Mission to the Moon

by Mark Cheverton

  “Gameknight, get back,” Hunter growled.

  Rolling to the left, the User-that-is-not-a-user moved back just as a pair of flaming arrows struck the terrifying monster. The arrows hit but had no visible effect. The Eldritch’s armor failed to catch on fire, for its transparent body was insubstantial, made of smoke and shadow.

  “Watch out, it’s gonna shoot!” Herder said.

  Just then, two dark balls of magic flew up at the two girls, one of them hitting Stitcher, the other narrowly missing Hunter.

  Squawk, squawk, Tux shouted just as the Guardian fired another volley at the sisters, who were now pressed low against the roof.

  The dark creature turned toward the sound. The penguin was standing before the monster, squawking in anger. The Eldritch started to reach out, its ghostly hands like clawed, skeletal things that held no mercy. But then, a shout that sounded like a hundred warriors echoed across the landscape.

  “NO!” Digger screamed as he charged forward.

  With a pickaxe in each hand, the stocky villager threw himself at the monster.

  “You aren’t hurting our friends anymore!” the villager shouted.

  His picks were a blur as he swung them with all his strength. They rang out like hammers hitting an anvil when they landed squarely on the creature’s armor. Trupech tossed Gameknight a golden apple, which he gobbled down, then stood and attacked, his diamond sword flashing through the air like blue lightning.

  The Eldritch Guardian backed up, trying to get away, likely to use its dark magic again, but suddenly Herder was behind the monster, placing blocks of cobblestone on the ground. Herder joined, building a short wall to keep the monster in place. The Guardian struck back, smashing Digger in the chest and causing him to stagger for a moment, but Crafter was there to catch his friend, and then moved next to him and added his sword to the attack. Flaming arrows streaked between the comrades, striking the Eldritch repeatedly, adding more damage to the assault.

  The monster flung an armored fist at Crafter, knocking him to the ground, then shoved Digger hard until the villager fell backward. Turning his nightmarish attention on Gameknight999, the monster attacked with a flurry of punches and kicks, the User-that-is-not-a-user barely able to block them all.

  Suddenly, a wave of white surged around the monster. The wolves had thrown themselves at the creature, drawing its attention to the ground. At the same time, Herder and Weaver leapt up on top of the wall they’d built, and attacked the Eldritch from above. Gameknight dropped his shield and held his diamond sword with both hands. Using every bit of strength, he hacked at the shadowy Guardian. Digger and Crafter reengaged, adding their weapons to the attack. The creature turned from one attacker to the next, not sure which to strike, and all the while its HP dropped lower and lower.

  Trupech moved forward and pulled out some kind of magical staff. It appeared to be a straight, waist-high stick, the ends capped with bright, silver metal. The gray gnome pointed it at the creature. After a tiny flash from the tip, the staff began to draw something out of the Guardian. The creature shook violently, then fell to the ground and writhed in terrible agony.

  Trupech moved a step closer. The Eldritch Guardian tried to crawl away, but the cobblestone wall kept the creature from escaping.

  “Attack it now,” Trupech said, his short words spat out quickly.

  The friends resumed their attacks, smashing the monster with their weapons. The smoky nightmare flashed red as their blades tore into its HP. It tried to strike out at them, but the Eldritch Guardian was getting weaker and weaker. Suddenly, it shuddered and moaned a hollow sort of wail that echoed, artificially, as if it were in some long stone tunnel. Gameknight swung his blade with all his strength, as did the others. The creature moaned again, then shook violently; its last act. The Eldritch Guardian fell to the side and crumpled to the ground, finally disappearing in a puff of dark smoke.

  The gray mist around them cleared as the whispering sounds slowly dissipated. Gameknight turned and faced Trupech, then glanced at the staff in the creature’s three-fingered grasp.

  “Is that from Thaumcraft?” the User-that-is-not-a-user asked.

  The gnome nodded his head.

  “What are you talking about?” Crafter asked.

  “That staff … it comes from the same mod that brought the Eldritch Guardian into existence,” Gameknight999 explained.

