The Cult: Part One

by Mark Mulle

Chapter Three

  The two left the inn and walked across the village, being thankful that no one spotted them. As they left the outskirts, they saw another member walking from the village. Without thinking, the two huddled close to the person, who did not turn around. Eventually, more members came from other directions and melded into the group, and soon they had a crew. Steve and Wendy tried to walk in a cultish fashion, hoping that they blended in perfectly. Steve’s heart pounded like a drum, and he hoped that no one noticed.

  Finally, it was time to climb the hill. The two walked up it, trying not to pant, and then they reached the apex and saw the raging fire below. They made it to the circle of other members and joined in, and Draven removed his hood once again.

  “Ahh, I see that this group is getting larger by the day. Welcome new members, and may the Ender Dragon breathe its breath upon you. To sum up what was said in last night’s meaning, I promised that I would give details on how we are going to handle the heroes who are destined to slay the Ender Dragon. I can feel it; a few of the heroes are close by. In this meeting, I’ll elaborate on how to handle them.”

  Draven cleared his throat, and spoke two words. “Kill them.”

  The crowd cheered, and Steve and Wendy gave their own monotone praises as well. Once it died down, Draven elaborated more. “The problem with our ancestors and why they failed was that they were too soft. They were trying to slow down the heroes, and they would hold back when they fought them or gloat too long. There will be none of that, brothers and sisters. Once we see the heroes, we will aim to kill. No words, no giving them a chance. This way, there will be no one to stop the Ender Dragon, who will reign supreme on the land.”

  The crowd cheered again, and Steve’s heart fluttered. These guys were not dancing around. Even Herobrine gave Steve multiple chances. In the sewers, he could have simply stabbed Steve and gotten it over with, but instead he threw Steve into the waterfall below and hoped that he would survive. Attacking them head-on would be a dumb idea, so the two blended in for a while now.

  “Now then, you may be wondering how we are going to find them. Well, I received a huge lead from one of our members. She runs the clothing store in Glink, proving that we are ordinary people who blend in with society.”

  Oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no, Steve’s mind raced. Wendy sweated as well, her makeup running a bit. The two didn’t need Draven to continue to realize what had happened. The middle-aged woman who ran the clothing store was a member of the cult, and there was no wonder why she seemed concerned when Steve and Wendy wanted to purchase clothes from her.

  “According to her, a man and a woman came in asking for hoodies, and when she said that she had none, the woman asked for fabric that was the same colors as our hoods. That may be a coincidence, but I believe that there are no coincidences. There heroes know about us, and for all we know, they could be in this group right now!”

  The cult members began chattering, and Steve and Wendy acted frantic as well. The members were accusing one another of being an imposter, their evidence ranging from the length of their hood to how they walked.

  “Silence!” Draven shouted and everyone calmed down. “It’s just a hunch, like I said, and we don’t need to go off on one another just yet. Relanda, come here!”

  One of the members walked beside Draven, and when they took off their hood, it was revealed that Relanda was the name of the clothing store shopkeep. She looked unrecognizable in all of that makeup and looked uglier with it on.

  “It’s simple, really. All we have to do is have everyone remove their hoods, and Relanda will see if anyone remotely resembles the two who purchased the clothes. It’s a common sense solution, and immediately when she sees the two, we’ll destroy them. No questions. I don’t care if they just resemble the two of them, we should always play it—”

  While the group was fixated, Steve and Wendy immediately ran away from the circle, taking off their hoods to increase their movements. Draven was dumbfounded for a few seconds, but he began to laugh. “That was easy. Now die!”

  Draven extended his hand, and as Steve looked back, a few fireballs flew toward the hill. Steve and Wendy jumped out of the way and got away from the radius of the explosion as they made it to the top. That was when Draven, from all the way down there, fired a blast of wind from his hand. Immediately, Steve and Wendy were knocked back and began rolling down the hill. Once they reached the foot, the two writhed in pain but stood up and began running again as the cult made it to the peak. However, the two were already far away from the cult, and their feet moved so fast that they were away by the time they made it back to the village. The two ran to the inn and went back to their rooms, and immediately, they began to pack their supplies. Their food, their canteens, their pickaxes—everything needed to be packed.

  “We have to get as far away from here as poss—”

  “Steve, look!”

  Steve stared through the window that Wendy pointed out of, and he noticed that a large portion of the village was in flames. Walking down the dirt road was Draven, and his finger pointed at buildings, a blast of fire coming from the tip. Immediately, the building became scorched. People ran from him and abandoned the village. Steve slipped on his diamond armor, and then Steve and Wendy went downstairs, passing the confused innkeeper, hearing Draven shout.

  “Heroes, come out to play! I’ll burn this village down if you don’t, because I know you’re still here!”

  “We need to run!” Wendy shouted

  “No, we need to stop this village from being attacked. People will lose their homes and possibly their own lives because of this. I have a lot of things on my conscious right now, and I don’t want it to grow even more.”

