Overworld in Flames

by Mark Cheverton

  A blaze popped out directly in front of them, emerging from behind a burning tree. The User-that-is-not-a-user pulled back on the reins, causing his horse to rear up on her back legs. It made it impossible for him to shoot, so instead, he veered to the left, giving Hunter a clear shot. The blaze flared bright, ready to fire down upon Gameknight999, but it never had a chance. Hunter’s pointed barbs took its HP to zero in the blink of an eye. The creature disappeared with a pop, leaving behind three glowing sticks and balls of XP.

  Turning in a tight circle, Gameknight spotted another group of monsters. As he rode, he could see more snowballs streaking up into the air, hitting one monster, then the next and the next. But where were they coming from? By the time he’d reached the group of blazes, only one monster remained. Drawing an arrow, Gameknight fired at the same time as Hunter did behind him. Their arrows hit the creature simultaneously. With its HP almost to zero, it started to sink to the ground, too weak to stay aloft.

  Gameknight turned away from the wounded monster and sought out other targets. They were easy to see in the smoke, their bright flames creating orange halos that shone bright through the ash.

  “Hunter, are you behind me?” he asked.

  “Sure am,” she replied.

  “Take the one on the left, up ahead; I’ll get the one on the right,” Gameknight said.

  She grunted her understanding.

  They charged ahead, riding for the space between the two blazes. Once they were within bowshot, Gameknight skidded to a stop, then drew an arrow and aimed. He fired, then drew and fired again, then drew and fired a third arrow. His first shot struck the monster when the third one left the bow, but he could see the second shot had missed. Before he could draw a fourth and final blow, an arrow streaked through the hazy air from the side and struck the monster, extinguishing its flame and causing the monster to disappear. Scanning the air, he searched for any other blazes, but the only thing glowing through the billowing clouds was the burning trees.

  Kicking his horse back into a gallop, Gameknight headed for the portal. He had to swerve around burning spruces and falling trees, but he finally reached the glowing rectangle. He dismounted and approached it carefully. It looked like a thin sheet of fire that undulated and pulsed, as if it had a heart beat.

  Hoof beats caused the User-that-is-not-a-user to turn. With an arrow drawn, he stared into the smoke, waiting to see if it was friend or foe, only to spot Hunter emerging, her own arrow pointed at him. He smiled as they both lowered their weapons, then he turned back to the portal. Heat seemed to pour from the rectangle, making Gameknight afraid to get too much closer.

  “Hmmm … be careful,” said a voice from the smoke that he didn’t recognize. “That portal will suck the HP right from your body.”

  Gameknight jumped, startled, and turned toward the direction of the voice. Stitcher and Herder then came walking out of the smoke with another NPC, clad in all white. As they neared, Gameknight could see that it wasn’t an NPC—it was a light-crafter!

  Gameknight knew some of the light-crafters, like Treebrin and Grassbrin, who lived in Crafter’s village. Plus, he’d met Woodbrin before storming the Source long ago. And recently he’d had the help of Icebrin in defeating Herobrine in dragon form. But this light-crafter before Gameknight999 was someone new.

  Putting away his bow, Gameknight stepped forward to greet the stranger, but before he could speak, the light-crafter pulled out balls of snow and fired them at the portal. The icy spheres hit the flaming sheet and made it flicker once, then again, and then finally extinguished it, closing the gateway between the Overworld and the Nether.

  “Who are you?” Gameknight asked.

  “I am Snowbrin,” the light-crafter said.

  “He saved us!” Stitcher said. “Herder and I were surrounded, but he destroyed three of the blazes before they even knew what was happening.”

  “We are grateful for your help,” Gameknight999 said. “But how did you—”

  “Let’s save the introductions. Right now, I think we should get out of the forest,” Hunter said, her eyes still scanning the sky for monsters.

  “You’re right,” the User-that-is-not-a-user said.

  Walking to his horse, he swung up into the saddle, then let Herder jump up behind him.

  “Where are your horses?” Hunter asked.