  Hunter jumped down from the roof and approached. She turned to Trupech. “What’s the deal with that cane of yours?”

  “This is the Staff of Truth,” the aged pech replied. “It has been in my possession for all my life.”

  “What does it do?” Crafter asked.

  “This magical tool forces the target and the wielder to confront their true self,” Trupech explained, his words coming out short and fast. “They’re shown all the truths they’ve been hiding from. For creatures of evil, this is not easy. Good and evil are universal truths. We all know which side we are on. The Eldritch was forced to realize that it was an instrument of evil and destruction. It has no purpose in Minecraft other than harming others. The Guardian refused to accept this and resisted the images of its true self.

  “A person can never win a battle with themselves. We must all accept who we are, with our strengths and weaknesses. No one can deceive themselves fully; we all know the truth. For the Eldritch, the truth about all the harm it had caused to others was too much to bear. It refused to accept the reality of its existence, and thus, the Staff slowly drained its life force. The Eldritch Guardian could never accept the truth, and that cost it its life.”

  “That’s a nice little toy,” Hunter said.

  “It is not a toy, it is a weapon—a dangerous weapon,” Trupech snapped, the words sharp and pointed, as if the gnome had suffered as well. “It asks a price of the target and the wielder. It forced me to accept the truth about myself. It showed me my failure on Diona. I should have been able to stop Entity303, but I wasn’t strong enough. Because of my weakness, the villagers of that planet are now nothing but evolved monsters. The Staff of Truth forced me to accept both my successes and failures. If I hadn’t, it would have destroyed me as well.”

  “That doesn’t sound so nice after all.” Hunter put a comforting hand on the gnome’s small shoulder.

  Everyone was silent for a moment as Trupech contemplated what he had confronted in the battle while the rest of them scanned the terrain for any more threats.

  “You know, Entity303 isn’t making this very easy for us,” Crafter said. “Warriors made of smoke was not something I thought we’d need to fight.”

  “Me neither.” Gameknight lowered his voice. “It’s making me think that there are lots of other things Entity303 can bring into this land with that mod if he wanted. Some of them are pretty mean … and tough.”

  Empech stepped forward and gazed up at Gameknight999. “He uses Thaumcraft to weaken the fabric, yes, yes. Empech can feel the strain.”

  “I can feel it too,” Trupech said, his words short and clipped. “Soon, he will start the tear in Minecraft. He’ll use the dark magic held within Thaumcraft to start the destruction.”

  “Hmmmm … we must hurry,” Forpech grumbled in a deep voice.

  Squawk, Tux agreed.

  “I know, I know,” Gameknight said. “But first we must heal and rest. Everyone find a bed in the village. All of us need food and sleep. In the morning, we’ll find our enemy, Entity303.”

  Digger looked at the User-that-is-not-a-user with fear in his green eyes. “What if he and his dark magic finds us first?”

  No one answered. They glanced at each other as they considered the question, but none wanted to put a voice to their fear … no, their nightmare.

  CHAPTER 28

  OPENING THE EYE

  Entity303 soared high over the tops of the trees, using his jetpack to fly quickly across the landscape. Below him scrolled biomes of pink and purple and yellow and blue, all of it making him sick.

  “If I’d been on the deve
lopment team for this planet, I would have never agreed to these colors,” he said to himself, the jetpack almost drowning out his voice. “It’s like I’m trapped inside some kind of cartoon … it’s ridiculous.”

  He banked to the left when he spotted a pool of lava nestled in the center of a strange forest. The trees were tall, with leaves that reflected the light from the stars overhead. It was as if each leaf were crafted from the finest silver, the individual blades shining like tiny little mirrors. One of the trees looked ablaze, but as Entity303 drew near, he realized the leaves were just reflecting the bright glow from the pool of molten stone below.

  He banked away from the lava and headed to the south. The landscape was dark, but with the clear sky, the stars added a faint silver hue to the surroundings. The sun had sunk below the horizon and the world was now plunged into a mystical twilight, but Entity303 had no problem seeing; he’d used a potion of night-vision to give himself an extra edge.

