smoke rising from the eye.

Charlie pulled the other eleven Eyes of Ender from his inventory, and he grinned. “Awesome, aren’t they? We are officially all set to go into the End.”

Stan was glad to see Charlie in such a good mood. What with Lemon’s death and Kat’s injury, their time in the NPC village had seen Charlie grimmer than Stan would have believed possible of him. Besides being worried about the state of his friend, Stan knew that Charlie would need to be confident and in high spirits for their epic foray into the End.

Stan and Charlie were still admiring the Eyes of Ender when DZ walked over to them, Oob and Ohsow in tow.

“So a horse walks into a bar, and the bartender says, ‘why the long face?’” said DZ, and the two villagers burst into hysterical fits of laughter. DZ walked over to talk to Stan and Charlie as Oob and Ohsow inquired as to what horses and bartenders were.

“So, we’ve got the Eyes, then? Excellent!” he exclaimed as his question was answered by the grins on both of their faces and the green orbs in Charlie’s hands. “So we’re going to leave tomorrow?”

“I guess so,” replied Stan, “providing that Kat is feeling up to it.”

At that exact moment, the door to Oob’s house flew open, and out of the doorway burst Kat. She wasn’t wearing any armour, and there was a leather band across her chest where Geno had cut her, but besides that, she seemed back to her normal self. She literally ran out of the house and took a flying leap, landing right next to the boys.

“Hey, Kat! You’re awfully energetic for someone who almost got herself cut open,” said Charlie with a smirk.

“Are you kidding? I feel awesome!” she said, bouncing on the balls of her feet. “Blerge and Mella made a bunch of bread, and Moganga added some stuff called glowstone dust to it, and that stuff made me feel so much better!” She turned to Stan. “I owe you a huge thanks though, Stan. Without that potion, Moganga said that I would have died.”

“Ah, it’s no big deal,” said Stan, shrugging but giving a humble grin all the same. “You would have done the same for me.”

“Very true,” replied Kat.

“So, Kat, I take it by the fact that you’re more energetic than we are that you’re gonna be able to go into the End tomorrow?” Charlie asked.

“Are you kidding? If you guys weren’t tired, I’d be willing to go right now!”

“Well, I just finished a nap earlier. I’m not tired at all,” said Charlie.

“Yeah, same here,” said DZ.

“Me, too,” said Stan, his face lighting up with excitement. “So … are you guys ready? You want to go into the End right now?”

There was no hesitation. Kat, Charlie and DZ all nodded at the same time.

“OK,” said Stan, his eyes blazing. “Let’s get ready.”

The NPC villagers were all disappointed to hear that the players were leaving the village. According to DZ, they had all become very fond of the players, and of DZ and Charlie in particular. Nonetheless, the villagers all rose magnificently to the challenge of supplying the players with the supplies that they would need to conquer the End. While the villagers were usually unwilling to give anything up unless in exchange for emeralds, which they saw as a form of currency, the villagers gave the players everything that they could.

The farmers, including Oob and his family, supplied the villagers with a generous amount of bread so that they would be well fed on their expedition. The players also received a copious restocking of arrows from the farmers, and Charlie was given flint and steel from a villager named Vella. Leol, the village blacksmith who lived in the forge, was probably the most helpful of all. He replaced Stan’s and Kat’s weapons with a diamond axe and a diamond sword, respectively. He also gave each player a diamond helmet and chestplate. Moganga helped in her own way. She took the players’ diamond gear, and after fifteen minutes, she emerged from the church with the gear glowing with enchantments of Protection for the armour and Sharpness for the swords.

In return for all these commodities, the villagers only asked for them to do anything possible to take down King Kev.

The sun was high in the sky when the four players, suited up and equipped with weapons, lined up facing the villagers. Stan looked out onto the faces of the villagers, particularly those of Stull and Sequi, who were seated on the shoulders of the Iron Golem, and of Blerge and Mella, who were holding hands as tears rolled down their cheeks. Though it would have been normal, none of the villagers were wandering.

Oob stepped forwards from the villagers and the Iron Golem. He was speaking for the entirety of the village’s population of ten.

“Brave players, we would like to thank you for the services that you have done us personally in killing the Spider Jockey that had plagued our village. We would also like to thank you for the work you are doing to make life on this server the best possible, not just for the people of our village, but for the citizens of this server as a whole. You are welcome back to our village at any time that you would like, and you will be welcomed with open arms. Goodbye, and good luck.”

The entire village simultaneously nodded in unison. Stan was more touched by this simple gesture from these simple people than he had been from anything he had seen in Minecraft so far. Even if it hadn’t been for the Adorian Village or the deaths of Blackraven and Crazy Steve and the like, he would have been very keen to defeat the King for the sole purpose of making life better for these NPCs.

Stan didn’t hear what Charlie said in response to this. He was too busy reaffirming the image of King Kev in his mind as public enemy number one for abusing these people and all other people in Elementia. As the four players gave an about-face and headed away from the village, Stan was surer than ever that there was nothing in the End that was unsurpassable if they kept in mind the image of an Elementia free of King Kev.

CHAPTER 24
WITHIN THE STRONGHOLD

The trek through the desert was long and drawn out, as Stan had expected. He knew that the Ender Desert was large, but he hadn’t realized just how expansive the biome really was. Stan had been to forests, plains and jungles since he had been in Minecraft, but this desert biome was by far the largest that he had encountered, and it all looked the same. There were small knolls of sand blocks scattered here and there, and cacti dotted the landscape, punctuated by an occasional pool of lava or water.

Stan didn’t understand how Charlie, who was navigating, didn’t get lost in the endless dune sea. He walked up to ask him about it at one point, but he didn’t need to, because he saw. Charlie had an Eye of Ender in his hand, and every so often he would toss it into the air. In a burst of purple particles, the eye would float forward a few blocks in a certain direction and then fall back into Charlie’s outstretched hand. Charlie seemed focused, so he didn’t ask, but Stan believed that the Eyes were most likely floating towards the entrance to the End.

Stan fell back next to Kat. “So do you have any ideas, at all, about the End? Like where it is or what’s in there?” he asked her.

Kat glanced at him and smirked. “Honestly, man, I have no idea where the End is. And frankly, whenever I think about what we’re actually gonna find there, I end up almost peeing my pants. Whatever it is, though, it is not gonna be easy to get to. I’m willing to put money on the fact that the King was only able to make a stash there because he was able to use his operating powers.”

“What are operating powers?” asked Stan. At Kat’s look of disbelief, he said, “Well, I’ve heard a couple of people mention them before, but I’ve never actually found out what they are.”

“Well,” said Kat, “operating powers are special powers that you get when you start a server, or you can be given them from somebody else with operating powers. Basically, if you have operating powers, you get to be totally in control. You can create and destroy any blocks you want instantly, you can shoot arrows and fireballs from your fingers, you can create explosions anywhere you want and you can fly.” Now it was Stan’s turn to make a face of disbelief. “Yeah, that’s right, fly. Really fast, too. Operating powers make you a Minecraft superhero. Also, you can let people back on the server after they’ve been banned.”

“Wait, what?” exclaimed Stan. His eyes were glowing now, and a grin was spreading over his face. “With operating powers, you can return people to the server after they’ve been killed?” Kat nodded. “Is there any way that you can get operating powers? Can you learn them somehow?”

Kat gave a short laugh, and a dark look crossed her face. “Stan, if there were any way to learn them, there would be ridiculous structures popping up all over the place, and people would be returning from the dead all the time! The point of operating powers on servers like this one is to regulate activities on the server, and to prevent Griefing. You can’t just learn them.”

Stan felt a little let down at the idea that he couldn’t become an operator through training or any type of work or practice. It would have made him practically impossible to stop when he tried to destroy the King. But this thought raised a new, alarming one in his head.

“The King doesn’t have operating powers, does he?” asked Stan quickly as he tried not to imagine what fighting someone with operating powers would be like.

Kat rolled her eyes. “Stan, haven’t you been paying attention to anything that anyone’s told us about the history of this place?”

Stan didn’t answer. Truthfully, history was his worst subject in school, and he could never remember the facts in real life, let alone in Minecraft. Kat sighed, and answered his question in a tone of exasperation.

“The King gave up his operating powers a while ago. Trust me, if he still had operating powers, we wouldn’t have gotten out of the gate of the King’s castle. The King thought that if he gave them up, then he’d be equal to everybody else, and it would make people stop wanting to revolt against him.”

“Well, that plan kind of blew up in his face,” replied Stan with a smirk. “Look at what we’re doing!”

“You say that,” said Kat grimly, “but the King’s plan did work for a decent amount of time, seeing as we’re the first who have even tried to overthrow him since he gave his powers up, unless you count what Avery did.”

“Yeah, but that’s just because most people are too scared of his forces,” retorted Stan. “I can’t have been the only one to notice that over half the people back at the castle helped us escape.”

