Eva said, “We have to find her. We must save her and stop Theo.”
“I know,” said Nancy. “But how?”
“Let’s go to Hillsdale,” said Eva.
Brett reminded them that it was the middle of the night and any trip might be fatal. “We have to wait until morning. There’s no point in depleting all of our energy battling hostile mobs.”
The gang agreed, and Eva suggested they get some sleep. As they all crawled into their beds, Poppy asked, “How did you guys become the eight alchemists?”
“Before Theo launched his severe attack on the Overworld,” said Eva, “we all lived together in Farmer’s Bay. We had met while participating in a brewing contest, and we got along. We thought it would be great if we created a building, sort of like a lab and a factory, where we could brew and experiment and sell potions. People traveled from across the Overworld to trade with us and get our potions. Theo wasn’t happy about this, because people weren’t paying attention to the potions he brewed. He became very jealous, right, Sophie?”
The redheaded alchemist, Sophie, replied, “Yes, he started to terrorize us, and then while Eva was out gathering ingredients in the Nether, he captured us.”
“That was when I was trapped in the fortress,” said Eva. “I’ve never been back to our old place.”
“It was destroyed.” Sophie’s eyes filled with tears. “He made us watch as he blew up our home with TNT.”
The other alchemists began to cry and talk about intricate details they remembered from the factory. They all missed their old life very much, but Sophie said, “Once we saw you in the Nether, we were elated. We also saw that you had gathered a group of people to help you battle Theo. However, when we realized you were the one who betrayed us, we were heartbroken.”
“Don’t you understand what I was thinking? Can you ever forgive me?” Eva pleaded.
“Yes,” said Sophie. “And I hope that we can defeat Theo and return to our home, even if we have to rebuild it.”
“I’m so glad you still want me to be a part of the eight alchemists,” said Eva.
Brett reminded them, “We should get some sleep. We have to battle Theo in the morning, and we need to be well rested.”
Everyone agreed, but they had a hard time falling asleep. Nancy kept thinking about Helen being in the prison by herself. She imagined Helen being forced to give over all of her possessions before they forced her into the cold bedrock prison.
Brett also had trouble falling asleep. He was worried about the battle. He also hoped they’d be able to save Meadow Mews. What if they weren’t strong enough to overcome Theo and his army? As he tried to close his eyes and get some rest, he came up with a plan. He would tell all the residents of Meadow Mews, Verdant Valley, and all of the other neighboring towns about Theo. If everyone in the Overworld knew their future fate, they would all get together to stop him. Of course, he knew that some people might not believe him. Most people didn’t think anyone could travel in time, so how could he explain that they traveled through an icy portal, in the Nether of all places, and wound up seeing a future where their towns were destroyed? These were the thoughts that raced through his head as he tried to close his eyes and drift off to sleep. When the sun shone through the window and woke Brett up in the morning, he was shocked that he had fallen asleep. He was even more shocked when he saw Helen standing in the doorway of his home. Her blue T-shirt was stained, and she brushed her long red hair from her face as she called out, “I escaped.”
“Helen!” Nancy exclaimed.
“We have to get out of here,” Helen warned them. “And we have to do it fast.”
The eight alchemists ran to the brewing station and handed out bottles of potions to the group.
“Faster,” Helen screamed. “They’re coming!”
13
POP-UP PORTALS
Helen stood in the doorway. “I see them!”
Eva ordered everyone to splash a potion of invisibility on themselves and be still and quiet.
The gang listened to Eva, and soon they had all vanished. Three soldiers dressed in yellow appeared at the doorway. They looked through the house. One of the soldiers said, “It looks like they aren’t here.”
“But where could they have gone? We saw her racing this way.”
Brett’s heart beat quickly, and he hoped it wasn’t beating so loudly that they could hear it. He also worried the potion would wear off, and that made his heart beat even faster. He wanted to take a deep breath, but he was worried they’d hear him. He stood as still and silent as he could while he listened to the soldiers.
