They laughed until they stopped, frozen in their tracks as they marveled at the purple End stone castle looming in the dark skies.
“We’re here.” Julia grinned.
Chapter 13
HELLO, END CITY
“It’s incredible.” Julia eyed the large castle lit by End rods. The purple stone buildings weren’t shaded in the dark.
“We should try to find an End ship. That’s where we’ll find the loot,” said Brad.
A banner waved from the top of a large structure standing next to the castle, but Julia didn’t feel a breeze as she scanned the landscape of this city deep in the End. “I don’t see an End ship anywhere.”
“We have to explore the city,” Emma said.
“I think there’s loot in the castle. Let’s go there first,” Mia suggested.
The group walked toward the massive castle, but stopped when Brad cried out in pain.
Everyone looked for an attacker, but they couldn’t find anyone. Julia wondered, “Do you think it’s Hallie and she’s invisible?”
“I’m not sure.” Brad looked around the city. “I can’t find anything.”
“It has to be Hallie,” Julia insisted and held her diamond sword in her hand, pointing it at an imaginary invisible person.
“Julia,” Emma said, “calm down. If it’s Hallie, I think the faculty has it covered.”
Julia knew Emma was right, but she was fixated on Hallie attacking them again. She was also annoyed that Hallie was damaging their final grade and their last few weeks at Minecrafters Academy. They had to concentrate on the challenge and not focus on being attacked by an escaped prisoner who had one goal, which was to destroy the Overworld. Yet there wasn’t an answer for this attack.
“Ouch!” Brad cried out.
“What hit you?” Julia asked.
“Did you see anything?” Mia asked.
“No.” Brad was dumbfounded. “I keep getting hit, but I have no idea where it’s coming from.”
The group walked toward the castle, until Mia cried, “I’ve been struck.”
“Where?” Brad asked.
Mia held her leg. “Right here.”
“We have to find out who or what is behind these attacks.” Julia stood in front of the castle.
“I’ve lost four hearts,” Mia said. “It couldn’t be Hallie. She isn’t that powerful.”
“Do you see those white particles?” Julia noticed a white film near Mia’s leg.
“Ugh! Ouch!” Emma wailed, as she grabbed her leg and began to float. “I’m levitating. What’s going on? And I lost four hearts!”
“The closer we get to the castle, the more powerful these strikes are becoming. What are we going to do?” asked Julia.
“Let’s go inside,” Mia said.
Emma landed on the ground. “Really? That’s your plan? I was just struck by something that made me levitate and you want to enter a building that most likely houses this enemy?”
“What else are we going to do?” Mia asked.
“Mia’s right. We need to find treasure and the sooner we find it and fill our inventories, the sooner we can get out of here,” Brad said.
Julia felt something strike her leg, and she began to float. “It’s a shulker! I saw it. It’s camouflaged in the bricks. It looks like a brick, but I saw it jump up and it had a yellow head.”
“Where?” Mia asked.
“Over there!” Emma called out as the shulker peered out from a purpur block inside the castle’s entrance. The shulker unleashed a series of pellets that struck them. The gang floated in the air for what seemed like an eternity as they tried to gather potions of Healing and milk from their inventories. They were all low on energy after losing multiple hearts from the attacks.
“We have to destroy the shulker,” Julia said as she aimed her bow and arrow, but the shulker sheltered itself within the purpur block.
When Mia landed on the ground, she raced toward the shulker with her sword and slammed it into the block, but didn’t damage it.
The shulker peered out, ready to attack the group, but Mia stuck the yellow-headed mob with her sword, weakening the beast. As Mia waited for the shulker to show its face again, Emma screamed out, “Oh no!” Mia turned around to see six shulkers approach them.
“It must have signaled to its friends that it was under attack,” Mia said as she struck the purpur block, but it was pointless. The mob was snug in its armor.