Kat opened her mouth as if to say something, but a pensive look crossed her face and she closed it again. Instead, she reached down and scratched Rex between the ears and continued trekking onwards. Stan did notice, however, that her sword was now in the tight grasp of her right hand. Sensing that their conversation was over, Stan amused himself by watching DZ, who was practicing advanced sword-fighting techniques on a wandering sheep that was running for its life.

The sun was sinking when Stan finally spotted tall formations on the distant skyline. As the four players and Rex approached them, Stan saw the welcome sight of mountains towering up over the desert plains. The setting sun splashed a brilliant array of colours on the sky, and the natural beauty of the masses of land rising from the ground, silhouetted against the sunset, was breathtaking. The group actually stopped walking for a moment because Charlie had dropped the Eyes in his hand, transfixed by the beauty of the landscape. Kat had to literally pull Charlie away from staring into the sunset in order for the journey to continue.

Charlie found himself continuously drawn to the majesty of the mountains, from the herds of wild sheep roaming the steep slopes to the black veins of coal ore speckling the rocky cliff faces to the springs of water and lava that occasionally ran out of the sides of the mountains. Eventually, Kat took over the navigation, as Stan had to keep Charlie from getting distracted and Kat, after the episode in the desert, flat-out refused to let DZ navigate.

Kat could tell from the Eyes of Ender that they were nearing their goal. The trajectory of the Eyes thrown in the air led the group to a cave situated in the side of the cliff. As they headed down to the cave, Stan putting up torches as they went, Charlie suddenly spoke out.

“Hey, guys!”

“We get it, Charlie,” said Kat through gritted teeth as she fumbled with another Eye. “The mountainside grass is more beautiful than the grass in the forest. We get it.”

“No, not that, that! Look at those blocks there!”

Stan held a torch up at the point that Charlie had gestured to, and in the light a row of blocks stood out from the natural stone around it. These blocks appeared to be bricks, but they were grey instead of crimson.

“I don’t recognize these blocks, do you guys?” asked Charlie.

Kat shook her head, and DZ said, “Negatory, sir.”

But Stan, though initially of the same mind as Kat and DZ, suddenly remembered. “Weren’t those the same blocks that the King’s castle was made out of?” he asked.

The other three players looked confused for a second, but then it dawned on them that Stan was indeed correct. The King’s castle had been made out of these same stone bricks. Kat tossed one of the Eyes of Ender into the air. It started to float towards the stone bricks. Kat snatched the Eye out of the air and grinned.

“The way into the End is through here!” she said excitedly. “Charlie, mine through this wall!”

Charlie pocketed the book he had been holding in his hand and drew his diamond pickaxe. “I just checked the book, and it said that the Eyes of Ender would lead us to what’s called a Stronghold and that the portal to the End will be inside. This must be the outside of the Stronghold. Hey, what the—” said Charlie as he struggled with his pickaxe. He had mined one of the stone brick blocks, but the second one that he had tried to mine into now had his pickaxe wedged in it.

“It’s … not … coming … out …,” grunted Charlie as he tried to pull the pickaxe out of the block. Stan noticed that it was not wedged in the block as much as stuck to it. The block appeared to be made out of some sort of slimy, gelatinous goo that held Charlie’s pickaxe like glue.

“Oh, let me see that, you little wimp,” snapped Kat as she grabbed the handle of Charlie’s pickaxe from him. She was stronger than he was, and in an almighty tug she wrenched the pickaxe from the gooey block and started bearing down into it full force with the diamond tool.

“Why is this block so difficult to mine?” Kat asked no one in particular as she wrenched the pickaxe from the stone block again and again.

Stan watched bewildered. Right as the block was about to break, out of the corner of his eye, Stan noticed a horrified look flicker across DZ’s face. DZ cried out, “No, Kat, stop! I think that block might be—”

But it was too late. As Kat gave the stone block one last strike, it burst apart like a water balloon, dousing everyone in grey slime. But the worst part was that out of the goo sprung something small, fast and grey that latched itself onto Kat’s face. Kat screamed and wildly tried to swat the thing off her, but it was no use. The tiny monster crawled all over her body, moving too fast for Stan’s eyes to track. Nobody tried to get it off for fear that an attack on the monster would hit Kat instead. Every so often Kat would elicit a sound of anguish, indicating that the creature had bit her or stung her.

As he tried to track the monster to get a clean shot at it with his axe, Stan noticed that Kat’s hands were now swatting at various places at her back, suggesting that the monster had crawled down inside her armour. Kat’s fist pounded the back of her chestplate to no avail, as her flailing fists did nothing to penetrate the diamond exterior. However, she gave Stan an idea.

He spun his axe around and with the butt end tapped the back of Kat’s chestplate with moderate force. The diamond armour compressed into Kat’s back, knocking her forwards. Stan heard a hissing and a crunching coupled with Kat’s grunt of pain, and something small and scaly fell out of the back of her armour. It was a small grey insect that looked like some sort of odd armadillo-porcupine-worm crossbreed. The monster made Spiderlike clicking noises for a few seconds while it twitched, and then it was still.

“That was Block 97!” shouted DZ, drawing his sword. “I’ve heard stories about it. It spawns those things. Silverfish! Get ready, there’s gonna be more!”

Stan looked around, bewildered, unsure what DZ was talking about, but sure enough, all around the inside of the room they had just mined into, stone bricks ruptured into sprays of goo, and a swarm of Silverfish was on the move towards the players.

The monsters were not particularly strong in comparison to the bite of a Spider or the arrow of the Skeleton, but they were much smaller and faster, like miniature Spiders. Stan managed to kill each of them with one powerful blow of the axe, but every time one of the monsters fell, more and more Silverfish spawned from the stone brick walls.

Stan was tiring of fighting them quickly, not because of their strength but because of their overwhelming numbers. Stan was about to suggest to the three players fighting beside him that a retreat back out of the mine was in order, when the monsters started appearing in fewer and fewer numbers, and a few moments later they had stopped appearing altogether. The players were breathing heavily. The four of them plus Rex must have killed 250 Silverfish in the space of about two minutes.

Stan wiped the sweat off his brow. He pulled the tail end of a Silverfish off his axe blade and looked at DZ. “What just happened, DZ?”

DZ was breathing heavily. He appeared to have killed the most Silverfish out of everybody, judging by the pile of grey scales a block high at his feet, and he caught his breath before responding. “Those were mobs called Silverfish. They spawn when you break a block called Block 97, which is disguised as a stone-based block found in a type of structure, which I guess is a Stronghold. The annoying part is when you attack them, they’ll spawn other Silverfish from nearby Block 97s.”

DZ sighed, an amazed look coming to his face. “I didn’t know that Silverfish or Block 97 really existed. I thought they were just rumours or upcoming features or something.”

“So,” said Stan, putting two and two together. “We can’t mine any blocks in this Stronghold? The way to the End is in this fortress, and we can’t mine anything in here?”

“Correct-o,” said DZ, nodding. “We can’t mine anywhere around here or we run the risk of spawning another swarm of Silverfish, and frankly, I can’t be the only one who doesn’t want to fight those little grey parasites again.”

“So,” said Kat, her voice heavy as she realized what that meant. “We have to navigate this entire thing by foot?”

DZ nodded, and Stan threw back his head and groaned. Kat hung her head in despair. Charlie on the other hand, looked at them with amusement.

“Oh, come on, guys, don’t be like that! For all we know, the entrance to the End could be just around the corner! Don’t be such a bunch of downers. Let’s at least give it a shot. What’s the worst that can happen?”

Charlie was right about one thing: while they were navigating the Stronghold, the Silverfish continued to remain the worst thing that they had encountered. It was a fairly peaceful walk, save a few Zombies that spawned in dark corners and storage rooms. That being said, navigating the fortress without mining directly through any of the walls was possibly the most frustrating task that Stan had endured. The Eyes of Ender still pointed them towards something, apparently located deep in the heart of the Stronghold, but there were so many stairways, corridors, turns and side rooms that it was near impossible to navigate the maze. After they passed the same book-and-cobweb-filled library for the third time, Stan turned to the others, and, struggling to keep his voice level, inquired as to whether or not they had really passed the library before.

“No,” said DZ, pointing down a hallway they had just passed. “You’re thinking of the library down that way. It had the jail cell next to it, remember?”

“You’re thinking of the storage room,” said Kat. “The one that had all that cobblestone in it. The jail cell is the one with the iron bars.”

“But there were also iron bars in that hall back there next to the side corridor. Are you sure you’re not thinking of those?” asked Charlie.

“No, I’m sure that it was a full wall of iron bars,” said Kat.

“Why don’t you let me see the Eyes, and I’ll show you—” started DZ, but he was cut off by Stan.

“DZ, after all that … ahem … skillful guidance you gave us back when we first met you, don’t think that you’re getting your hands on any kind of navigational tools,” snapped Stan.

“There is a room with lava and a portal made of a strange white stone. Are you looking for that?” came a fifth voice.

The four players turned around to face the voice, and Stan couldn’t believe his eyes. Standing in the middle of the stone brick hallway, a primitive stone hoe grasped in his hands, was Oob. As the players stared at him, the NPC villager smiled and waved at them until Charlie broke the silence.