  A large green plain of fluorescent grass stretched off to the right. There was a village out there, with the flickering light from torches spilling through the colored windows. It was barely visible in the distance, but he was sure there would be villagers there to torture.

  “Maybe I should go destroy those NPCs, just for fun.” The idea amused him, but he knew he had to stay focused. “No, I need to find the Altar and get this party started.”

  He angled down, zooming just above the shining leaves of the forest, the pink grass below making the leafy canopy stand out in stark contrast. Far off to the left, he saw a bright something that stretched out for dozens of blocks. He angled toward it, heading south-east. As he neared, Entity303 realized it was just another grassy plains biome, but this one had an annoying golden yellow grass that glowed, lighting up the landscape even on the darkest of nights. The sparkling blades of grass made him sick.

  “What a waste of programming,” he mumbled.

  He turned away from the glowing fields and headed to the southwest. Ahead were some steep mountains with multi-colored trees decorating their slopes. Curving around the peaks, Entity303 passed through the mountain range only to find another forest.

  “This place is sick with forests,” the user growled. “Couldn’t those developers think of anything original?”

  And then he saw what he was searching for. Off to the right there was a biome that at first glance looked covered with snow, but Entity303 knew there wasn’t any snow on Fronos. The trees in the white biome were completely devoid of branches, just multicolored pillars sticking up into the air. As he neared, the user smelled what he thought was cake … how could that be? He accelerated toward the bright land and descended closer to the ground. The jet pack sputtered and coughed, the last of the rocket fuel getting sucked into the engines. Slowly gliding to the ground, he landed gracefully in the strange biome. He loosened the straps and removed the jetpack, then replaced it with his Alpha Yeti chest plate.

  Around him, the ground reminded him of an endless frosted cake, with tiny little candies embedded in the frosting. Colorful shrubs that resembled clumps of cotton candy dotted the surroundings. The trees were actually spiral-striped candy sticks, each a different flavor and color. Entity303 reached out and touched the sugary stalk, then brought his finger to his mouth.

  “Strawberry and banana?” he said aloud, astonished. “It’s really all candy. I found Candy Land!”

  That was the name of this biome. They were extremely rare on Fronos, and the evil user knew this would be where the Altar would be located; he had put the bug in this software himself before being fired from the Minecraft team.

  Surveying his surroundings, he saw creatures of all kinds moving about. There were large strawberries with little feet. They had yellow eyes and the strawberry’s stems made their noses. Tiny kiwi fruit with eyes and mouths on their fuzzy green bodies walked about as if all this were normal. Blueberry creatures and small jelly slimes moved about, with large watermelons, complete with half-eaten slices on their heads, followed nearby. It was the strangest area he’d ever seen in Minecraft.

  “I must find the Altar, fast,” he said to himself.

  A curious blueberry walked up to him. He viciously kicked the curious berry, then stormed toward a bouncing candy. The tiny green creature curled up into a ball and rolled quickly away.

  Entity303 growled in frustration, then stormed across the landscape, searching for his prize. He climbed a small hill covered with the candy pillars. When he reached the top, an eerie chill filled the air. The faint sound of ritual chanting seemed to float softly across the landscape, causing tiny little square goose bumps to form on his arms; it was really spooky.

  “It’s near,” Entity303 said.

  He glanced around, expecting to see monsters nearby, but fortunately, the only creatures nearby were the ridiculous fruits and candies. Frustration was beginning to blossom within him, making the user angry. He wanted to punch something or do some damage to something substantial, but all there was around him were these ridiculous candies. Drawing his infused-sword, he swung it at one of the candy canes, cleaving it in two. The top half tumbled to the ground. Entity303 looked down at the candy, but the act did nothing to relieve his frustration.

  Putting his sword away, he ran up the next pink-frosted hill of cake. The chanting grew louder as he swerved around cotton candy bushes and sugary pillars. The spooky voices made him glance over his shoulder to see if anyone was there. Chills ran down his spine. Tiny beads of sweat trickled down his forehead, even though he felt as if he were wrapped in an icy blanket. Entity303 knew he was getting closer. At the peak, the evil user skidded to a stop and smiled; he’d found what he sought.