  Gameknight felt his friend stiffen at the question.

  “The blazes shot them out from under us,” Stitcher said. “They did not suffer, though. Those fireballs were much hotter than we expected. The animals didn’t stand a chance.”

  “Come on, let’s go,” Hunter said. “We can have a nice little chat when we’re safe.”

  “Hunter is right. Let's get out of here,” Gameknight said. “Snowbrin, do you need—”

  “Hmmm … don’t worry about me,” the light-crafter said. “I have work to do here still. You continue on your journey, and I will catch up.”

  “But we’re on horseback,” Stitcher said. “How will you keep up?”

  “You’ll understand when I see you again,” Snowbrin said.

  And then Snowbrin turned and ran toward the flames, throwing clumps of snowballs that landed on the ground and merged into blocks of snow. With the intense heat of the fire, the blocks instantly melted and turned to water, extinguishing the flames nearby. Glancing over his shoulder, he flashed Gameknight a grin and then disappeared into the smoke.

  “Come on, we need to get back to Crafter and the village,” Gameknight said. “The blaze king can apparently make a portal anywhere he wants. They could be making one right now that would drop them right in the middle of the village, catching everyone by surprise. We have to get back and warn them.”

  Kicking the horse into a gallop, Gameknight shot out of the burning forest with Hunter right behind. As they rode, they could hear the splashes of water behind them, as Snowbrin’s blocks melted and slowly extinguished the forest fire. The forest was badly damaged but not destroyed. This biome could still support life, and that felt like a victory against the blazes—the first one in a long time.

  Turning to the east, they continued their journey toward home, the burning forest slowly receding behind them. But as they rode, Gameknight had a feeling they were going to be too late, and that something really, really bad was happening at that moment to his friends.

  We’ve got the gunpowder, so all that’s left to do is follow Butch’s lead, Gameknight thought. Maybe we should go to the Nether and attack.

  Still, there was something about Butch’s plan that made Gameknight hesitate. The heat of those fireballs was terrifying. He wasn’t one-hundred-percent sure a potion of fire resistance would last long against those super-heated spheres of death. They needed something to give them an advantage, and Gameknight999 could feel that splash potions, while extremely useful, might not be enough on their own to ensure victory.

  Just then, a scratching, scraping sound reached their ears from behind them. Glancing over his shoulder, the User-that-is-not-a-user saw a blurry figure streaking toward them, leaving a long trail of white behind it. He quickly realized that it was Snowbrin, and to Gameknight’s surprise, the light-crafter was streaking along on a path of snow that he was creating directly in front of his feet, moving like a speed skater with magical skates. This must be part of Snowbrin’s light-crafting magic, Gameknight realized: the ability to create snow at will and dash across it like a frosty bullet. That was how he had defeated the blazes and extinguished the forest fire.

  Instantly, images began to pop into the User-that-is-not-a-user’s head, and the puzzle pieces began to tumble again.

  “Blocks of snow … of course,” Gameknight said to himself.

  “What did you say?” Stitcher asked.

  But he was lost in the puzzle, lost in the plan and searching for the solution that would save all his friends and Minecraft.

  “We’ll need lots of—” Gameknight said, but was interrupted by Herder.

  “I know what you’re th
inking,” Herder said from behind. “There is a large patch in the village … and they’re ripe.”

  “Ahh … what?” Gameknight asked.

  But before Herder could answer, Snowbrin was sliding along at their side.

  “Hmmm … we must hurry,” the light-crafter said. “The blazes are becoming bolder in their attacks. They must be stopped.”

  “I have an idea, but we’ll need your help,” Gameknight said.

  “What do you have in mind?” Hunter asked.

  “Something that Stitcher is going to hate,” Gameknight said with a smile.

  “In that case, I like it!” the older sister replied.

  The User-that-is-not-a-user smiled at the girls, then kicked his horse into a sprint and charged toward their village and their friends.

  CHAPTER 25

  THE CAT WAITS FOR THE MOUSE

  Charybdis stared in shock at the dark rectangle of Nether quartz.