“Oob? What … what the … what are you doing here? Why aren’t you back in the village?”

“I would like to help you conquer the End dimension. I feel that I should do my part to help you defeat the one called King Kev. I have been following you, and now I am ready to help!”

“Oob!” shouted Stan, infuriated that their plans would now have to be changed to compensate for returning Oob to his village. “You can’t come with us to the End. Are you crazy? You’ll get slaughtered!”

“But I would like to help you! Come, I have found the way to enter the End!” And with that, the villager hobbled back down the hallway.

Sensing impending danger, Stan sprinted down the hallway after him. Oob entered the room at the end of the hall, which was significantly brighter than the rest of the Stronghold. Stan was only halfway down the hall, and he watched in horror as Oob was knocked back into the hallway, his head slamming into the wall, an arrow protruding from his shoulder. Stan’s mind went blank except for the thought of the villager now slumped up against the wall. Stan knelt down next to Oob, his mind going into medical overdrive as he pulled out his last Potion of Healing, vaguely aware of Charlie, Kat and DZ rushing in to engage Oob’s assailant.

The arrow had sunk deep into Oob’s shoulder, and the blow to his head had left him unconscious. Stan, adrenaline heightening his intuitions, made the on-the-spot decision to use his last Potion of Healing to cure Oob. As Stan applied the blood-red potion, the arrow popped out of Oob’s shoulder, the wound instantly resealed itself and Oob’s chest gave a peaceful rise and fall. Confident that the villager would be OK, Stan burst into the brightly lit room to deal with his attacker. What he saw made his jaw drop.

He was standing in a stone brick room with pools of lava in all four corners and windows fitted with iron bars lining the walls. In the centre of the room was a stone brick staircase. A black cage block stood at the top of the stairs, but no figure revolved within it. This spawner had been disabled. Behind this black cage sat a frame of blocks unlike anything Stan had seen before. The base of these blocks appeared to be made of lunar rock, and the top had an ornate turquoise pattern. These strange blocks were arranged in a five-by-five ring with the corner blocks missing, which formed a frame, and Stan could see that through the centre of the frame was a drop into a pit of lava.

However, the feature that drew Stan’s attention most immediately were the bodies of Charlie, Kat and DZ, all lying lifeless on the ground. Kat had a considerable-sized lump on her head, DZ had a slash across his chest and Charlie had an arrow protruding from his heel. Rex lay sprawled out, feebly whimpering, on the ground beside them. Above the four bodies stood Mr A, wearing the same diamond helmet and chestplate as Stan was wearing.

Stan stared in shock. He had believed that the Griefer had perished in the sand trap. Stan noticed movement out of the corner of his eye and saw that Mr A had pulled something from his inventory: an Ender Pearl, which had not yet been crafted into an Eye of Ender. Stan supposed that Mr A believed that Ender Pearls alone would activate the portal. In the intense wave of hatred that had erupted in his stomach since he had spotted Mr A, Stan was about to attack when Mr A threw the Ender Pearl to Stan. Not knowing exactly what would happen, Stan hopped backwards and the pearl landed at his feet.

To Stan’s horror, in a burst of purple smoke the Ender Pearl was gone, and Stan was staring at a pair of legs adorned in black trousers. Stan dared himself to look up, and he saw Mr A standing right in front of him, his arm bringing the sword down across Stan’s body.

The impact of the sword, though slightly lessened by the axe that Stan managed to reflexively raise to block the attack, sent Stan tumbling backwards. He came to a stop beneath one of the iron bar walls, and Stan barely had time to raise his axe in defence when Mr A brought the sword down onto Stan again, putting his full body weight down through the sword onto the axe handle that was now pinching Stan’s neck to the ground.

Stan began to see white-and-red flashes as the axe handle drove further and further into his neck. Determined to die in defiance, Stan focused all his remaining energy into pushing the axe off him, and then he took a frenzied swing with his axe, still blinded by the lack of air, hoping desperately that he would hit something.

Miraculously, Stan heard the clang of diamond hitting diamond, and he knew that his axe blade had struck Mr A by the grunt of pain he heard. Stan used this lucky blow to buy some time to regain his vision, and when it finally returned, he saw Mr A notching an arrow and pulling back the string. Stan ducked the arrow and, rage fuelling him, used his axe to engage Mr A’s sword in battle.

The hacking and slashing was intense. Stan’s scowl was mirrored on his adversary’s face as the two battled around the ornate portal in a dance of death. Stan was aware that he was greatly outmatched, so he was absolutely astounded when, by a lucky shot, his double-uppercut combination hit Mr A’s hand, sending the sword spiralling into the air. Before Stan could follow through, the Griefer let loose a barrage of fire charges that exploded at Stan’s feet in a short series of starbursts. Stan stepped back, away from the smoke, ready for the inevitable retaliation. Moments later Mr A’s form flew through the smoke, sword back in hand, and Stan had to jump backwards onto the stairs leading to the portal in order to avoid being cleaved in half by the sword slash that cracked the stone stairs when it hit.

Mr A pressed the attack, driving Stan up the stairs, to the very edge of the portal. Stan leaned backwards to avoid the whistling blade of the Griefer’s sword, and he found that there was no ground below him, just a pit of lava. Stan kicked off the base of the portal and landed on the other side. The battle commenced, this time with a pit of lava separating Stan and Mr A. The Griefer let loose a flurry of wild stabbing attacks with his sword. Stan was able to dodge the first few, but then one of the sword jabs caught Stan in the hand and his axe flew backwards.

Stan knew that it was useless. There was no way he could turn his back on Mr A to retrieve his weapon. Energy coursing through his veins, Stan raised his arms, ready to defend his exposed face from the barrage of arrows that would find a weakness within a few shots. The first arrow glanced off his helmet, and he felt the helmet rattle his brain, making it ache incredibly. Stan prepared himself for the next arrow that could very well kill him, when he heard a savage cry of pain, and he dared to look up.

What he saw was Oob, standing on the edge of the portal, his stone hoe moving through the air as if he had just swung it. Mr A fell headfirst into the pit, and landed with a terrible, scathing splash into the pool of lava beneath the portal, spraying Stan with a wave of fire particles that bit like wasp stings.

Stan stared at Oob and then at the pit of molten fire with the Griefer struggling to survive. Slowly, Stan made the connection that the NPC had just saved his life. At the moment, however, Stan did not thank Oob but rather looked sadly into the pit of lava containing the enemy that had plagued him from his second day in Minecraft. The turbulence in the molten liquid had stopped. There was no more struggling. Mr A was no more.

“It didn’t have to be like this, Mr A,” said Stan, sorrow deeply intertwined with his words. “We could have been friends, you know. There was nothing that could have stopped us from being on the same side, the side of right. There was just the King. The players didn’t betray your friend Avery – it was the King who did that. I only wish that I could have helped you see it sooner, before it was too late.” Stan cast one last long, sad look into the lava that was now stained with the blood of his enemy, and he turned to the NPC villager.

“Oob, thank you. I would be dead without you, and I was wrong. Wherever we go, whatever we do, you are welcome to come with us and help.”

“Amen to that,” came a voice from behind them as the villager beamed.

Stan turned around. DZ was standing up, smiling at Stan and Oob. Charlie was standing behind him, looking proud, and Kat was feeding Rex some rotten flesh she had on hand. Charlie held two empty glass bottles. It seemed that he had used his last two Potions of Healing to jointly heal himself, Kat and DZ. Relief breaking across both of their faces, Stan and Oob rushed down the stone steps and met the three players and dog in a group hug. When they broke apart, Kat looked at Stan.

“I saw what happened,” she said, looking from him to Oob and back. “You two were fantastic.”

“You really were,” said Charlie, and DZ enthusiastically nodded his consent.

“I just wish that it didn’t have to end like this,” said Stan, and he glanced back towards the portal and the pit of fire beneath it, but Kat took him by the cheek and turned him away.

“It’s OK, Stan. You did what you had to do,” she said, her eyes deep and meaningful, which calmed Stan.

“Yeah. It really sucked that you had to do it, but you did the right thing,” added Charlie.

“You’re right,” said Stan, and he looked at the ground for a moment, letting the memory of the player called Mr A leave his mind, like letting a balloon soar up to the sky. And with this his mind was clear again. When he looked up at the three players looking back at him, he knew what had to be done.

“It’s time, isn’t it,” he said. It was not a question. They all knew that the time had come.

“Let’s end this,” said Kat, nodding in Charlie’s direction.

Charlie walked up the white frame of blocks, took a deep breath, and pulled out the twelve Eyes of Ender. Each ornate portal frame block had an indent in the middle, the perfect fit for one Eye of Ender. Charlie walked around the outside ring of the portal, carefully fitting one Eye of Ender into each of the twelve blocks that made up the portal frame. When the last Eye was fitted into place, the twelve eyes glowed purple simultaneously, and for a few seconds, they did nothing but give off an eerie sound and emit copious amounts of purple particles. Then, all at once, the space within the portal showed not a drop down into a pit of lava but a dark, spectral space that seemed to go on forever, speckled with luminous dots of all colours, giving Stan the impression that he was staring into some deep, untouched realm of the cosmos.