“They must have bolted when they saw us,” said one of the soldiers as he exited. The other two followed closely behind.
The second they left the house, the potion wore off. Eva smiled. “Good timing, right?”
Brett said, “If the soldiers are already dressed in yellow, we can assume that Theo is wearing the skin with the yellow robe.”
“We have to head to Hillsdale,” said Poppy, her eyes filled with tears. “I am going to have to put TNT in my ice castle and blow it up. It’s the only way we can weaken Theo.”
“That seems rather drastic,” said Sophie. “Perhaps we can try to battle another way.”
“This is war,” declared Poppy. “It is drastic.”
“I know, but there might be other ways,” said Nancy.
As they sprinted toward Hillsdale, they heard a loud roar. Poppy looked up and spotted an Ender Dragon flying in circles above them. She was shocked when she saw the eight alchemists take out bottles rather than their bows and arrows.
“What are you doing?” questioned Poppy.
“If you capture the purple clouds the Ender Dragon omits, you can create dragon’s breath, which is a precious item when crafting certain rare potions,” said Eva.
“Can you stop thinking like an alchemist and start thinking like an ally?” screamed Poppy.
Sophie asked, “Can’t we do both?”
The dragon flew directly at them, and when purple clouds rushed toward them, Poppy used this opportunity to shoot a succession of arrows at the beast, as the eight alchemists fought one another for access to the cloud. Poppy never realized how competitive they seemed to be with one another. She watched as Brett bravely struck his diamond sword into the dragon’s muscular side, but the dragon swung its wing at Brett, and he fell back.
Joe, Nancy, and Helen threw snowballs and shot arrows at the dragon, trying to destroy the beast, so they could end the battle and make their way to Hillsdale. The Ender Dragon was strong, and it wasn’t easily defeated. It flew toward the group and roared. Poppy took a deep breath as the dragon flew inches from her, and she shot an arrow that landed on the dragon’s face. The dragon was weakened and angry. It lunged at Poppy, but Brett slammed his diamond sword into its side, and the dragon started to lose hearts. It didn’t have the energy to fight back and began emitting lights. The dragon faltered, and when it was destroyed, a portal to the End appeared in front of them.
The eight alchemists stood by the portal, but Poppy warned them, “Stay away. You don’t want to go to the End.”
“Why not?” asked Eva.
“We can’t be distracted right now. We have to go to Hillsdale and battle Theo,” she reminded them.
“He’s obviously the one who spawned the Ender Dragon,” added Joe.
“You’re right,” said Eva, and the alchemists walked away from the portal.
The gang was about to set off toward Hillsdale when the skies turned dark and rain fell from the sky. A large army of zombies spawned in the town ready to attack them. The smell from the zombies was overpowering, and Brett felt sick. The alchemists splashed potions on the zombies as Poppy battled a skeleton.
Poppy was so distracted by the fight with the skeleton that she didn’t realize the portal to the End was right behind her. She fell onto it and disappeared. Brett noticed Poppy fall into the End and screamed, “Poppy is in the End! We have to save her.”
“Not now!” Brett screamed. “We have to help her before the portal disappears.” As he sprinted to the portal, a skeleton shot an arrow that landed on his arm. He screamed out in pain and realized that he only had one heart left. He didn’t battle the skeleton; instead, he grabbed a potion of healing and hopped onto the portal. He didn’t look back to see who was following him into the End. He had to find Poppy and help her in this deathly world.
It seemed like the trip to the End took less than a second. Before he was able to readjust his armor, he was already standing on a platform in the End. He called out for Poppy, but there was no response.
14
THE END DOESN’T MEAN IT’S OVER
“Poppy,” Brett called out again.
“Over here!” she replied, and he followed the sound of her voice. When he saw her, she said, “Shh!” She pointed to the Ender Dragon. “We have to break the Ender crystals.”
Brett shot an arrow at the Ender crystals, destroying one batch, which angered the Ender Dragon, who blew a fireball in their direction. They barely escaped being struck by the Ender Dragon. Brett shot an arrow at it while Poppy aimed to break the rest of the Ender crystals so the Ender Dragon couldn’t replenish its energy.
