The Adventurous Creeper and the Lost Kingdom, Book 4: The Legend of Charlie the Creeper King

by Mark Mulle

  ***

  The beach was as frozen as Bruce had told us. The ice glimmered from the sunlight and stretched out as far as I could see.

  “That’s so weird.” I mumbled as we walked towards the shore.

  “Okay, so if no one could get through the ice, do you think we can?” Chloe asked, “I mean, you did unlock that chamber with your voice. Maybe it could tell you were a creeper.”

  “Maybe. That would make things easier, wouldn’t it?” I said as we stopped at the shoreline.

  I crouched down and pressed my hand against ice. I even told it to open like I had earlier but nothing happened. I shrugged and pulled my pickaxe out of my bag. Then I brought it down against the ice, hoping to crack through it.

  But Bruce hadn’t been lying. The ice didn’t seem to stop. After twenty minutes, I gave up and dropped the pickaxe. Chloe was walking along the ice as if she could find some sort of weak point.

  “This has to be some sort of protection for the water temple,” She said over her shoulder, “A way for Charlie to keep people out, don’t you think?”

  I was thinking back to the room and the key, “The kingdom covers the entire Over World. Not just one section in the jungle. But maybe that room…maybe it was some sort of last resort.”

  “You mean like…Charlie went into hiding or the kingdom was in trouble so that room was set up to let people know where to go?”

  “The entire kingdom vanished, right? Gone without a trace. Charlie probably wasn’t just going to let all that work go away.”

  “What if Charlie is behind the fact the kingdom vanished?” Chloe asked.

  “No. Why would he do something to his own kingdom?”

  She held up her hands, “Don’t get angry, Carl. I’m just saying that he might not be innocent. Creeper or not.”

  I wanted to argue with her but maybe she was right. I could be excusing Charlie because he was a creeper. I really wanted this kingdom to be real, after all. I wanted there to have been an entire kingdom of creepers just like me. I was even hoping, even though I knew it wasn’t possible, that they were all living underground or something. That would have been amazing.

  “Well, we won’t know until we figure out how to get into the water temple.” I finally replied.

  For a while, we walked along the ice. Nothing happened. No matter what we did, we couldn’t find a way through the ice. I was about to tell Chloe we should take a break and eat some lunch when I heard a sudden noise.

  Chloe heard it as well.

  We knew what it was before we saw it. Tearing down the shoreline was one of those creatures we had fought in the jungle. Chloe was already pulling out her bow and notching an arrow. The monster skidded across the ice. Its nails dragged along it, making deep cracks against the surface. It roared and the ice shook underneath me.

  I slipped and fell back as Chloe is also thrown off balance. Her arrow went wide, missing the creature as it leapt towards us. As it crashed down on the ice, there was a large cracking noise.

  This monster – it was cracking the ice open! It was so anxious to destroy us that it didn’t even realize it was helping us. I got to my feet.

  “Hey! Over here! Over here, fool!” I shouted, waving my hands.

  The creature turned to look at me. It ran across the ice. If I could get it to crack open the ice along the center, it would be enough for us to go underneath it and head to the water temple.

  The ice caused us both to slip and slid. Chloe was trying to wound the creature with arrows as I ran across the ice. I almost fell at one point as the monster opened its jaws to scoop me up.

  Instead, I crouched. It ran past me, sliding along the ice, before losing control completely and crashing down. I grabbed Chloe back before she could finish it off.

  “Look!” I said, pointing to the ice that was cracking heavily.

  She understood but shook her head, “It’s too dangerous.”

  The creature was getting back to its feet.

  “Carl, once the ice cracks in half, we could try to go to the water temple but we have no idea if that thing can swim or not. It will just come after us.”

  “So, we wait until it cracks the ice and then take it down.” I argued.

  “What if we fall in? We won’t be able to get out. We need to think this through –” Chloe argued.

  The monster was back on its feet now. There was no more time to talk. As it tilted its head back and roared at us, more cracks formed along the ice. Chloe pushed me to the side and raised her bow.

  She did have a point. If we did fell in, it’d be impossible to climb out of the water. The creature could pick us off. And what if it swam? It could chase after us.

  But it seemed to be the only thing that was ruining the ice. What we were supposed to do? We couldn’t wait forever to figure out why the ice wasn’t melting.

  So, even though I knew that Chloe was going to be furious with me, I pushed the bow at the last second. It fell from her hands. She turned to yell at me but there was no time – the creature was coming right for us.

  We split up but the creature tried to turn to go after Chloe. She had the key. I was right: the key was some sort of beacon bringing the danger towards us. We probably weren’t supposed to bring it out of that room.

  Chloe was skittering across the ice. Deep cracks were forming. The ice was shaking. I tried to run after them but I was going to be too late. The creature lowered its head –

  And then the ice cracked.

  All the ice cracked.

  The noise was deafening. I winced and went flying backwards as the ice snapped in half. Water began rushing over the ice. It wasn’t cracking like regular ice would. It was as if it was sinking.

  Thrown off balance, I toppled forward. I crashed into the water which was freezing cold. It felt like a shock to my system. The last thing I saw before the water pulled me under was the creature also falling into the water.

  As soon as my head went under, I knew we had been wrong about the ocean. The ice wasn’t the only thing that was strange. The water felt almost as if it were alive. I tried to kick against it but it was pulling me downwards instead. The surface was being pulled away from me.

  I tried not to panic. Okay, so maybe Chloe had been right. Perhaps we should have thought this through more. The ice was enchanted with some sort of spell that also affected the water.

  I grabbed my backpack off me and shoved my hand in it, wiggling around for what I needed. I felt my journal and was glad I had opted for a special waterproof version. It had cost a lot but it would have been ruined now!