Stan, Charlie, Kat, DZ and Oob gathered around the portal, looking into the ominous black depths. Stan looked around at his friends.

“Are we ready?” he asked.

A scan of everyone’s face showed four brave, well-equipped warriors, ready to tackle whatever the ominous End dimension had in store.

With an almighty yell of “BOOYAH!” DZ jumped off the frame and into the black portal, which swallowed him instantly. Charlie was about to jump into the portal next, but he was interrupted when Oob fell into the portal by way of his aimless wandering. Charlie followed behind him. Kat scratched Rex behind the ears. They knew from Charlie’s book that dogs could not enter the End, but they were confident that Rex would manage to find them should they re-enter the Overworld alive. And, with closed eyes and a deep breath, she too disappeared into the depths of the End portal.

Stan looked around at the room. He realized that this underground chamber of stone and lava might very well be his last view of the Overworld in Minecraft. Taking a deep breath, and with the image of a dead King Kev and a free Elementia in his head, Stan jumped off the portal frame and fell into the black void in a freefall.

CHAPTER 25
THE END

Whereas the travel through the Nether portal had felt as though he were being squeezed through a tube, Stan found that immediately after entering the End portal, he landed feet-first onto a platform of black rock that he recognized as obsidian. And while the Nether had been hot and dry, Stan felt no significant change in the atmosphere of the End other than an apparent dormant static that hung in the air.

Stan looked around and saw that his friends were looking at the room they had spawned in, which appeared to be made of a type of lunar rock similar to the base of the frame of the End portal. They were completely surrounded by it, and Stan felt his stomach drop. Were they underground? Was the task of the End to mine around until they located their goal? He voiced this question to the others, and immediately, the air of the group turned to panic.

“Hey, guys, don’t worry, all right?” said Charlie, taking his pickaxe to one of the stone blocks. “I’ll mine around a little bit. I seriously doubt that the final challenge of Minecraft would be a gigantic mining world.” Charlie angled his aim diagonally and started to tunnel upwards. The others followed him.

The further upwards they tunnelled, the more Stan’s unease grew. As Charlie’s pickaxe broke the surface and struck air, Stan couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something …

“… watching us!” cried Stan as he was charged by a pair of Endermen. He cut the first one on the side with his axe, and it teleported away, while the other one was killed instantly by a lucky shot that took off its head.

“They’re everywhere!” yelled DZ as the wounded mob reappeared behind Stan and DZ ended its life with a stab of the sword. “Look down!”

Without thinking, three players obeyed DZ’s command and stared at the moon-white ground. Stan heard DZ’s calm voice give a command.

“Oob, I need you to look around and tell us how many Endermen are out there.”

“What?” came Oob’s disgruntled voice. “Won’t the large, scary, black things kill me?”

“Don’t worry, you’re an NPC. They won’t notice you.”

“But …”

“Just do it, Oob. I swear you’ll be all right,” came DZ’s voice, a slight edge to it now.

A few moments later came Oob’s response. “They are everywhere. I see their eyes going even far off into the distance. How are we to defeat all of them?”

“Don’t worry, guys,” said DZ, as if sensing the air of panic in the group increase tenfold. “I know how we can kill them. Take these. I found them as we were going through the mountains.” Stan heard DZ fumbling, and a few moments later Stan saw a block land at his feet. It was orange, and it appeared to be some kind of plant, but it was only when Stan picked it up and saw the eerie face carved into it that he realized that it was a pumpkin.

“And what do you expect me to do with this?” came Kat’s irate voice from just to the left of Stan.

“Take off your helmet and put it on your head.”

Stan was struck by a sudden notion that his battle with Mr A may have knocked something loose inside DZ’s head. Charlie said in tones of dripping sarcasm, “Yeah, you first, DZ.”

“Gladly,” said DZ calmly, and Stan sensed that he had stood up. He barely viewed DZ standing upright and looking ridiculous with his head stuck into the bottom of the pumpkin. The carved pumpkin face was where DZ’s own face should have been.

“DZ, you look like an idiot. Where are you going with this?” hissed Kat, as if she were afraid that talking too loudly would provoke the crowds of Endermen roaming ominously among them.

Stan watched DZ walk right up to an Enderman and stare directly into its eyes. Amazingly, the Enderman didn’t begin to shake, teleport behind him, or, for that matter, acknowledge his presence at all. DZ used this to his advantage, and one stab through the chest later, the Enderman was nothing more than an Ender Pearl sitting idly on the ground.

Before any of them could voice their stunned amazement, DZ explained. “You can see out the eyeholes of the pumpkin, and even though you can’t see that great, the obstruction prevents the Endermen from being able to detect you. Seriously, they have no idea that you’re even there. You can just walk up to them and kill them.”

Stan didn’t need any more encouraging. He ripped his diamond helmet off his head and haphazardly shoved it into his inventory. He proceeded to snatch up the pumpkin and jam it awkwardly onto his head. DZ was definitely right about one thing: the pumpkin did considerably obstruct Stan’s vision, and it was only by squinting that he could make out the forms of Kat and Charlie, both adorning pumpkins themselves.

“Alrighty boys … and Kat,” said DZ, and Stan was sure from his tone that a manic grin had spread on his face beneath the pumpkin. “Let the Great Enderman Massacre begin!”

Massacre truly was the appropriate word for it, for without being able to detect the players’ lines of sight, the Endermen were powerless to stop the players from ambling right up to them and felling them one after another. Even with Oob not helping (his stone hoe was not strong enough to destroy an Enderman in one hit, and the villager certainly was not capable of beating one), all the Endermen that they could see were dead within the space of three minutes.

“Dude, that was awesome!” Charlie called out to Stan as he pulled the axe out of the monster he had just beheaded after throwing the weapon during a back flip.

“Thanks. Frankly, this was so easy, what are you to do but make up trick shots to keep things interesting?” Stan smirked and he pulled the pumpkin from his head and wiped the sweat off his brow. Though he had exerted almost no effort, it was very hot inside the pumpkin head. The others followed suit.

Now that they had their pumpkins off and no Endermen to deal with, the four players plus Oob took their first real look at the End. The entirety of the ground seemed to be made of the moon-rock-like material, and the sky was a dark static pattern that didn’t seem to move and was almost completely black. It was hard to make out the tall, looming pillars that were set against the black sky on first sight. These pillars were a wide square at the base, and extended various distances into the sky. There was a light source illuminating the top of each of the pillars, but Stan was not close enough to see what it was.

The most interesting part was that, as far as Stan could see, the End was not an infinite dimension like the Overworld or the Nether. They were on a moon-rock island, floating in space, with around ten of the tall obsidian pillars protruding from the ground into the static heavens.

Immediately, something about this setup sat wrong with Stan. He looked at the others and saw from her face that Kat had realized it, too, although DZ and Charlie hadn’t. They were still pondering their surroundings, while Oob was wandering off yet again.

“Guys, the End isn’t infinite. It’s like an island,” said Kat slowly as Stan dragged their villager friend back by the collar, Oob’s eyes still unfocused and clueless.

“Yeah, we’ve noticed,” said Charlie, shrugging. “So what? Easier work for us – fewer places to look.”

“That’s just it,” said Stan, dropping Oob and letting him fall to the ground like a sack of potatoes. “Fewer places to look. So why would the King move his stash here, when there are literally unlimited places to hide it in the Overworld or the Nether?”

“I don’t know, maybe because there are Endermen everywhere?” stated DZ with the air of someone explaining that Earth revolves around the sun.

“DZ, you four players easily defeated all the Endermen by doing nothing more than putting pumpkins on your heads. Clearly, there is something more dangerous here that will prevent us from searching for the King’s possessions,” said Oob.

“He’s right, DZ,” said Charlie, realizing that Stan, Kat and Oob must be correct. “There’s definitely something else going on here that’s going to stop us from looking for the treasure.”

“And what do you suppose that will be?” asked DZ indignantly, ruffled by Oob having made a more intelligent comment than himself.

Then they heard it. A long, piercing roar cut through the otherwise quiet End environment. It sounded like the scream of an Enderman magnified by a thousand, with elements of tyrannosaurus and elephant noises mixed in to form one ultimate, blood-curdling roar.

“What … was … that?” whispered Charlie feebly.

“Oh … my … God,” whispered Stan, as he spotted something in the sky that made his stomach implode with terror.

A pair of purple slits were present in the sky at first glance, but they grew larger, and larger, and larger, and before very long, the eyes of all four players plus Oob were locked in terror as the shape of a massive, black-and-silver winged beast with glowing purple eyes rocketed through the sky and straight towards them.

Not thinking much about it but just acting through a hidden instinct unlocked by fear, Kat, Stan and DZ simultaneously drew their bows and launched their arrows into the giant monster’s face. Stan’s and DZ’s bounced off the monster’s silver scaly forehead, but Kat’s arrow sunk straight into the monster’s left eye. Right as the monster was about to barrel into them, it gave a roar and thrashed its head in agony before changing course to fly back up into the black sky.