  Before Wendy could say anything, Steve stood in front of Draven, waving his arms as he did. “Over here!” he taunted.

  “Hmph, bad move, kid!”

  Draven immediately blasted fire at Steve, but Steve turned around, letting his diamond armor absorb the blaze as he ran off. The diamond armor did not heat up when worn, unlike steel, and he only felt a few degrees hotter. He grabbed Wendy, and the two ran, close enough to see Draven as he followed him but far enough so that they could avoid his attacks. They soon ran from the village, and Draven left the scorching place behind. From what Steve saw, there were no casualties, but he knew that many people would lose their homes and their precious memories because of this. Once they were in the field, this area gave some variety. There were plateaus, dips, and animals roaming around, giving the two enough room to strategize. Steve felt like an animal himself, a defenseless deer chased by a hunter.

  Draven cackled as the fields were set ablaze, his eyes almost as red as the violent flames that surrounded him.

  “Face me, cowards! Unless you want this land to become scorched as well!”

  Steve ignored his cries and continued to run, and soon the field changed from grassy to a tad rocky, and the two ran into a cliff. The drop wasn’t too far, but it would hurt if they fell. There was a rickety bridge that extended to the other side, and Steve wondered if they could make it without the two of them falling.

  Steve suddenly had an idea. One of them needed to get there safely, and another needed to fend off Draven. There was only one person who could do that.

  As Draven closed in on them, Steve said to Wendy “Cross the bridge! I’ll hold him back and give you enough time to cross. If we go together, he’ll probably destroy the bridge.”

  The objection came. “But Steve, you need to come with me! I can’t be alone!” Wendy shouted, and Steve’s heart sank.

  “Don’t worry; I’ll follow when I fend him off. I’m not going to lose you a second time,” Steve promised, even though he wasn’t sure.

  Wendy wanted to object some more, but instead she nodded. “Alright, but don’t die on me.”

  Wendy ran across the bridge while Steve sprinted toward Draven, getting his attention. Already, he bought enough time for Wendy to cross.

 
“Well, that was clever. But it was all for nothing. We will find her, and then we shall kill her. Just like we’re about to do to you,” Draven promised.

  “I don’t think so!” Steve shouted, and he swung his sword. Draven held his hand up, looking as though he were about to catch the blade. All of a sudden, his arm changed into diamond, looking as though he had grafted the arm of a beautiful diamond statue to him.

  Once his sword hit the arm, the diamond sword shattered, fragments flying everywhere. “Oops. I forgot to mention that not only have I mastered the magic elements, but I can also change my body into any mineral that I want. Silly me.”

  Steve hopped back, his jaw unhinged, and then Draven extended his arm again, trying to blow him back. His diamond armor, however, withstood the blow, and Steve was only pushed a few inches. Draven then tried to burn Steve, but his armor seemed to absorb the blow as he turned around.

  “Hmm, that diamond armor is a bit of a nuisance, isn’t it? Well, I suppose I should rectify that.”

  Draven’s hand changed to diamond again, and that’s when he charged toward Steve, raising his fist up. Steve tried to run, but Draven’s fist punched into his back. His back erupted in pain and would have shattered if the diamond armor didn’t absorb most of the blow. His armor began to crack, and soon it crumbled from him. Draven ran toward him again and swiped his helmet, and then his legs became diamond. He jumped up, and his feet hit the tip of Steve’s diamond boots. When he jumped off, Steve’s feet erupted in pain, and his boots shattered. Immediately, Steve began to run toward the bridge, feeling the rickety planks below him.

  “Dumb move!” Draven shouted, and that’s when his finger shot a flamethrower of fire, bathing over the ropes that supported the bridge. Immediately, Steve could feel the bridge sinking as the ropes thinned. If he could make it to the end, he would—

  Snap!

  The bridge fell, and Steve dropped down with it. When the bridge smashed on the rock below, Steve braced for impact. Once it slammed onto the ground, intense pain screamed in both legs. Nothing felt broken, but as he walked from the bridge’s ruins, he discovered that he couldn’t go fast without pain erupting. His legs were most likely an angel hair’s length from shattering.

  He was in pain, but he knew that he would be in so much more if he didn’t get out of here. Above him, Draven watched, shooting fireballs at him. Steve noticed a hole in the ground straight ahead, and he fell inside just as the fireballs rained down above. He slid down a tunnel, and when the explosions happened, the hole above him was sealed up, rubble collapsing around him.

  He crawled deeper into a tunnel, finding a tipped chunk of steel pointing from the rock to the right of him. He grabbed it. Eventually, the tunnel opened up, and he popped out from the side of a rocky wall, another lush field in front of him. There were a few twigs below him, and Steve fastened the steel to the twig, creating the most awful-looking sword imaginable. As he looked above him, he noticed that the clouds were becoming dark.

  An hour later, he hid from the storm inside of a tree.