Gameknight999 vs. Herobrine

by Mark Cheverton

  Moving farther from the cobblestone structure, Gameknight waited for the last of the spiders to pass his location, and then he struck.

  “FOR MINECRAFT!” Gameknight yelled as he fell on the stragglers in the back.

  His two swords a deadly blur, he destroyed three of the spiders before they even knew what was happening. As the monsters perished, their shouts of surprise drew the attention of the others ahead of them. Soon, Gameknight had a dozen spiders facing him, their wicked, curved claws slicing through the air from all sides. Suddenly, streaks of furry white shot past him, the flash of sharp fangs just barely visible. The wolves charged at the spiders, ignoring their massive size. They snapped at the fuzzy monsters with their powerful jaws, and the spiders took damage and flashed red.

  Some of the wolves yelped and howled as they were hurt themselves. This brought a shout of alarm from the fortified position as Herder screamed and charged toward the battle to protect his wolves, his long black hair streaming behind him like a mighty battle flag. With his stone sword in his hand, he slashed at the nearest spider, his eyes filled with rage.

  Gameknight pushed through the black fuzzy bodies and moved to his friend’s side, making sure to keep him safe. Gameknight’s own two swords tore into the spiders’ bodies with ferocity. Out of the corner of his eye, Gameknight could see that Herder was not very good with the sword, but his sheer willpower made up for it; he would not let his wolves be harmed, no matter what.

  The lanky boy was an inspiration, and it made Gameknight fight even harder.

  With the sounds of battle and the loud clicking of the spiders, the whine of Herobrine’s XP had been pushed into the background. It was once again just a mere annoyance. This allowed the NPCs to finally work together. Glancing over his shoulder, Gameknight could see Hunter and Stitcher both standing atop their fortified structures, shooting at the same spiders to reduce their HP quickly. Digger ran out of the fortification with Crafter at his side, holding his two pickaxes, one knocking aside the curved claws while the other attacked. Crafter held an iron chest plate in his left hand, using it as a shield as he slashed at the creatures. They battled back to back, simultaneously guarding the other while they each attacked the spiders in front of them. Monkeypants and Baker saw this and quickly emulated it. Now there were multiple pairs of deadly blades flashing through the torch-lit night, slashing at the hideous multi-eyed monsters. One of the spiders struck at Baker’s hand, knocking the sword from his head. Monkeypants slashed at the creature while the NPC pulled out his enchanted pickaxe. Swinging it like a mighty sickle, Baker smashed through the spiders before him, causing monsters to flash red with damage. The enchanted tool was like a blue wave of destruction, and Baker swung it with such speed that it looked like a glowing blur, tearing into any spider foolish enough to get too close.

  In minutes, it was over. All but one spider was destroyed, and this last one had only enough HP to continue breathing. Collapsing to the ground, the monster swiveled its head and glared at Gameknight999 with its multiple burning red eyes.

  “Answer my questions, spider, and we will let you live,” Gameknight said.

  “The Sisterssss will hunt you down and desssstroy you,” the spider replied.

  “Not on my watch,” he said. “What is your name?”

  “I am called Shokar,” it said, “and I am ssssorry that I will not be there to watch Shaivalak desssstroy you.”

  “That’s a lot of s’s,” Hunter said.

  “That’s how spiders talk,” Crafter said as he stepped closer. “Shaivalak is your queen?”

  “Yessss, and sssshe will be your executioner,” Shokar hissed.

  Then the spider said something in such a low voice that Crafter had to move closer. With the last ounces of its strength, the monster reached out to slash at the young NPC, but never made contact. Two enchanted arrows streaked through the air and hit the monster, rendering the last of its HP from the dark fuzzy body. The creature disappeared with a pop!, leaving behind three glowing balls of XP and a handful of string.

  Crafter looked up at Hunter, then Stitcher.

  “Thanks,” he said to the sisters.

  “No problem,” Stitcher said.

  Hunter just nodded her head.

  “We should get out of here,” Baker said. “More enemies are likely on their way.”