It was then that Stan got his first full look at the monster. What he saw was absolutely horrifying. They had just shot arrows into a gigantic, black dragon. Its mighty wings were flapping through the air, creating rushes of wind like a jet plane, and a silver-armour exoskeleton ran the length of its body, creating a web of protection extending over its almost-equally-tough-looking black hide.

Stan watched in wonder and foreboding as the wounded dragon circled the black obsidian pillars. Glowing orbs of white energy flew from atop the pillar and onto the dragon’s face. The dragon roared again and flew on, and a moment later, Kat’s arrow fell to the ground beside the players, having popped out of the dragon’s eye.

“Guys, I think whatever’s up there is healing him!” exclaimed DZ, his sword drawn and his eyes intensely focused on the dragon.

“Then we’ve got to destroy it,” said Stan, already formulating a plan in his mind.

“OK, here’s what we do,” said Kat, her brow knitted in determination. “Stan, DZ, you go destroy whatever’s on top of that pillar. Charlie, Oob, you two distract the dragon, and don’t let it notice Stan and DZ. I don’t think the dragon will like us destroying whatever it is up there.”

“What about you?” Stan asked.

“I have a feeling that we’re gonna be seeing some more Endermen soon,” said Kat firmly, already pulling the pumpkin back into place on her head. “I’ll take care of them. Now go!” she screeched, for she had just noticed the dragon speeding towards them for another attack. Charlie drew his pickaxe and Oob his hoe, and the two weapons plus Kat’s sword simultaneously cut into the dragon’s snout, sending it away for the time being.

“DZ! Start grabbing Ender Pearls!” cried Stan, picking up the orbs from the sea of Enderman corpses they had left in their wake.

“What? Why would we do that?” asked DZ incredulously.

“When I was fighting Mr A, he threw one of these things at me and appeared right next to me with purple smoke all around him,” said Stan, snatching a group of three from the ground. “I think that you can use these things to teleport! Watch this!”

Before DZ could interject, Stan had hummed the Ender Pearl with all his might into the sky, aiming for the top of the black obsidian pillar closest to him. His aim was spot on, and the pearl flew towards the top of the pillar. Stan closed his eyes, and moments later he felt a surge of pain in his knees that caused him to stumble, a sure indicator that something had happened. Once he had regained his footing, Stan opened his eyes.

His plan had worked. Stan was now standing atop one of the looming obsidian pillars. In the centre stood a cubic crystal rotating slowly within a pillar of fire erupting from a block of bedrock. The crystal flashed shades of light blue and pink, and on each side, strange red symbols flashed.

“Stan! Where are you?” came DZ’s anxious cry from dozens of blocks below him. Stan looked down and saw DZ looking desperately around. He could also see the dragon flying away from Charlie and Oob, indicating that they had scored a hit, and Kat sneaking up behind an Enderman.

“I’m up here!” called Stan. He saw DZ look towards his voice and their eyes locked. “The plan worked! There’s some sort of psychic crystal thingy up here. I’m pretty sure that’s what’s healing the dragon!”

“That’s great, Stan! Quick, figure out how to destroy the thing!” came DZ’s seemingly quiet yell across the landscape and up to Stan.

Stan decided to go for the most obvious method of destroying it first. He backed up to the very edge of the pillar, wanting to be as far away from the crystal as possible when he tried his method. He notched an arrow and sent it directly into the centre of the crystal. There was a superheated flash that made Stan’s vision go white for a minute, but when it cleared he saw that the only thing left of the crystal was a block of bedrock that was set on fire.

“Just shoot the crystals, DZ!” Stan called down to his friend. “That makes them blow up!”

“I’ll tell you what, Stan!” came DZ’s voice from down below. “You destroy the crystals by teleporting around up there, and I’ll shoot them down from down here!”

“Sounds like a plan!” Stan yelled back. He looked around and saw that, indeed, each of the pillars did seem to have a crystal rotating on top of it. He knew that they would not be able to properly fight the dragon until all those crystals were destroyed. As scared as he was, he had to give credit to the King. This truly was the ideal hiding place for anything valuable.

Stan saw DZ taking aim at the obelisk immediately to the left of him, so Stan turned to the right and drew another Ender Pearl from his inventory. He threw it with all his might, and once again he squeezed his eyes shut. Within a few seconds, there was considerable pain in his leg again. When he opened his eyes, he was standing on a different pillar, with yet another crystal ominously revolving before him. And again, with one arrow, the crystal exploded in a burst of fire.

Relieved, Stan gave a quick glance to his left just in time to see DZ’s crystal explode, having been struck in the centre by a land-to-air arrow. However, out of the corner of his eye, Stan saw something that made his stomach drop out: a flash of purple light, followed by the sound of the rush of beating wings. Stan barely had enough time to whip around and pull out his axe to drive it between the dragon’s eyes. The axe only left a slight dent in the dragon’s hide, which was quickly repaired by the nearest remaining crystal. Nonetheless, it had the desired effect, and the dragon changed its trajectory and fled.

“Sorry, Stan!” came Charlie’s yell from back down on the ground. “It flew away from us and came at you. I tried to shoot it but I missed.”

“Well, aim better next time!” snapped Stan irritably. They were in the middle of an extremely dangerous fight, and there was no way that he could afford to fight a dragon on these pillars. One head butt and the dragon would knock him down to his death.

Stan busied himself again with destroying the crystals. He saw DZ blow up another of the crystals, so he teleported to the next pillar over, destroying this crystal with another arrow. With DZ shooting from the ground and Stan using his teleport-and-shoot strategy to great effect, it wasn’t long before Stan sank one last arrow into the solitary remaining crystal. The accompanying explosion marked the end of the dragon’s healing capabilities.

When DZ saw the last burst of fire come from the last obsidian obelisk, he let out a yell of wild excitement. For now, the dragon would be possible to fight. Moments later, Stan appeared next to DZ in a burst of purple smoke.

“That’s the last of ’em,” said Stan with a sigh.

“Awesome,” replied DZ. “How’d those Ender Pearls work out for you?”

“Great,” answered Stan. “My knees are killing me, but other than that I’m great. Wanna go kill a dragon now?”

“Let’s do this!” cried DZ, and their sense of excitement building, they ran to join Oob and Charlie.

“Hey guys!” exclaimed Charlie as he drew back his pickaxe after striking the now-fleeing dragon. “Are the crystals all gone?”

“Yep, Stan just destroyed the last one,” said DZ. “Have you guys figured out anything about how the dragon attacks?”

“Well, from what I’ve seen, the only thing that the dragon does is just keep flying towards us and trying to head-butt us, but if we keep on hitting it in the face when it gets close enough, we should manage to kill it pretty quickly.”

“Really?” asked Stan, raising an eyebrow. “That’s all you guys have been doing? Just hitting it when it gets near you? And that’s been hurting it?”

“Yes,” replied Oob. “There has been a surprising lack of difficulty in fighting the dragon. The dragon has not come close to hurting either of us using its current attack pattern.”

“Well,” said Stan, looking around, “I guess the difficulty of this place isn’t supposed to be fighting the dragon itself, but destroying the crystals, fighting the dragon, and avoiding the Endermen all at the same time.”

“Yeah,” said DZ, nodding. “That sounds right. I guess we were right to come here as a team. The King seems to have picked this place as a good defence against just one or two people, not five.”

“And I gotta say,” added Charlie as he looked around. “Kat’s been doing a really good job fighting off the Endermen. I haven’t seen any since we first – Oh my God!”

Stan looked at what had made Charlie scream, and his jaw dropped. For he had been looking at Kat as she pulled her sword out of the back of an Enderman she had just killed, completely oblivious to the dragon as it set its sights on her, swooping down upon her. It never got there, though, for just as Kat sensed the impending force about to slam into her, she spun around in time to see Charlie hurl himself in front of the dragon.

Charlie’s pickaxe came down a little too late. Kat didn’t see where it hit, but the dragon thrashed around in agony, its front left claw wildly cutting a dent through the centre of Charlie’s chestplate. As the dragon flew up into the black sky, Charlie tumbled across the white ground for a few blocks. Kat’s confusion and fear of the dragon condensed into an immediate desire to help her friend, now lying lifeless near the base of the nearby obsidian pillar.

Kat’s heart pounded in her chest as she ran over and knelt down to examine Charlie. She rolled him over and to her immense relief, discovered that he was not dead, though his face was contorted in intense pain.

“Charlie! Thank God. Are you OK?” asked Kat as she pulled off his chestplate to examine his wound.

“Don’t worry, I’m fine,” grunted Charlie, wincing as the removal of the chestplate revealed a slash through his shirt and across his chest and stomach. “It’s not deep,” he added, seeing the sceptical look on Kat’s face. “I’ll be fine. Have you seen my pickaxe, though?”

“Hey, DZ, what’s that on the dragon’s face?” asked Stan, as he noticed something glinting on the dragon’s snout. He was determined not to let the dragon find its way over to Kat and Charlie or to Oob, who was off wandering. Stan stood with his axe at the ready as the dragon swooped in for another attack.