Brett shot another arrow, but he was running low. Although his friends helped him replenish his inventory, they didn’t have enough arrows to give him. He only had a couple of snowballs left and worried that he wouldn’t be able to battle the Ender Dragon much longer. Poppy broke another group of Ender crystals, and she noticed Brett fumbling with a snowball.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“I’m almost out of arrows,” he replied. “I only have this snowball left. I can’t fight the dragon.”
Poppy grabbed a bunch of arrows from her inventory and handed them to Brett. As she gave him the arrows, the angry Ender Dragon shot a fireball at them, and they were almost hit.
“Remember when our biggest problem was figuring out which prank we were going to play on our friends?” Poppy missed the leisurely days she spent with Brett. When their life was peaceful, they were always planning funny pranks and hanging out. When they worked, they built challenging structures and farms and enjoyed their jobs. However, when people attacked them, they were forced into a world that was challenging and not fun at all. Maybe some people found battling fun, but that wasn’t the way they found happiness.
Brett used one of Poppy’s arrows to strike the Ender Dragon as it flew toward the last batch of Ender crystals. As Poppy hit and broke the crystals, Brett’s arrow pierced the dragon’s flesh. He shot another arrow, then heard people in the distance.
“We’re not alone,” he called out.
“We can’t pay attention to anybody else. The Ender crystals are gone. This is our opportunity to destroy the dragon fast,” she said as she shot an arrow at the Ender Dragon. It wasn’t hit and flew away.
Brett was distracted by the sound of people as he aimed his arrow at the dragon. He had one eye on the distance, looking out for an attack from Theo or whoever might be in the End. He feared Theo would try to trap them in the End.
Poppy shot another arrow at the Ender Dragon and destroyed it. She was thrilled, and Brett commended her, “Great job, but we have to get out of here now.”
A group of Endermen walked toward them. The duo tried not to lock eyes with them, as the voices in the distance grew louder. Brett turned around and smiled when he saw Joe, Helen, Nancy, and the alchemists.
“You destroyed the Ender Dragon!” Joe called out.
“Poppy did it!” exclaimed Brett.
“I see the End city,” said Helen. “Should we go there?”
“No,” Brett reminded her. “Now that the Ender Dragon is gone, we can return to the Overworld.”
“But we just got here,” said Helen.
“And you’re lucky you get to leave this quickly. The End isn’t fun at all,” said Brett.
The gang went through a portal and emerged in the Overworld. As they spawned in Meadow Mews, they were caught in a storm and were standing face-to-face with Theo and his army.
“We are in my time period,” Brett said as he swung his sword at Theo, “and there’s no way I am going to let you destroy the towns that I love.”
Theo laughed as he splashed a potion on Brett. Brett was so wet from the rain that he couldn’t even feel the potion on his body, but he felt the effects. His body slowed down, he felt very tired, and he could barely move.
Poppy leaped at Theo, and Eva handed Brett a potion of recovery. The rain was falling harder, but there were only a couple of hostile mobs in the town. The alchemists battled the hostile mobs while Poppy and Brett focused on destroying Theo.
“What is wrong with you, Theo?” asked Brett. “Why are you trying to ruin the Overworld?”
“Ruin it?” Theo asked. “I am making it better. I am transforming it into the perfect world for me.”
“For you?” Poppy slammed her diamond sword into Theo’s unarmored shoulder. “You aren’t the only person in the Overworld, if you haven’t noticed. Why don’t you think about other people? If you did, you’d see they aren’t very happy with the way you are acting.”
“I have a group of soldiers who are very happy,” he said as he pierced Poppy’s leg with his diamond sword.
“Are you guys happy?” Poppy asked as the soldiers attacked Nancy, Helen, and Joe. They didn’t respond; they just lashed out at the group with their swords.
“They aren’t going to respond to you. You are a prisoner, and what you say doesn’t matter,” said Theo as he struck Poppy again, leaving her with one heart.