  Gameknight looked at the NPC and was about to reply when he noticed the enchanted pickaxe in his hand. He could tell by the iridescent wave of magic that flowed along the tool’s shaft that it was a powerful tool with multiple enchantments. Baker locked eyes with the User-that-is-not-a-user, noticing his probing stare. Quickly, he put away the pick and retrieved his sword, then looked away.

  “No, I think we are safe here, for now,” Crafter said. “If there were any monsters nearby, Herobrine’s XP would be calling to them.”

  “I agree,” Gameknight said. “We all need some rest. Let’s seal ourselves inside our fortification and get some sleep. I’ll take the first watch.”

  No one complained; they were all weary to the bone. After collecting all the XP and spider silk, they moved into their fortified structure and sealed in the roof. Leaving the archer slits open, each found a patch of ground and quickly went to sleep. Herder curled up next to the ender chest.

  Chiding himself for volunteering to stand the first watch, Gameknight walked around the structure in an effort to stay awake. When the monster kings realized what they had with them, he thought, every monster in Minecraft would be after them. Sighing, Gameknight gripped the hilt of his diamond sword firmly and hoped he had the courage to see this through.

  CHAPTER 10

  THE MONSTER’S PLAN

  Feyd paced impatiently back and forth, waiting for more monsters to arrive. They had congregated in a large cave that sat at the base of a sheer cliff, the tall bare mountains of an extreme hills biome surrounding them. Gathering his powers, the king of the endermen disappeared in a cloud of purple teleportation particles and then reappeared on the mountain’s peak. Feyd surveyed the terrain. A forest biome butted up against the extreme hills biome, making the cold, stone mountains look as if they were huge, jagged teeth jutting up through the ground, trying to devour the oaken trees. It was creepy-looking, and it made Feyd smile.

  Behind him, the extreme hills ended abruptly against a grasslands biome, the lush green of that landscape, even in the middle of the night, looking unpleasantly beautiful to Feyd compared to the stark gray of the mountains. To his left and right, the sharp peaks extended for hundreds of blocks until they disappeared into the haze. The king of the endermen loved these extreme hills regions. There were always immense cave systems amidst the sheer cliffs, many of them descending deep into the depths of Minecraft until they reached the level of lava.

  Ahh . . . lava, Feyd thought. It always feels good to be near that wonderful, molten stone.

  Though endermen were creatures from The End, they, like all monsters, felt at ease near the lava-filled chambers of the deep tunnels. There were rarely any users or NPCs down there; it was always safe in the smoky passages.

  As he looked down on the forest below, Feyd could see dark shapes scuttling beneath the foliage—spiders, lots of them, were arriving. The fuzzy monsters were answering their queen’s call and gathering in the cave below to form a massive army, something that had not happened since their previous queen, Shaikulud, had been alive. That terrible Gameknight999 had killed the last queen, causing the spiders to scatter in chaos, living solitary lives in the treetops or deep within the shadows of underground passages. But now, the new queen, Shaivalak, was using the mental powers that had been bestowed upon her by Herobrine, allowing her to control all spiders, bending them to her will. And since the spider queen did as Feyd commanded, these hundreds of spiders were really his to control.

  The king of the endermen grinned an eerie, toothy smile.

  The sound of clattering bones drifted to his ears on the constant east-to-west wind that always flowed across Minecraf
t. Turning to look, the king of the endermen could see pale, white creatures between the tree branches, their bony structures like ghostly apparitions in the silvery moonlight. Off in the distant forest, Feyd could see more skeletons coming, each with a leather cap on their head in case they did not make it to the caves before sunrise. Skeletons, like zombies, burst into flames when caught under the harsh light of the sun. The leather caps they now carried were gifts from Herobrine and protected them from this terrible fate. They had been denied the privilege of daylight and a clear blue sky for hundreds of years now; it was a punishment from the old days of the Great Zombie Invasion. But when the monsters cleansed the Overworld of the annoying NPCs, they would once and for all rule Minecraft.