Shulkers surrounding them in every direction struck the group. They were floating as they retaliated. Holding their bows and arrows tightly as they floated in the air, they were careful not to drop any of their weapons. The gang tried to shoot any shulkers that showed their faces.
“They’re like turtles. They have shells to protect them. This battle isn’t fair,” Brad shouted.
“We have armor,” Julia rationalized, but Brad was right. It was an impossible battle and they had to come up with a plan quickly because they had to enter the castle and get the loot and leave.
“Potion,” Mia could barely spit out the word.
“What?” Julia said.
“Let’s splash a potion of Invisibility of ourselves and then sprint into the castle,” Mia said as she gulped a potion of Strength.
Julia shot a sea of arrows, destroying two shulkers. The victories made her confident they could win a battle over these boxy, tricky mobs. “Just keep shooting at the shulkers. I think we can defeat them.”
Brad was struck again and wailed in pain as he struck another shulker with his arrow. “No, Mia’s right. We should try the potion of Invisibility. I know we’re destroying some of these creatures, but it’s still a tough battle. We need to get into the castle fast. I want to get back to school.”
“Let’s meet inside the castle,” Mia said as she gulped the potion.
The group sipped their potions, making them instantly invisible. The group sprinted into the castle, searching for treasure.
“We have to find the loot room,” Brad breathlessly said as they sprinted through the castle, looking for treasure and yelling out to their invisible teammates.
“I found the room,” Mia called out, walking into a room with two chests.
The potion wore off and each person was visible as they crowded around the regular chest and the Ender chest.
“Open them,” Julia said.
Mia quickly opened the chest. “It’s empty.” She raced to the Ender chest and opened it, only to reveal another empty chest. “Seriously?”
“It looks like we weren’t the first people to enter this loot room,” Brad said.
“Do you think Hallie took it?” Julia asked.
“I have no idea, but it doesn’t matter who took it,” Emma said. “It just matters that it’s gone.”
“We have to get out of here and find the End ship before we’re attacked by shulkers,” Mia said.
“Too late,” Brad cried as he floated in the air.
Chapter 14
TRAITORS AND TREASURE
Shulkers surrounded them, popping out from their shells to unleash pellets that both forced the group to levitate and weakened them. Two shulkers struck Mia as she flew above the purpur block floor. She had lost too many hearts and grabbed a potion of Healing from her inventory. “This is my last bottle,” she announced and quickly took a sip.
“I restocked my inventory,” Julia reassured her. “You can have some of my potions.”
The gang aimed their bows and arrows at the purple blocky mob, but they were virtually impossible to battle, since they were safe inside their purpur blocks. Julia was pleased when her arrow struck two shulkers, destroying the pesky mobs. She lowered to the ground and hid behind one of the chests to avoid getting struck by the mobs. If she covered her legs, she’d be fine. Julia struck another shulker as her friends crowded behind the chests, joining her in the battle.
“We have to get out of here,” Brad said. “We’re wasting our time.”
“I agree,” Mia said. “but I don�
��t have any hearts left, and I’m afraid I’ll get hit by one of their pellets.”
Julia handed Mia a potion of Healing. “Once you finish this, we have to get going. This is a useless battle.”
Mia gulped the contents of the bottle and Brad called out, “Let’s go.” The gang sprinted down the halls of the castle, heading toward the exit until Julia spotted a staircase.
“We should go down here,” Julia called out.
“No way,” Mia said.
“Julia’s right. There could be a loot room down there,” Cayla said.
“Ouch!” Brad grabbed his leg as a shulker jumped out of a purpur block.
Julia aimed and hit the shulker. “Bullseye.”
“Wow, you’re an expert fighter,” Emma said.
“No, that’s your skill. I’m just trying to get out of here,” Julia said. “Follow me.”
The gang sprinted down the hall. Emma was the first in the room. Its walls were covered in banners.
“What’s this?” Brad asked as he eyed the floor for shulkers.
