The End, Book 1: The Warrior of Hillpeak

by Mark Mulle

  Chapter Two

  From behind the fence, a guard looked at the three with an almost uninviting stare. “What brings you to this village?” he asked.

  “We’re travelers,” Steve told him. “We’re looking for a place to stay for a bit.”

  “This village is off-limits unless you can help us figure out how to solve this problem,” the guard told them.

  “That’s kind of rude!” Wendy replied. “We’re starving!”

  “Not my call. The mayor wants everyone to separate themselves from tourists in these troubling times,” the guard replied.

  “Aww, come on! They saved my butt from the monsters out there. Just let them stay for a bit!” Marco told the guard.

  “I’m glad to know that you helped this kid, who shouldn’t have been outside to begin with,” the guard said, giving Marco a stern look. Marco lowered his head in a bit of shame. “But still, rules are rules. Unless you know how to stop this, you’re not getting in.”

  “As a matter of fact, we do,” Steve told the guard. “Even though it’ll be hard for most to swallow, we know why the land’s barren. We just need to figure out how to stop it.”

  “Then what is it?” the guard asked.

  “The Ender Dragon. Soon, it will take over the world. The scorched land is just the beginning,” Steve told him.

  The guard, who usually had a straight face, began laughing. “Oh, please. Another one of those people who claim there’s a dragon flying around. Think of something new before you try to let yourself in the village. Because I’ve heard that story at least a dozen times, and it’s still dumb. I’ll let the fence open for the kid, as I recognize him, but you three need to get ou-“

  “Let them in!”

  From behind the guard, a powerful voice commanded him. The usually stern guard began trembling as he saw the voice from behind. He was a tall man in his late fifties, who still had defined muscles and a long, dark beard.

  “But they’re not from this village,” the guard stated, sounding as quiet as a mouse.

  “Do you want me to relive you of your position as a guard?” the man asked.

  “No, sir!” the guard replied, and he opened the fence. They walked through, and the bearded man, who normally looked tough, suddenly had a warm smile. After the fence closed, Marco began running away, leaving the three behind.

  “Now, get back to work,” the man told the guard as they walked away.

  “So, who are you?” Steve asked.

  “I’m the mayor of this village, but you can call me Duran,” he explained.

  This guy? A mayor? Steve thought. When he thought of mayors, he thought of elderly men, not a middle-aged bodybuilder.

  “I know, I know, I don’t look like mayor material. But I founded this village, and have made it into one of the best places for wind power. See that windmill?” he told them, pointing to it in the distance, “It powers the village. I wanted to stray away from Redstone, and use something that doesn’t have to be mined. Unfortunately, I didn’t have that much of a backup plan. The wind has stopped for a couple weeks, and the village is almost out of power. If we don’t get this fixed soon, we’ll be overrun with mobs. Everyone is in a panic, and I’m not sure of what to do at this point.”

  As the three walked around, they noticed that everyone in the village had an empty stare to them. Some looked more frightened than others, but Steve could see the doom and gloom on all their faces. It made him quite sad, and he wished that he could do something to help them out. Instead, he continued listening to Duran’s story as he led them to his house, which was a quaint little cabin located in the corner of the town.

  The three went inside, and Duran sat them down on his table. Then, he sat down, a serious look on his face.

  “Now that we’re inside, tell me all there is to know about the dragon.”

  Steve wanted to tell him the short version, but he, along with the contributions of Wendy and Bartholomew, ended up telling him about their adventure. When it was finished, Duran looked at them with a curious glance.

  “I completely believe your story. If I told people that, they’d think I was insane. But trust me, I’ve seen some powerful mobs.”

  “Like what?” Steve asked.

  “When I was younger, I was a freelance warrior. I fought in wars, sometimes on both sides, and people revered me for my strength. One day, I was recruited by a group of explorers. According to them, they were looking for brave team to scout the Nether. Have you ever heard of it?”

  Steve had. It was a common lesson in geography class, although the teachers always stress that you should never seek it out. The other two nodded as well.

  “Who am I kidding? Everyone’s heard of it. Now then, according to the person leading the journey, they wanted to mine netherrack and glowstone. For those who don’t know, netherrack is a rock commonly found in the Nether that can be lit on fire, and the flames never go out unless you put them out yourself. Glowstone is self-explaining. It’s a stone that glows. Anyway, the person leading it claimed that these materials could be used as an alternate power source to Redstone. During the expedition, however, all went wrong. We were attacked by a group of floating monsters known as the Ghasts. They are ruthless mobs found in the Nether, and they will attack anyone who comes near them with the power of explosive fireballs. Our entire unit was wiped out, save for me, who managed to make an escape.” As he finished this, a look of regret was across his face.