  Gathering a mist of purple teleportation particles, Feyd disappeared, materializing back in the dark tunnels. He walked through the labyrinth of twisting tunnels, toward the monster army gathering in the deep, underground cave. The passage turned this way and that, sometimes the roof becoming so low that the tall endermen had to stoop to avoid hitting his head on the rocky ceiling. As he descended, the sorrowful moans of zombies drifted up from the depths, along with the excited clicks of spiders and the impatient chuckles of endermen. Gradually, the temperature rose, a faint smoky haze filling the air. Reaching a sharp corner, Feyd turned and smiled when he saw a river of lava flowing out of the wall, gently caressing the floor of a large cavern, the lake of molten stone casting an orange glow on the roughhewn walls and ceiling.

  Gathered near the lake of boiling rock were his monsters—his army. They stretched out into the massive cave, extending across the floor until they disappeared into the shadows, the red eyes of the spiders glowing in the distance. Near the edge of the lava stood the monster kings: Xa-Tul, Reaper, and Shaivalak. Absent from the meeting was Charybdis, king of the blazes. The creature of flame and smoke was still in the Nether, likely leaving the problems of the Overworld to the monsters present. Feyd sighed. The power of the blazes would have been a welcome addition here.

  “More monsters are arriving by the minute,” Feyd said to the collection of terrifying creatures before him. “Already our spiders have gone out and attacked the User-that-is-not-a-user to give him just a small taste of what’s coming.” He turned to the spider queen and focused his white eyes on her dark form. “How do the Sisters you sent after him fare?”

  “All have been desssstroyed,” Shaivalak said, her multiple purple eyes flaring with anger. “We will have our revenge on Gameknight999 and hissss friendssss.”

  Feyd nodded, not surprised at all at the outcome, then closed his eyes and tilted his head upward for a moment as if listening to something.

  “The User-that-is-not-a-user and his pathetic friends are likely resting for the night,” Feyd said.

  “How do you know that, enderman?” Xa-Tul bellowed.

  “Can you not hear the Maker’s song?” the king of the endermen said. “It is not changing location. As it is night outside right now, it is reasonable to assume they are resting.”

  “Then we should attack!” the zombie bellowed.

  “No,” snapped Feyd. “We will set a trap for Gameknight999 to walk right into.”

  “How will we do that?” Reaper clattered. “The User-that-is-not-a-user has always been unpredictable and difficult to control. He has outsmarted us each and every time.”

  “That is true, Reaper, but I promise our fortunes will soon change. For the past few days, they have been on the move, taking the Maker’s XP north.” Feyd let the monsters ponder this information, waiting for realization to dawn on them, but the monsters stayed confused.

  Idiots, he thought. If I only had an army of warriors with half a brain, Gameknight would be history long before now.

  “They are taking the Maker to the north,” the enderman continued. “And knowing that, there is only one place they could possibly be taking him . . .”

  He waited again for understanding to seep into their miniscule brains. Still nothing.

  “The Pit of Despair, you fools!” Feyd screeched, his face creased with annoyance. “They are obviously taking the Maker to the Pit of Despair. That is the only structure to the north. It lies in the great desert, far from all villages and settlements.”

  Xa-Tul growled as his eyes lit with anger at the mention of the place. Reaper reacted as though the Pit of Despair was some kind of personal affront to the skeletons that could never be forgiven. The two kings glanced at each other and scowled, the rage within them barely contained. The spider queen, however, did not react. Instead, she just looked confused.

  “What issss thissss Pit of Disssspair?” Shaivalak asked.

  “A deep hole that stretches all the way down to bedrock,” Feyd explained to the young queen. “It was created by the NPCs during the Great Zombie Invasion. Long before your time.”

  “The NPCs destroyed many zombies in the Pit,” Xa-Tul growled.

  “And skeletons as well,” Reaper added. “Our histories tell us that cowardly blacksmith did this to us, leaving the monsters that survived the formation of the pit to starve until their HP became depleted. It’s something we will never forgive them for.”

  Shaivalak nodded her large fuzzy head, her multiple purple eyes flashing from one monster king to the other.

  “What issss it ussssed for now?” the spider queen asked.

  Now, Xa-Tul smiled. “Sometimes, the zombies take prisoners there and drop them into the pit,” the zombie said. “Their cries of terror echo off the walls as they fall the hundred blocks to bedrock.”