“I’m not sure,” Mia said, “but it’s not a loot room.”
The gang ran through a series of rooms until they finally reached a loot room. The room, like the one they had seen before, had two chests. Mia sprinted to a chest and opened it. “Diamonds,” she beamed.
Julia raced over to the Ender chest. Leaning down, she opened the black and green chest. “Wow! It’s filled with enchanted iron boots.”
Julia and Mia filled their inventories as the group stood with their mouths gaping open in horror. Julia looked up. “What’s wrong?’
“Are you seriously taking all of the treasures?” Emma asked.
“That’s not fair,” Cayla said.
“You can have it all,” Brad said, and Cayla and Emma shot him a dirty look and he added, “but I agree it’s not fair. We all found the treasure. You were just the first to open it.”
“But we found it and opened it first,” Mia said defiantly, “I’m not giving it up.”
Julia felt something on her back. She turned around to see Emma’s cold diamond sword touching the small portion of her unarmored back. “What are you doing?”
Cayla stood with her sword aimed at Mia. “Share the treasure or we’ll destroy both of you.”
“How can you do this to us? We’re your friends!” Mia said.
“Friends? Are you joking?” Cayla walked closer to Mia and rubbed the sword against Mia’s arm.
“Friends don’t steal treasure from their teammates.” Emma pushed her sword against Julia’s back.
Two shulkers entered the room, bombarding the group with pellets, and soon they were all in the air and incredibly weak.
Julia looked over at Mia and couldn’t help herself. “Only one of us can bring back the treasure, and I’m the one who deserves it the most. If it wasn’t for me, Mia, this shulker attack would have destroyed you. I’m the one who was kind enough to offer you the potion. I’m the strongest team player in the group, and I should be the class speaker.”
“You don’t sound like a team player to me,” said Brad, “I thought being a part of a team meant working together.”
“What is happening to you? You used to be nice,” Mia said as she quickly replaced her diamond sword with a bow and arrow and aimed at the boxy shulker. White particles flew through the air as the group tried to avoid being struck by the shulkers.
Two pellets struck Mia and her health was deteriorating. Julia handed Mia another bottle of potion, but she refused it. Julia questioned her motives. “But you’ll be destroyed.”
“I’d rather be destroyed by a shulker than take a potion from you. I thought you were one of my best friends. We lived together for years at school, and I’ve never seen this side of you. You always say you hate competition, but you are beyond competitive. You’re brutal.”
The words stung Julia and hurt more than a shulker’s pellet. At that moment, she realized that competition had turned her into another person.
Julia announced, “I just really want to be the class speaker. Please don’t hate me. I have a plan.”
Chapter 15
SHIP OF FOOLS
“It had better be good,” Mia said as she shot an arrow at the shulker, destroying it.
“When we destroy these shulkers, I will evenly distribute my loot. When we get back to school, we’ll all have the same amount and then all of us will have to be class speakers,” Julia said as she aimed and struck the final shulker.
“I don’t think it will work, but we can give it a try,” said Mia.
“I don’t want any loot,” Brad protested as they all raced through the purple halls of the castle and out of the building.
“You have to,” Julia urged him. “You can’t be afraid of speaking.”
“Stop,” Emma said as she pulled diamonds from her inventory and handed them to the group. “Now we all have the same amount.”
Julia took the enchanted iron boots, giving a pair to everyone in the group. She looked over at Mia. “I’m sorry. I really am.”
Mia placed all of the loot in her inventory. “Thanks, but I don’t care if I’m chosen as the class speaker. I was more upset by your actions. I am going to forgive you, but you can’t do something like that again. I know this is important to you, but I thought you knew friendship is a lot more valuable than being chosen as a class speaker.”
“I do. That’s why I came up with the idea of each of us having the same amount of loot,” Julia said.
“It’s fine,” Brad said. “You did the right thing and so did Cayla.”
Cayla shouted, “Guys! Look!”