  The blazes had all been able to go through the other portals, destroy their targets, and return, but something went wrong this time.

  The blazes entered the portal. Smoke began to stream out of the fiery gateway, like before, showing the blaze king that the forest was aflame. But then a metallic clanking noise came through the portal. It sounded like a blacksmith banging away on an anvil with a big hammer. The clanking sounded again and again, and all the monsters knew what it meant: the blazes in that forest were taking damage. Then came the last agonizing groans of all the flaming monsters being destroyed. One after the next, the creatures were fading away as the unknown attackers continued their assault.

  Charybdis wanted to send more blazes immediately, but he’d already sent most of his troops through the other portals, and he didn’t want to use up all his reserve forces with this battle. That would have left the Nether fortress unprotected. When some of the blazes returned from the other portals, Charybdis readied a counter-attack; but suddenly, just as he was about to order a second wave of flaming soldiers through, the portal winked out. The delicate sheet of flame that pulsed within the Nether quartz ring just seemed to vanish, as if it had been extinguished from the other side.

  “How dare they harm my blazes and destroy my portal!” the blaze king screamed as his internal flame grew bright. He could only think of one person that could disrupt his plans so completely: the User-that-is-not-a-user.

  “I have a feeling we will have a visitor soon, my friends,” Charybdis said to the blazes around him. “We must prepare an appropriate welcome for him.”

  When the rest of his warriors had finished their destructive tasks and returned through the other still-working fiery portals, the king motioned for one of the NPCs to break the Nether quartz rings. Using a pickaxe, the villager broke away one block from each ring, instantly extinguishing the flickering gateway.

  Staring across the Nether, Charybdis could see more blazes floating toward the fortress. He’d ridden far across the burning landscape, calling his people to him, and they had answered his call. Likely, there were a hundred monsters floating across the netherrack, heading for his mighty citadel. With the new blazelings and his existing arsenal of warriors, he still probably had over two hundred monsters at his disposal, even with the loss of the blazes that had just been destroyed in the forest fight.

  Spinning his blaze rods quickly, the king of the blazes rose into the air and gazed down upon his army. They all stared up at him with expectant, fiery eyes.

  “My children, a great day will soon be upon us,” Charybdis shrieked, his voice echoing across the Nether. “We will soon destroy our ancient enemy, the User-that-is-not-a-user.”

  The flames of the blazes flickered with excitement.

  “But we must prepare a little surprise, for I suspect he will be coming to pay us a little visit. We will allow him to come to the Nether, and we will even allow him to come to our fortress.”

  Many of the blazes appeared confused, their internal flames dimming a bit.

  “But have no fear … we will be ready for Gameknight999 and his NPC friends,” Charybdis announced. “We will let them come near, but then some of you will attack out of the Nether fortress, while the rest of the army ambushes them from hidden caves. We will surround them before they even know what’s happening. And when they think the trap is complete, I will have another surprise ready for them, just for fun. These NPCs will know they have come to meet their doom. Then we will take our time exterminating them, saving the User-that-is-not-a-user for last.”

  The blazes began to laugh, their flames growing bright.

  “General, have your lieutenants use their fireballs to carve out deep caves in the netherrack,” Charybdis commanded. “Make them deep and curving, so that our blazes can hide and await our enemy’s arrival. Use those two hills over there.” The blaze king launched a pair of fireballs at some distant hills, marking their location. “Understood?”

  “Yes, Sire,” the general replied.

  He then floated higher and let his internal flame grow white-hot. The orange glow from the lava ocean was pushed aside by his blazing white light, making it almost appear like it was daytime in the subterranean world.

  “We will do what none of the other monsters in Minecraft have been able to do,” Charybdis screamed. “WE WILL DESTROY GAMEKNIGHT999!”

  The blazes wheezed and flickered as they shot their fireballs straight up into the air, creating a beautiful and lethal fireworks show.