The rain stopped, and the alchemists joined them in the battle against Theo. Poppy thought they had a solid advantage now that they had an additional eight people who came with an arsenal of potions. However, her outlook changed when she saw a group of soldiers march into Meadow Mews. She tried to count them as they stormed into town, but there were so many that she lost count. Counting the soldiers distracted her, and Theo used this opportunity to deliver a final blow that destroyed Poppy.
She awoke in Brett’s house and looked out the window to see what was happening with Theo’s soldiers and her friends, but when she looked out the window, she didn’t see anybody there. This shocked Poppy, and she wondered how they disappeared so quickly. She ran out of the house and sprinted into the streets of Meadow Mews looking for Brett and her friends, but it was eerily empty. She looked for any neighbors that she knew, but nobody was home. Poppy made her way to Hillsdale on her own. She hoped that once she arrived in Hillsdale, she would be reunited with her friends. Or hopefully, she’d see them on the way. As she hurried through the Overworld, the temperature began to drop, and her teeth chattered. She walked through the snow and turned around when she heard a voice call out.
“Poppy! Stop!”
15
BLIZZARD
“Poppy.” Eva dashed over to her. “It’s a trap.”
“What?” asked Poppy, but Eva didn’t have time to explain. The soldiers surrounded her and demanded that she had to empty her inventory.
“No,” she screamed and leaped at one of the soldiers with her diamond sword, but they splashed a potion on her, and she was weakened. Her arms couldn’t move, and she dropped the diamond sword on the ground.
“Good job,” said the soldier with a smirk as he picked up the diamond sword. “Now you have to give us the rest of your items.”
From the corner of her eye, Poppy could see Eva standing next to a soldier who emptied her inventory. The soldier marveled at the various potions in her inventory. “Wow,” he said. “What a find. I won’t have to brew for a very long time.”
The soldier emptying Poppy’s inventory reminded him that all potions and finds from prisoners’ inventories must be handed over to Theo. “Oh, right,” said the soldier as he walked Eva over to Poppy. “Now we have to bring them to the prison with the others.”
Poppy was upset that she would be in the bedrock prison, but she was glad to be reunited with her friends. She knew once she was reunited with them, they would be able to come up with a plan to escape. They would fight back, even if they didn’t have weapons. They were creative and were in situations like this before and made it out—although they had never been stripped of all their possessions. She walked alongside Eva as they were marched inside the prison.
“Poppy,” Brett said as he stood by the gates. “They got you.”
“I hope you weren’t thinking I’d get you guys out of here.” Tears filled her eyes as she spoke.
“No, I’m just glad you’re okay,” he said and walked to the small window in the corner of the prison cell and looked out.
Poppy walked over to the window and looked out. “It looks like the snow is blowing around. I think a storm is coming.”
Eva and the alchemists clustered together, talking in hushed voices. Nancy, Helen, and Joe approached them, and Nancy asked, “Are you guys coming up with a plan?”
Eva spoke in a raised whisper, “Sophie never emptied her inventory. The soldier forgot to do it. She has a bunch of potions. If we distribute them, we can use them to attack the soldier who comes to feed us, and we can escape.”
Poppy and Brett were standing by the window and didn’t hear the plan. They were watching the beginnings of a blizzard. Snow flew past them as the winds continued to pick up. A gust of wind blew two soldiers across Hillsdale. Poppy tried not to laugh. Snow began to fall, and skeletons spawned outside the window. Poppy liked watching the soldiers battle the skeletons. They were having a hard time battling the mobs in the windy weather. She finally let out a chuckle when she saw a soldier’s diamond sword blow away as he attempted to lunge at a skeleton.
“What’s so funny?” asked Eva as she handed Poppy a bottle of potion.
“Where did you get this?” asked Poppy.
“Didn’t you hear? Sophie has a fully stocked inventory. We are going to use these potions to escape when the soldier comes to feed us.”
Escape from the Nether Page 5