  “This is where they must be heading, straight for the Pit of Despair,” Feyd said. “But their path will lead them through Vo-Lok’s Pass. It’s in the pass where we will trap Gameknight999 and his friends.”

  “Vo-Lok’ssss—” Shaivalak started to ask, but was interrupted before she could finish the question.

  “The pass is a narrow passage through the line of steep hills along the border of the northern desert,” Feyd explained. “During the Great Zombie Invasion, ages ago, there was a great battle in that pass. A small group of villagers held off a massive army of monsters, stopping them from invading the forest and plains to the south. The NPCs used the narrow confines of the pass to hold off the much larger force until the rest of their army arrived. The zombie general, Vo-Lok, was finally driven back into the desert until he was destroyed in the Pit of Despair. The pass was named after that failed general so that all could remember the cost of defeat.

  “But when we catch Gameknight999 in the pass and rescue Herobrine’s XP, the pass will be renamed Feyd’s Pass in honor of my victory.”

  “The enderman means our victory, of course,” growled Xa-Tul.

  “Yes . . . yes, whatever,” Feyd replied, waving a dark hand at the impudent zombie.

  Xa-Tul growled and stood a little taller, his clawed hand moving to the hilt of his sword. Feyd looked at the zombie and chuckled.

  “The monsters of the Overworld must take control of Vo-Lok’s Pass before the User-that-is-not-a-user reaches it,” Xa-Tul said. “The pathetic Gameknight999 will then reach the pass and find it blocked, and their plan will be a complete failure.”

  “No,” screeched Feyd.

  “‘No?’ What is meant by ‘no?’” Xa-Tul asked. “Who put an enderman in charge?”

  Feyd’s eyes glowed white. He teleported behind the zombie king and rapped lightly on his back, then teleported to his side and did it again and again. He was like a shadowy blur of dark lightning as he moved around the zombie king at the speed of thought. The zombie king reached for his massive golden broadsword, but every time his clawed hand touched the hilt, it was knocked away by the enderman’s clenched fist.

  Xa-Tul became more frustrated, growling loudly. This caused the zombies in the chamber to growl as well, their sharp claws extending and sparkling in the light of the lava. Clouds of purple teleportation particles formed around the endermen as dark fists clenched. The skeletons, unsure what to do, fitted arrows to bow strings and st
epped away from the impending conflict.

  But it was the shrill voice of the spider queen that stopped the escalation of violence.

  “THISSSS WILL SSSSTOP!” she shouted as she placed blocks of spider web around both Xa-Tul and Feyd, immobilizing them.

  The zombie king glared at the enderman with blazing red angry eyes. Feyd’s eyes were equally as bright, but deadly white.

  “The Maker would desssstroy you both if he were here to witnesssss thisss,” Shaivalak said through angry pointed teeth. “We are here to resssscue the Maker, not argue over who should get the credit for a battle we haven’t fought yet. Focussss on what issss important and ignore everything elsssse.”

  Feyd looked down at the spider, realizing that he’d underestimated the new spider queen, and relaxed, his eyes dimming. Xa-Tul also relaxed, moving his hand away from his sword. When the two rulers were sufficiently calm, the spider queen sliced through the webs with a curved claw, freeing them.

  “Shaivalak is right,” Feyd said, begrudgingly. “We must focus on our goal. My plan is to split our forces and hide in the hills near Vo-Lok’s Pass. When the User-that-is-not-a-user enters, our armies will come out of hiding and close off both ends of the pass. We will then close in on him from the front and the rear. Trapped between our two armies, Gameknight999 will not stand a chance.”

  The king of the endermen turned and faced Xa-Tul. “Does that plan satisfy the king of the zombies?”

  “Yes, but only if Xa-Tul will lead one of the armies,” the zombie growled.

  “Agreed,” replied the enderman.

  “Then what are we waiting for?” Reaper asked. “We must take up our positions and wait for our prey to walk right into our trap.”

  Xa-Tul looked at the skeleton, then glanced at the other monster kings and nodded his hideous head in agreement.

  CHAPTER 11

  BAKER’S HEIRLOOM

  Digger woke the party just before dawn. Gameknight rose groggily to his feet, fatigue still filling his body.