Everyone watched Cayla sprint toward a pier. At the end of the pier was an incredibly rare End ship.
“We found one!” Mia beamed.
Emma picked an Ender crystal from her inventory and threw it at the ship, and the group entered the floating ship made of purpur bricks.
They climbed up the ladder on the deck and took in the view of End City. Julia said, “Wow, it’s incredible.”
“I’m glad our team was chosen to participate in this contest,” Mia said as she marveled at the purple buildings and the city lit by End rods. Despite being such an inhospitable environment, it was stunning, and the group soaked in the beauty of End City.
“We should check out the cabins,” Brad suggested.
“The ship isn’t too big, so we should be able to find the loot really fast,” Mia said.
“Look at that dragon head!” Cayla exclaimed.
A dragon head was on the bow of the ship. Julia said, “We have to get that dragon head. That’s an impossible find.”
“What are we going to do?” Mia asked. “There’s only one dragon head.”
“We can play rock, paper, scissors,” Brad suggested.
“We can share it,” Julia said. “We will bring it back to the school and use it to decorate the entrance to the dorms.”
“That’s a good idea,” Mia said. “That way people will remember us and our battle in End City.”
“Hopefully it will inspire other people to take a chance and visit End City,” Julia said.
“How are we going to get it?” Emma asked.
The gang climbed down the ladder as Brad volunteered to get the dragon head. “It’s a one-person job. That said, if you see that I’m about to fall, can you let me know?”
Brad sprinted toward the bow and slowly walked along the narrow bow. The dragon’s head’s red eyes glowed in the veil of darkness at the edge of the bow. Brad paused and Julia called out, “You can do it, Brad. I know it!”
Despite these words of encouragement, Brad was frozen on the bow. He looked down.
“Just look ahead,” Mia said. “You’re almost there.”
Brad took a deep breath as he continued to walk on the narrow edge and carefully reached over and grabbed the dragon’s head.
“Good job!” Mia exclaimed.
Brad placed the dragon head in his inventory, and he slowly watched ea
ch step he took, making sure he didn’t fall as he made his way back to the safety of the upper deck.
Cayla said, “We should search for the treasure.”
“Yes,” Julia agreed. “I want to go home.”
They walked inside the ship’s interior, exploring the cabins. The first room was small and had a brewing station. Mia raced toward the brewing station. “Should I make a potion? I need a potion of Healing,” Mia said.
Julia walked over to the brewing station. “There are two bottles here.” She held up two potions of Healing that were sitting next to the brewing stand.
“I’d love potions,” Emma said, “but I think you should brew something when we get home. I just want to get out of here.”
“We have to find the treasure room,” Brad said. “I hear the treasures on an End ship are incredibly valuable.”
Mia said, “Let’s remember when we find a treasure that we are sharing it.”
“We will,” Julia said as she searched for the treasure room.
“Found it!” Cayla called out.
Julia looked down at the obsidian floor and at the two chests. Next to the chest was an item frame, which held an Elytra.
“Watch out!” Brad screamed as shulker shot an arrow that pierced his leg and he began to float in the small room.
A shulker’s pellet hit Julia’s leg. She stood in front of the mob with her arrow and waited for it to open, slamming her sword into the fleshy face and destroying the annoying blockhead before it could unleash another round of pellets.
“The shulker guard is gone. Now we can get the loot,” Brad said.
Mia leaned on the obsidian floor and opened one of the chests. The chest had gold ingots. Cayla opened the second chest, which contained enchanted diamond chest plates. “Wow, these are fantastic.”
“I wonder if we get to keep this stuff or if we have to donate it to the school,” Brad wondered aloud.
“I hope they let us keep it,” Mia said as she looked at all of the treasures in her inventory.
“You’re not keeping anything,” a familiar voice called out.
The group looked up as Hallie stood in front of them, holding a bottle of potion and a diamond sword.
Encounters in End City Page 5