  Then, I felt it. I grabbed the object and shoved it in my mouth. It had been Chloe’s idea. It was an enchanted item that let you hold your breath underwater. She had pulled some strings but had managed to get two of them.

  I was glad I had it now. As I placed it in my mouth, I could breathe again. Above me, I could see the creature trying to climb out of the ice. I didn’t see Chloe at all.

  I tried to struggle against the current but it was no use. Whatever was going on under here, I couldn’t fight it. I was being pulled towards something. My guess was I was being pulled towards the underwater temple.

  I could no longer see the surface of the water. I was surrounded by darkness. I tried not to be afraid. The water was so cold that I was shivering.

  Then, out of the darkness, I saw lights.

  As I was pulled towards the lights, I could make out a hulking shape. I had been right. The water and ice were enchanted and I was being pulled towards the water temple. As I was brought closer to it, I could make out the points of towers as well as walkways.

  That was when I realized that it wasn’t just a water temple.

  It was an entire city.

  I was being pulled towards part of the Creeper Kingdom itself.

  Then I could make out other details – the walkways were ruined. Parts of the ceiling were caved in. It was covered in barnacles. Fish called it home and I could see schools of them swimming
around.

  The current was pulling me towards the front doors. It looked creepy – this ruined place underneath the water. The lights were on but there was no one home. It was bringing me to nothing.

  Finally, the current yanked me through a massive set of doors. I was pulled through a small tube and slid down it. Then I was spit out. I landed in a pool of water and bobbed to the surface.

  I looked around, trying to figure out where I was. The tube above me had dropped me in. There was another tube draining the water. This must be how they brought people in. Seemed unsafe but what did I know? It wasn’t as if I knew much about the history of this kingdom. Clearly, what I had read wasn’t the entire story.

  I waded out of the water and pulled myself up onto the nearest ledge. I pulled the breathing object out of my mouth and sat down, trying to figure out everything that had happened.

  Was Chloe still up there? How was she going to get down here? I wanted to wait and see if she would arrive. If she had fallen in, she would have been pulled into the current. I was half expecting the creature to appear through the tube. That would be just my luck.

  Instead of sitting there and staring at the tube, waiting for something to happen, I curled up and began to write in this journal. I feel as if we are about to discover something very important, although I don’t know what it could be.

  In the meantime, I’ll wait here a bit longer until I figure out my next plan.

  Day 21

  Chloe didn’t show up. Neither did the monster. As I waited for them, I thought back to what I had known about Chloe. Honestly, not much. I had no idea why she wanted to find the creeper kingdom. I had no idea about where she had put her clues and research together.

  Chloe was just a human. She hadn’t known about what I had gone through with the Dragon Lord. I had told her during our travel to the village. When she had asked about where the rest of my friends had gone, I had told her that we all had gone our separate ways for a little bit.

  The truth was, they all had told me to not get too caught up in this Charlie and the Creeper Kingdom legend. I knew they all thought we deserved to rest after what we had gone through with the Dragon Lord. Even though I had found my family and friends, and a place to stay, I had also wanted to find out more about myself and my people.

  Now, I was stuck in some weird underwater city with no sign of Chloe. Good job, Carl. I should have listened to Sally and stayed at home. At least at home there was food and fire. Here, I was just tired and cold.

  I was still feeling bad for myself when the tube began to flush with water. Alarmed, I stood up. I went to grab my sword but realized I had lost it. I must have dropped it in the water when I was being pulled towards the temple.

  A dark shape came shooting out of the tube and landed face down in the water. It was Chloe – but she was unconscious. Quickly, I dove in and grabbed her, pulling her out. She was shivering and didn’t have the device in her mouth.

  I needed to get her warmed up. After being underwater for so long, in this freezing cold water, she needed a fire. I looked around, trying to figure out how to get her warmed up. There didn’t even seem to be a sort of exit from this room. Why take people here and have them unable to leave? There had to be a way out I was missing. I didn’t see any way out.

  I crouched next to her, checking to make sure she was okay. I didn’t see any injuries. My guess was that she had been underwater for too long and had fainted. I needed to get her awake. Her skin was cold to the touch.

  “Chloe. Hey, Chloe,” I was saying to her, trying to wake her up as I rummaged through my bag for something to help, “Wake up. Come on. Time to wake up. You were right. My idea sucked. I should have thought it through better. But you don’t get to be unconscious! It was my terrible plan so I should be the one knocked out.”

  Her eyelids fluttered. For a split second, I thought that she was going to wake up but she remained still.

  That was when I felt the tremors. The ground was shaking.

  “Not now. Please, give me a break.” I grumbled, looking around the room.

  The water was bubbling as if it was a boiling soup. I stood up and grabbed Chloe’s bow, which had come in with her. At least I had one weapon although I was still regretting the loss of my sword.

  The water was bubbling urgently now. I notched an arrow in the bow and raised it. Was it the monster? I thought for sure it’d come through the tube. How was it going to appear from below the water?

  I glanced at Chloe. I wished she would wake up. If we were about to be attacked, I had to protect her and make sure the creature didn’t hurt me at the same time. Bad idea, bad idea. Next time, I am going to listen to Chloe.

  The water in the center of the room exploded. I was splashed with it as it crashed down around us. My clothes, which had become mostly dry in the time I had spent waiting for Chloe, were now soaked through once again. I was also blinded by the water and covered my face. The bow fell to my feet.

  When I was finally able to see what was going on, I saw that it wasn’t the monster. No, it was something new but just as bad.

  It was an elder guardian and it was staring right at me.