  Near the bottom of the sweet mound, a shadowy altar sat between a group of candy cane trees. Dark blocks that seemed alien and completely out of place sat on the frosted cake, their presence like a festering wound in an otherwise completely healthy landscape. The blocks were laid out in the shape of an octagon, and were even darker than the void. Small, ornately-carved pedestals dotted each side of the altar, a larger pedestal at the center. Floating above the structure was a tall column of stone, the ends sharpened to points. It was the Eldritch obelisk, dark as midnight, with a shadowy aura about it caused by the dark magic radiating from within.

  The sun crested the eastern horizon and cast rays of light upon the altar. But that did nothing to illuminate the stones or obelisk. The enchanted thing seemed to emanate pure darkness, and, in fact, the surrounding Candy Land forest seemed dimmer than the rest of the forest as a result; the altar was sucking light out of the landscape.

  Standing on the edges of the dark thing were four NPCs. Each one was wearing a long, blood-red cloak that covered them from head to foot, with a thick, billowing hood over each of their heads. The shadows within the cowls completely hid their faces as they stood and faced the center of the altar. These creatures, Crimson Clerics, as they were known in Thaumcraft, were the source of the chanting.

  Entity303 drew his sword and moved closer. He knew the Clerics were harmless, but the very dangerous Crimson Knights could spawn at any time, as well as the dreaded Eldritch Guardian. Moving behind one of the Clerics, the user noticed a stream of dark smoke that flowed between the obelisk and the NPCs. It wasn’t clear if the Clerics were breathing in the dark magic from the shadowy column of floating stone, or whether they were providing the mystical smoke to the structure. In any case, this was what he’d been searching for on Fronos.

  “Now it’s time to open the Eye,” he said to himself.

  Reaching into his inventory, Entity303 pulled out four round plates, each one identical. They all had a drawing of an eye on them, with a gold rim around the edge and a purple pupil at the center. The user stepped up to the obelisk, the Crimson Clerics ignoring his presence. Kneeling, he placed one of the disks on the pedestal that sat under the floating obelisk. It instantly stuck to the dark stone. Moving around the pedestal, he placed the rest of the eyes on the structure.

  Suddenly,
a hissing sound filled the air. It sounded like a gigantic snake getting ready to strike, but then it faded away as a dark stain formed in the air between the pedestal and the obelisk. The stain grew darker and larger, stretching outward until it encompassed the pedestal and part of the floating stone. It was roughly shaped like an eye, with an inky black pupil and a dark blue halo surrounding the edge.

  The Eye was now open.

  The clerics looked up for just a moment, then lowered their cloaked heads and continued to chant.

  Entity303 laughed as he approached the dark and menacing portal. He had the urge to destroy the clerics, just because he could, but he liked the sound of their frightening chants.

  “I will let you live, for now,” he said to the NPCs.

  They ignored them and just continued their spooky incantations.

  Turning, he glanced around the Candy Land terrain. All of the strange candy and fruit-like creatures were now slowly moving toward the rift, as if in a trance … it was strange.

  “Well, if you foolish creatures want to come to the Outer Lands and be destroyed by things more frightening than your worst nightmares, then please come on.”

  He reached down and picked up a blueberry creature. Its tiny feet squirmed as he held it high in the air, then he threw it into the portal. The innocent creature vanished when it entered the eye-shaped rift, transported to another dimension, a dangerous dimension: the creature was transported to the Outer Lands.

  The user turned around, hoping someone would be there to see the terrible act, but the only creatures nearby were more of the jelly slimes, berry creatures, and hopping melons, all of them approaching the Eye, their faces emotionless, as if they were each in a trance.

  He sighed, then pulled out some special armor. It was dark blue with a hint of magical enchantments. Removing the Alpha Yeti armor and throwing it to the ground, he replaced it with the Voidmetal armor. Entity303 knew the kind of monsters that lurked on the other side of the portal; the furry white Yeti armor would not have been enough protection in the Outer Lands. But with Voidmetal wrapped around his body, he stood a very good chance of being able to withstand just about anything.