It didn’t matter that DZ had not responded. The dragon came into close range, and Stan had to bite his lip to keep from laughing. Charlie’s pickaxe was still attached to the dragon’s face, lodged deeply into its right nostril. It looked ridiculous, but Stan still waited to bring his axe down into the dragon’s nose before he let the laugh out.

“Oh, God, that’s great. That is priceless, don’t you think, DZ?” Stan got out between laughs, but when he looked to DZ for a response, what he saw made him immediately forget about how the dragon looked. DZ’s arm traced an arc through the air, a clear testament to the perfect trajectory of the Ender Pearl he had just thrown directly at the dragon.

“What are you doing?” shouted Stan. DZ turned around and looked Stan in the eye.

“Ending this,” DZ replied simply before disappearing in a burst of purple smoke.

Stan looked around, bewildered, finally realizing that DZ must have landed on the actual dragon by the way the dragon was now thrashing around in midair. Now sure beyond a doubt that something had been knocked loose in DZ’s head, it was all Stan could do to watch the scene in horrific anticipation. He didn’t risk sending an arrow up at the dragon for fear that he might hit DZ. Stan looked over at the others and saw that Kat and Charlie were now apprehensively transfixed by the dragon, too. Even Oob had stopped wandering to watch the spectacle unfolding in the air.

Stan thought he could see the unclear form of a figure moving up and down in a rhythmic pattern, and the dragon was thrashing its head side-to-side, spitting in agony. Stan realized that DZ was straddling the dragon’s long neck, driving his sword again and again into the thick black hide. Stan then watched in disbelief as the figure atop the dragon ran along its neck and leaped off its head and into the air, spun around, and fired an arrow directly into the dragon’s face. The dragon froze in midair, and Stan noticed an Ender Pearl fall down to the ground next to him, followed in a burst of purple smoke by DZ.

Stan’s mouth opened to say one of ten thousand things on his mind to DZ, but DZ simply put his hand to Stan’s mouth, gestured to the sky, and said, “Just watch.”

And there was something to watch indeed. Rays of white light seemed to be breaking through the black hide of the dragon’s skin like sunrays through morning mist. The dragon seemed to be in suspended animation as it rose higher and higher in the sky, more and more rays of light breaking through the skin until, finally, the dragon exploded in a rapid series of bright starbursts. When the smoke cleared, the sky was a peaceful black once more, and the dragon had ceased to exist.

Kat, Charlie and Oob had all walked over to DZ by now. Their eyes simultaneously shifted from the place the dragon had been to DZ. All four of them were staring at DZ as if he was some king of the gods, descended from above with the sole purpose of ridding the world of the dragon.

“That,” Kat got out after nearly a full minute of stunned silence, “was literally the single most impressive thing I have ever seen in my life.”

“Very good job, DZ,” Oob added kindly.

“Yeah, no words to describe how awesome that was,” agreed Charlie, while Stan still stood there stunned.

“Thanks, guys,” said DZ, brushing himself off and projecting an air of humility suggesting that what he had just done was about as common and unimpressive as killing a single Zombie. “By the way, I grabbed this for you, Charlie.” DZ pulled an item from his inventory and handed it to him.

“My pickaxe!” exclaimed Charlie as he took his weapon back from DZ. Then he took a closer look, and he shoved the pickaxe away from his body. “Oh God! What is that purple … slimy … stuff on the end?”

“Oh, that,” replied DZ. He looked a little sheepish as Charlie examined the noxious purple slime now coating the diamond ends of the pickaxe. “I … uh … kinda mighta snatched it out of … you know … the dragon’s nose …”

There was a moment of silence as they all examined the slime-covered pickaxe. Then, they all burst out laughing. Perhaps the relief of finally defeating the dragon had gone to their heads and made them see the slimy weapon as more amusing than it really was. Perhaps it was that they had all just simultaneously realized that the inevitable next step on their journey was to confront the King. For whatever reason, though, the players laughed for minutes on end, only stopping when DZ sensed a presence behind him and was forced to spin around and decapitate the Enderman lurking there.

The mob seemed to snap the players back to their senses. Charlie looked at the others.

“OK, so now we’ve got to find the King’s treasure,” he said, wiping his pickaxe on his pant leg, cleaning it of snot. “Everybody spread out and look for anything that seems indicative of a hiding spot. If you find anything, call me over, and I’ll mine it out.”

The group spread out in a web, scanning every block of the moon-rock surface of the island that was the End. They took care to not raise their eyes from the ground, the better to not provoke any Endermen. It was quite hard to look around this way, and so it was not altogether surprising that Oob was the first one to call out.

“Charlie! I think that I may have discovered something!” Within minutes, all four of the players had gathered around a small indent in the ground around the base of one of the obsidian pillars. Charlie took this inconsistency in the otherwise very flat ground to be a clue, and he started mining the area out. As he did, Stan noticed that he seemed to be swinging the diamond tool with a decided effort, and more than once Stan noticed Charlie’s hand rush to his stomach for an instant. Charlie might have dismissed the injury the dragon had given him as trivial, but Stan knew that they would be better off hurrying to get Charlie out of the End.

It was about ten blocks underground that Charlie’s pickaxe finally broke through a block behind which light shone through. He enlarged the hole enough so that the players could climb through, and they all looked around in awe. The room was medium in size, lit with torches, and there were chests around all the corners. Each player ran to a different chest and threw it open. Stan was seized with elation when he saw that his was full of golden apples and various potions. He looked around and saw that Charlie was pulling sets of enchanted diamond armour out of the chest he had opened, while Kat was pulling out Fire Charges and dozens of blocks of inactive TNT. DZ’s arms were spilling over with hundreds of uncrafted diamonds.

The more chests they opened, the more valuable materials appeared. Stan was beside himself. The King’s secret stash had surpassed even his wildest expectations. He was sure beyond any measure of doubt that, provided that the Apothecary had indeed secured the manpower in the Adorian Village, they would have more than enough materials to launch a full-scale invasion of the King’s castle.

As he thought this, Stan remembered what the Apothecary had told him to do when he found the secret stash. For the first time in the weeks since he had received it from the Apothecary, Stan pulled the Ender Chest out of his inventory and set it on the ground. Immediately, the Eye of Ender that acted as a lock on the chest glowed purple, and particles of smoke began to rise off the chest. With trembling hands, Stan grasped the black lid of the chest and swung it open. What he saw made him gasp.

Inside the chest was a purple mist, swirling about in the chest’s centre like a vapour. Through the mist, Stan saw the smiling face of the Apothecary looking back at him. Stan was seized with an immense joy to see that his friend was still alive and well.

“Stan!” cried the Apothecary. “It’s so good to see you!”

“Likewise,” replied Stan, who didn’t think that he could have stopped grinning if he had tried. “You would not believe what we’ve been through in the past few weeks.”

“I’m sure I wouldn’t,” replied the Apothecary with a wise smile. “I’m assuming that, because you’ve activated the chest, you’ve found the King’s secret stash?”

“Yes, we have!” replied Stan, picking up a glowing diamond sword that Charlie had thrown on the ground while looting the chest. “Although,” Stan added, thrilled to see that the Apothecary had given a hearty laugh of joy, “the King’s secret stash actually wasn’t under the Ender Desert. Believe it or not, we’re in the End right now!”

The old player’s eyes widened. He looked shocked. “The End? The End dimension? What is it doing there?”

Stan gave the Apothecary the brief summary of what they had found in Avery’s underground base, not omitting all the encounters they'd had with Mr A over the past weeks. The Apothecary seemed quite upset that the Griefer was now dead.

“Well, I’m very sorry to hear that,” replied the Apothecary, looking downcast. “I always find it a shame when one player has to kill another. Mind you, I believe that you did what you had to do. He would have killed you had you not done the same to him, but he seemed like a very confused individual whose death was needless.”

“I agree,” replied Stan, who honestly concurred with everything his old friend had just said. “But at least it’s over now.”

“Yes, that is a relief. Though, I still can’t believe that you wound up in the End,” said the Apothecary, putting his hand to his forehead and shaking his head. “I was wondering what was taking you so long to respond. I was hoping that you hadn’t been captured or killed.”

“Well, we’re all right here, don’t worry. The only one who needs medical attention is Charlie. He got scratched by the dragon, but it’s not bad, and—”

“Excuse me, did you say dragon? The Ender Dragon? I thought that was just a myth!”

“Tell that to the slash across my chest,” replied Charlie, who had just come over next to Stan and was holding his wound with a weak grin.

“Here, take this,” said the Apothecary, and he proceeded to pluck a blood-red potion off his sash. To Stan’s amazement, the Apothecary reached into the mist and placed the potion into it, where it floated as if a message in a bottle lost at sea.

“Go on, take it!” exclaimed the Apothecary. Tentatively, Stan reached into the swirling purple mist and found to his surprise that the potion was quite tangible. Stan grabbed the potion out of the chest and held it up to the torchlight, as if to check that it truly was real. When he realized that it was, he wasted no time applying the potion to the wound on Charlie’s chest, which instantly resealed itself.