  Slowly, Charybdis floated back to the ground as the blazes moved off, all preparing for the battle to come. The blaze king watched his subjects prepare, and a feeling of glee filled him from head to blaze rod.

  “Soon, Gameknight999, you will be kneeling before me, begging for mercy. But you will receive none!”

  CHAPTER 26

  OLD FRIENDS

  Gameknight smiled when he saw the bright torches that trimmed the top of the fortified wall; they’d made it home. The village seemed lonely now that there was no forest surrounding the grassy plain. Much of the ash and soot that covered the ghostly remains of the trees and plants had been blown away by the wind. Without the black, dusty covering, the devastated landscape seemed like something on an alien planet. It reminded Gameknight of a Minecraft mod he’d once played, called Galacticraft.

  “This just makes me sad,” Stitcher said as she glared at the forest. “Will it always be this way?”

  “What do you mean?” Gameknight asked.

  “I mean, will the trees ever grow back again?”

  Gameknight shrugged, then turned and stared at Snowbrin. The light-crafter was gliding along next to him on a layer of snow blocks as if he were ice-skating. The blocks of pristine white powder formed in front of him just before he would take his next step. Behind him, the path trailed off and slowly melted as the sun beat down on the frozen cubes.

  “What do you think, Snowbrin?” Gameknight asked.

  “Hmmm,” Snowbrin said.

  Gameknight noticed the light-crafter seemed to make this sound whenever lost in thought.

  “I have been in Minecraft for a long time,” Snowbrin said. “Since the great war … the pre-alpha days, as they were called. Hmmm … I have seen a lot of things, some wonderful and some terrible, but there is one thing that always seems to stay constant.”

  “What?” Hunter asked. “That you always take a long time to answer a question?”

  Stitcher punched her sister in the arm.

  “Ouch,” she complained.

  Stitcher smiled.

  “Hmmm … though you are correct, Hunter, that is not my observation,” Snowbrin said. “What I have learned is that Minecraft always seems to find a way to bring life into existence. After the great war, many were killed, but life continued. Sections of the world were destroyed and shattered by explosions and fire, yet life found a way to return. So, I do not think this damage is permanent, as long as the blazes are stopped. If left unchecked, I fear the blazes may succeed in destroying the Overworld and throwing Minecraft forever out of balance
, and that is much more serious.”

  “Why is being out of balance such a big deal?” Gameknight asked.

  “Because if it gets too far out of balance, then it could threaten the stability of the Source,” Snowbrin said. “That would cause all the servers to shut down. Minecraft could not recover from that. All the lives on all the server planes would be extinguished in the blink of an eye. We cannot allow that to happen.”

  “Oh, no,” Gameknight said.

  “That’s all you have to say? ‘Oh, no’?” Hunter said.

  “Not that … look!” the User-that-is-not-a-user said, pointing to the tall cobblestone walls.

  They all turned and looked toward the village.

  “What are you worried about?” Hunter said. “I don’t see anything.”

  “Exactly,” he replied.

  “Wait, where is everyone?” Herder asked.

  “I don’t know,” Gameknight replied, “but I think we’d better hurry up.”

  He kicked his horse into a sprint, crossed the last bit of the bare forest, and passed into the thick grass of the plain. As he rode, Gameknight scanned the battlements and archer towers, searching for any guards on duty. There were none, as far as he could tell.

  Slowing to a gallop, then to a canter, Gameknight crossed the wooden bridge that spanned the moat, dismounted, and approached the village gates. Drawing his diamond sword in his right hand and his iron in his left, he motioned for Herder to open the doors.

  Once they were open just enough to squeeze through, he charged inside, with Hunter and Stitcher right on his heels. They quickly spread throughout the village, scanning the area for threats. Herder pulled the horses through the doors, then released the reins as he followed Gameknight, with Snowbrin at his side.

  The User-that-is-not-a-user raced up the steps that led to the top of the wall and glanced around. There was no one atop the tall watchtower … not a good sign. Animal pens sat empty, as did horse corrals. The village was completely deserted: no monsters, no villagers, no animals … nothing.