  “That’s terrible!” Wendy stated.

  Duran nodded. “Yes indeed. I’ve fought in many wars, so losing someone usually didn’t affect me. But for some reason, this hit me hard. I felt depressed for months after that. All the men died pointlessly, looking for another way to give us power. After that, I quiet my career and decided that I wanted to find a new means of power. Inspiration hit me after a powerful gust of wind knocked me on the ground. I found a hill where it was windy, and the rest is history. Sadly, no one has caught on to our power source, but I hope that ends very soon.”

  As the three looked at him, he continued. “But yes, I know powerful mobs, and I can believe that a dragon like that exists and is rampaging across this world. Now then, have you heard about the legend of The End?”

  Steve had. According to the old fable about the Ender Dragon, three warriors ventured to The End, a dimension said to exist outside the realm of all dimensions, to defeat the Ender Dragon. The details in the legend were a bit unknown, as to how they got there, but Steve never paid attention to the story, anyway, when he was a child.

  They nodded, and Duran continued. “When I was exploring the world after the Nether incident, I ran into a shaman. He lived in an old hut that was far away from here, and honestly, I only visited it because I was tired. But the shaman was very friendly and inviting, and told me all sorts of legends. One of them being about The End. He told me how one gets to The End, and the explanation was detailed. But this has been years upon years ago, and I forgot all about it.”

  Steve had his mouth half open in awe. “Do you know where this shaman is?” Steve asked.

  Duran gave a half nod. “He lives about a week from here, if he’s still even alive, that is. He was already old enough to be my grandfather when I met him, so I doubt it. But there’s always a sliver of hope, and right now, that’s all we need.”

  “We do need hope. If we can find how to get to The End and defeat the Ender Dragon, we can end this madness,” Wendy stated.

  “A scorched earth isn’t good for nabbing treasure, anyway,” Bartholomew stated, and he chuckled as the two groaned.

  “Where would you go from here to get to the shaman?” Steve asked.

  “Northwest from here. But even then, it’s hard to explain. Honestly, it would be best if I went with you,” Duran stated.

  “But doesn’t the village need you?” Wendy asked.

  “Right now, I’m about as useless as a feather. All I can do is rile up the people’s hopes, but I would be
insulting my village if I believed that they couldn’t seek help on their own. Because of this, I’ll travel with you in hopes that I can do something for our village.”

  “I need all the help I can get,” Steve replied.

  As he stated this, Duran looked at Steve’s equipment. “And all of your weapons could use a bit of work as well.”

  Steve made a nervous chuckle. “I used to have diamond armor and an enchanted diamond sword, but sadly, that got destroyed during the fight with Draven.”

  “I still have my weapons when I was a youth. I’ll lend some to you all, because we need all the power we can get. According to some, there are some powerful beasts out there, many of them unseen before.”

  The three waited for Duran to come back. When he did, he brought a diamond sword, two golden swords, and three suits of iron armor. As the mayor left to make his farewell speech, he let the three try them on.

  In the restroom, Steve stood there in front of a mirror, slipping on his armor. After walking around bare, the heaviness of the armor was a bit of a shock. However, the lightweight diamond sword made up for it. He actually felt he stood a chance against the Ender Dragon now.

  When all of them were properly equipped, Duran soon came back, sighing.

  “They all think I’m going to leave them. I can’t wave a magic wand and make the wind blow again. I have to stop this problem at my core. It’s times like these that make me want to retire. I’ve told them that they should stand on their own until I get back, and they acted like children being abandoned by their father.”

  Steve couldn’t relate, since he never was the mayor of anything, but he nodded. “It seems a bit dumb.”

  “Oh well. In the meantime, I’ll pack my belongings, and you three can make yourselves at home. I have some guest bedrooms, so you can sleep tight. I know that you all probably need it.”

  As Steve made his way to his own bedroom, he thought that he wasn’t going to get a good night’s rest. Ever since the Ender Dragon became powerful, he wasn’t able to sleep at all. But once his head hit the pillow, he fell into a slumber.

  As Steve stood on his porch, he saw his brother running back to him, waving his hands in glee. Steve ran up to Herobrine, and Herobrine smiled.

  “You won’t believe what’s happening to me!” Herobrine stated.

  “What?” Steve asked.

  As he said this, Herobrine’s eyes suddenly changed into a glowing white, and then transitioned to black. His skin became scaly and black, his body began changing, and his teeth turned into sharp things. Soon, he stared the Ender Dragon in the face.

  “I’ve become the Ender Dragon, and it feels great!” Herobrine declared. His voice came from outside the smoking mouth of the Ender Dragon.

  Steve woke up in a cold sweat. It was morning.