“If you put something in an Ender Chest, you can then access it from any other Ender Chest on the server,” explained the Apothecary. “That’s why I gave one to you. Now that you’ve found the stash, I want you to put all the loot into the chest, and I’ll take it out and store it here in the village, where we can use it for the war effort.”

“Sounds good,” replied Kat, for she, DZ and Oob were all listening by that point, too. The four players wasted no time in unloading all the valuable materials contained in all the chests into the single black Ender Chest. Just as quickly, the Apothecary took the items out of the swirling mists and handed them off to places that Stan couldn’t see. He assumed that they were being handed to people who would put the items in safe chests in the village.

“OK, that’s the last of it,” said Stan as he placed the last item, a stray Potion of Swiftness, into the chest, and the Apothecary took it out.

“OK, so, Apothecary, here’s my next question: do you have any idea how to get out of the End?” asked Charlie.

“You mean you don’t know?” hissed Stan to Charlie in disbelief as the Apothecary responded.

“I don’t know. Are you telling me that you went in there without any knowledge of how to get out?” he asked.

“It would appear so,” said Stan, barely able to contain his rage. He was about to lash out at Charlie when Kat interrupted him.

“The book, guys, remember?” she said with an exasperated sigh.

“Oh yeah,” replied Charlie, blushing as he pulled out the book about the Nether and the End. “Apparently … ah yes, here it is, apparently since we’ve defeated the Ender Dragon, a portal back to the Overworld will have appeared, and when we go through it we’ll go through a process called ‘Enlightenment,’ whatever that means, and then we’ll reappear back at Spawnpoint Hill.”

“What’s Enlightenment?” asked Kat. “I am so done with tasks right now … I just want to get back to the Village and plan to take down King Kev. I’m sick of tasks!”

“Don’t worry. It says here that we don’t have to do anything but just listen while we sit there and are teleported back to the spawn point,” Charlie read.

“OK then, I’ll see you at the Village,” replied the Apothecary, and with one last wave, he closed his Ender Chest so that the purple mist now hung in empty black space.

The players climbed out of the King’s stash room and saw that, indeed, a portal back to the Overworld had appeared in front of them. It appeared to be a fountain made out of Bedrock, with four torches illuminating some sort of black egg atop a pillar at the centre. Wanting desperately to be back in the Overworld, however, the four players rushed up to the portal and one by one, DZ, Oob, Kat, Charlie and Stan all jumped without hesitation into the black portal that would take them first through the Enlightenment, but then, thankfully, back home.

ENLIGHTENMENT

I see the player you mean.

Stan2012?

Yes. Take care. It has reached a higher level now. It can read our thoughts.

That doesn’t matter.

It thinks we are part of the game.

I like this player. It played well. It did not give up …

This player dreamed of sunlight and trees, of fire and water. It dreamed that it created. And it dreamed that it destroyed. It dreamed that it hunted, and was hunted. It dreamed of shelter.

Ha, the original interface.

A million years old, and it still works.

But what true structure did this player create,

in the reality behind the screen?

It worked, with a million others, to sculpt a true world in a fold of the and created a for in the .

It cannot read that thought.

No. It has not yet achieved the highest level. That, it must achieve in the long dream of life, not the short dream of a game.

Take a breath, now. Take another.

Feel air in your lungs. Let your limbs return.

Yes, move your fingers. Have a body again, under gravity,

in air. Respawn in the long dream. There you are.

Your body touching the universe again at every point,

as though you were separate things.

As though we were separate things.

Who are we? Once we were called the spirit of the mountain. Father sun, mother moon. Ancestral spirits, animal spirits. Jinn. Ghosts. The green man. Then gods, demons. Angels. Poltergeists. Aliens, extraterrestrials. Leptons, quarks. The words change. We do not change …

Sometimes the player thought itself human, on the thin crust of a spinning globe of molten rock. The ball of molten rock circled a ball of blazing gas that was three hundred and thirty thousand times more massive than it. They were so far apart that light took eight minutes to cross the gap. The light was information from a star, and it could burn your skin from one hundred and fifty million kilometres away.

Sometimes the player dreamed it was a miner, on the surface of a world that was flat and infinite. The sun was a square of white. The days were short; there was much to do; and death was a temporary inconvenience …

And sometimes the player believed the universe had spoken to it through the sunlight that came through the shuffling leaves of the summer trees …

and the universe said I love you

and the universe said you have played the game well

and the universe said everything you need is within you

and the universe said you are stronger than you know

and the universe said you are the daylight

and the universe said you are the night

and the universe said the darkness you fight is within you

and the universe said the light you seek is within you

and the universe said you are not alone

and the universe said you are not separate from every other thing

and the universe said you are the universe tasting itself,

talking to itself, reading its own code

and the universe said I love you because you are love.

And the game was over and the player woke up from the dream. And the player began a new dream. And the player dreamed again, and dreamed better. And the player was the universe. And the player was love.

You are the player.

Wake up.

CHAPTER 26
THE SPEECH

And Stan did wake up. He found himself standing on the warm, familiar ground of Spawnpoint Hill as gently as his entry into the End had been. He was in a stupor, filled with awe at what the Enlightenment had turned out to be. Perhaps this was what had made him oblivious to the blunt spikes that were attempting to penetrate his diamond armour.

“Get down!” screamed Kat, snapping Stan out of his pensive state, and Stan realized with horror that they were under heavy fire from arrows. He fell to the ground, and he looked up wildly and saw four dispensers surrounding him, firing arrows from all sides. Stan’s eyes went from the dispensers to the trails of glowing red dust leading to them, and he realized with a start that he and his four friends were lying atop a stone pressure plate.

Quick as a whip, Charlie drove his pickaxe into the smooth stone plate, which shattered into chunks. Instantly, the bursts of arrows from the machine subsided. The players and Oob awkwardly stood up in the limited space between the arrow dispensers. As they worked their way out of the centre of the small maze of machines, Stan realized the purpose behind the arrow machines and was revolted. The machine had been put there by the King to instantly kill anything that appeared there! Had the players not been wearing diamond armour, they would have been murdered on the spot.

After Charlie had torn down the arrow machine with his pickaxe, the five of them quickly congregated. Stan wasn’t really focused on the others, though. He took the opportunity to look around Spawnpoint Hill, which he was standing on for the first time since he had joined the game.

Stan shook his head in incredulity. The serene hill was not changed in the least from the scene that had been Stan’s first impression of Minecraft. Actually, that wasn’t right, Stan thought as his eyes drifted over to the section of bare dirt blocks where the dispensers had stood minutes before and which had not yet been re-covered with grass. These dispensers demonstrated the change that had taken place within Elementia much more than any large structure ever could. Stan’s first moments in Minecraft had been met with the warm, comforting light of torches to ward off the mobs and a chest of food, a tool of defence, and a guide on how to play. Any players that had entered Elementia since then had seen nothing except arrows to the cranium.

Now that they were but a stone’s throw from launching their attack on the King, Stan took a moment to think about it. He realized that what had once seemed like a crazy, whimsical desire had manifested itself within his very being and had evolved into a crazy, consuming obsession. Stan wanted the King dead, and for the first time, a new realization crashed over him as he stared at that simple uncovered dirt: he wanted to do it himself.

Stan wanted to be the one to personally smite the King with a sword, bury an axe into him, end his life with an arrow. By whatever manner the King was destined to die, Stan wanted the blood to stain his hands. Stan’s time in Elementia so far had been pockmarked by so much death, destruction and misery that Stan wanted nothing more than to be the one to end the person responsible, no matter what the cost.

The odd thing was, even though Stan wanted to kill the King with every fibre of his being, he somehow knew that even if he did not seek the confrontation, it would inevitably happen anyway. Stan couldn’t tell how he knew this. Maybe it was the higher power of dubious existence contacting him again, but Stan knew that, like it or not, he and King Kev were going to lock sword and axe on the battlefield, and only one of them was leaving that confrontation alive.

Stan was so deep in his thoughts that he hadn’t even realized that they had started walking back down the road, still shaded by trees in the same manner as on that first day. He smiled as he recalled in fond retrospect how he and Charlie had panicked and barely managed to keep a lumbering Zombie at bay that first day. And now look at us, thought Stan, and his smile widened as he looked at the diamond-clad and heavily armed Charlie and glanced down at himself and the similarly adorned players travelling alongside him.

Stan found that first Zombie they had encountered, and the way they had handled it, much more amusing than he thought that he ought to. Perhaps it was just how far they had come and gone in such a short time. Perhaps it was nerves that were showing themselves in short bursts. In any case, when Stan noticed a Zombie out in the woods give him a sideways glance, he walked over to it, and as it neared him in the slow manner that Zombies do, he made a point of killing the Zombie with a succession of swift punches to the rotten face, his axe sitting idly in his inventory.

At the fifteenth punch, the Zombie’s head snapped to the side, and as Stan picked up the rotten flesh, he became aware that everybody was staring at him (except for Oob, who had managed to wander into a nearby small lake and was looking about as if wondering how he had gotten there). Stan just smiled up at them and tossed the rotten flesh into the air, where it was snagged by Rex before it hit the ground. Stan hadn’t noticed exactly when the dog had reappeared, but he was so far past questioning it.

“Ah, nostalgia,” he said with a chuckle as Rex chewed the rotten flesh hungrily, shooting Stan a fond look. “Remember that first day, Charlie? The Zombie, the shelter, the Spiders?”

A reminiscing look came over Charlie’s features. “Yeah. It was a simpler time,” he said longingly. “It’s weird to be back, isn’t it?”

Stan nodded. “It’s like visiting your old primary school twenty years later.”

Charlie gave a casual “Yep” of agreement, and the four players continued walking the path, with Oob following slowly behind him. They passed an old dirt-and-wood shelter with no top that Stan realized was the same one he and Charlie had built on their first night. They inspected it and found a wooden pressure plate inside, which Stan assumed led to some sort of booby trap. Stan was about to split the wooden pressure plate with his axe, but in his haste he accidentally stepped on it, and he heard a faint click.

His brain registered what was about to happen seconds before it did. “Hit the dirt!” Stan bellowed as he jumped away from the decrepit shack, and the others barely had time to follow before the TNT below the fortress ignited, creating a crater the width of the road where the shelter had just stood.

Stan pulled himself up and looked into the smoldering remains with disgust. What sort of sadistic monster would rig this basic shelter with explosives on the chance that a new player would come back and seek refuge within its humble walls? It made Stan’s insides churn to think that King Kev and his followers had actually sunk to the level of killing innocent new players.

Stan looked at the ground as the group continued walking, picturing over and over in his head the image of his arrow penetrating King Kev’s forehead or his axe burying itself in the King’s chest. It was only when he noticed that the group had stopped walking, and that they had taken on a pronounced silence, that Stan looked up. He wished that he hadn’t.

The Adorian Village was in complete and total ruin. This village that had embraced the travel-weary Stan, Kat and Charlie just weeks earlier was now nothing more than a ghost town, with only the most basic of cobblestone-block house frames having survived the fire. As the group walked down the main street, their faces simultaneously took on expressions of horror. Even Oob, who had never been to the village before, sensed the magnitude of the complete and total razing of the village that had taken place. The only structure in the village that was still in the least bit recognizable was the brick Town Hall where they had first met Adoria. Even that had had significant chunks of it blown apart by TNT explosions.

The feelings of disgust, horror and consuming fury that had racked Stan’s body the last time he had seen this village came back in full force, and Stan felt himself about to vomit again. Before anything could come, however, an arrow whizzed past Stan’s left shoulder and Stan heard a clang of flint on diamond followed by DZ’s “Oof!” of pain. Stan’s eyes found a pickaxe flying past his other shoulder, and when he turned back, an assailant in full diamond armour was upon him. Before he could react, Stan felt the dull blow of a bow slamming him across the forehead.

Stunned by the blow to the head, Stan looked wildly around and saw two forms in full diamond battle armour, moving too fast for Stan to recognize. Through the blunt pain in his forehead, Stan saw a figure struggling with Kat over a diamond pickaxe, which ended when the figure punched Kat in the face. The figure grabbed the tool back from her and then slammed her over the head with it, knocking her to the ground. Stan also saw DZ engaged in a sniper battle with what appeared to be a Skeleton in full diamond battle armour.

Stan was unsure of whether or not he was hallucinating, but his brain tried to focus on the fact that for one, Skeletons didn’t wear armour, and for two, they weren’t that fast. Stan stole a glance at the other assailant and saw a glint of yellow in between the light blue of the helmet and the chestplate, and the truth dawned on him in a rush.

“Archie, G, stop attacking! It’s us!” he hollered.

There was a moment of silence as the two figures, both of whom had gained the upper hand in their respective fights, looked at Stan, contemplating him. The Skeleton pulled off his helmet to reveal a mop of wild red hair, while the other pulled off his to expose a golden figure identical to Stan.

“Stan?” asked Archie, not daring to believe it. “Is that … is that really you?”

“Yeah, or at least I think I’m Stan. That blow to the head shook me pretty good,” Stan muttered, his head still shrouded in fog.

“Oh my God! I’m so sorry!” cried Archie as he rushed over to Stan and handed him a blood-red Potion of Healing, which Stan gratefully downed in a single swallow. Instantly his head cleared up, and he took Archie’s outstretched hand to pull himself up.

Kat and Charlie were both on the ground. Stan hadn’t realized up to that point just how skilled Archie and G were in player-to-player combat. Charlie was being treated for the arrow wedged in a chink in his armour by a figure in a scarlet jumpsuit whose blond hair distinguished him as Bob, the archer of the Nether Boys.

G was on his knees, cradling Kat’s head in his arms. He poured half his potion on the pickaxe wound on her forehead, and the other half went into her mouth. Kat’s eyes fluttered, and when they fully opened and she saw who was holding her, she gave an exclamation of joy and embraced G. They stayed in each other’s arms for half a minute until they realized everybody else was staring at them, which left them feeling slightly awkward.

The feeling didn’t last, though. As soon as everyone was back on their feet, the greetings started.

“Hey, Stan! How’re ya doin’, buddy?” asked G as he high-fived Stan.

“Not bad, not bad. Killed a Griefer, slayed a dragon, found some diamonds … good times, good times,” Stan responded with a grin.

“Sounds like it,” said Archie. “The Apothecary told us all about what you guys did. Sounds like one crazy vacation.”

“Well, we did go all over the place, if that’s what you mean,” said Charlie with a chuckle. “So, how many people do you guys have organized?”

“Well,” said G, scratching his head, “the Apothecary came to us soon after you guys left. He said that you were organizing a rebellion against the King and that he wanted to help. Well, seeing as the King had just burned down our village, killed our leader, and slaughtered half the people here, we didn’t have to think too hard about believing him.”

“We headed straight back here after you helped us out of the Nether, Stan,” said Bob, who had just helped Oob out of the chimney he had hidden in during the ambush. “Bill, Ben and I joined up with the militia. Then, a whole gaggle of miners, led by this guy who they all called “Mayor,” showed up, like, a day and a half after we did.”

“Those guys were from Blackstone,” Kat explained.

“You mean the coal-mining town out in the desert?” Archie asked.

“That’s the one,” Stan replied. “I ran into them pretty soon after you guys left, Bob, and they all agreed to come and join us. Well, most of them did, anyway,” said Stan bitterly, his thoughts flashing over the Mechanist. “But those who didn’t aren’t going to join either side anytime soon.”

“Speaking of which,” said Bob, a slight edge to his voice that caught all their attentions, “who is this fine gentleman over here?” He jerked his head in the direction of DZ, who had been staying out of the conversation and practicing complicated attacks with two swords on a nearby lamp post.

“Oh, this is DZ,” said Kat, and DZ, hearing his name, rushed over and hastily added, “But you may know me by my full name, DieZombie97.” And with that, he gave a white, toothy smile.

Archie, G and Bob’s eyes all widened. “Wait, you’re DieZombie97?” asked Bob in disbelief.

“The DieZombie97?” asked G incredulously.

“See?” said DZ pompously, grinning at Stan, Kat and Charlie, all of whom were amazed that their friends had heard of DZ. “I told you I got around in the Spleef Arena a few updates back.”

“Man, you’re awesome!” exclaimed Bob, running up and wringing DZ’s hand up and down.

“I thought that King Kev had killed you!” said Archie, a wild happiness on his face.

“Nah, that was just a rumour. Didn’t bother staying around to contradict it though ’cause, you know, then it probably wouldn’t have been so much a rumour as a fact,” said DZ with a laugh.

“So where’ve you been all this time? After that last Spleef championship you just kind of disappeared!”

“I’ve been living out in the desert,” said DZ. “I realized that a world run by government generally ends up pretty corrupt, so I decided I was better off by myself out in the Ender Desert. That is, until I ran into these three.” He jerked his thumb at Stan, Kat and Charlie.

Archie continued to talk to DZ. G and Bob asked the other three about Oob, who was now cowering behind Charlie.

“So, how did you guys come across this NPC? And, more important, why is he still with you?” asked Bob. The three players explained briefly about all they had seen and done after Stan had left Blackstone.

“So, what’s your name? Oob?” asked Bob, speaking gently to the NPC, who still looked terrified. “I hear that you’re pretty brave. I’ve never heard of an NPC taking out anything living before, and they just told me that you took out a Griefer that had attacked them three other times!”

Oob looked around Charlie’s shoulder and replied timidly, “Yes. He hurt Charlie, Kat and DZ, and he was trying to hurt Stan. They are my friends, and I do not want them to be hurt.”

“That’s awesome of you, my man,” replied Bob with a kind smile, which Oob hesitantly returned. “We need more guys like you. In fact, a bunch of us guys that don’t want to see good people hurt, like you, are gonna try to take down the king of all the players, so he won’t be mean to them any more. You want to help us with that, buddy?”

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