“No, I don’t believe you,” Weaver moaned. “He wouldn’t lie to me, he’s my friend.”
“You’re so naive, villager. I wish I could be there when you finally confront him; that will be delicious. Now be quiet; we need to move fast.”
They ran through the snowy forest, curving around thick towering pine trees and tall spruces. A herd of deer moved out from behind a cluster of ferns, the majestic animals standing tall and proud. Huge horns extended from the creature’s heads, splitting again and again until the points were difficult to count. Entity303 ignored the animals and continued on their path. Out of the haze he spotted their destination: a large hill. A dark opening stood at the base of the mound. Icicles hung down from the entrance like icy fangs, making the opening resemble the terrifying maw of some gigantic beast.
Something moved about within the cave behind the opening, squat shapes that appeared to be all torso with very small arms and legs. They were what Entity303 was searching for.
“So what are you doing here in this strange land?” Weaver asked.
“I have need of your little friend, Gameknight999,” the user said as he slowed to a walk.
The forest took on an uneasy silence, as if it were waiting for something to happen.
“That’s not his name, it’s Smithy.”
Entity303 smiled.
“You see, I know my limitations and my strengths,” he replied. “I’m good at software, but not fighting. I need your little friend and all his cohorts to destroy some monsters for me and unlock a certain fortress. I’m going to lead them around this landscape until they kill everything necessary to unlock the White Castle. That’s the first part in my plan.” He laughed. “When I get what has been locked in that castle, then I’ll be able to really punish those who fired me from the Minecraft programming team.”
“What are you talking about?” Weaver asked.
Entity303 ignored the question. Continuing through the frosty terrain, he pulled on the rope, keeping Weaver close. When they were maybe a dozen blocks from the icy entrance, he stopped.
“I’d ask you to just say put, but for some reason I don’t think you would,” Entity303 said.
He moved his prisoner to a tree, then wrapped the rope around it, tying him firmly to the trunk. A firefly floated about and settled against the tree, just above the boy, casting a yellow glow that looked like a magical halo around Weaver’s square head.
“Now if I were you, I’d be quiet,” Entity303 said in a low voice.
“Why should I do what you ask?”
“Because there are direwolves walking about, fool. They move in packs of twenty, so if you want to attract their attention, that’s fine with me. I’m sure they’ll leave your clothes behind when they’re done.”
Weaver took a nervous swallow as his eyes darted about. A distant howl floated to them on the breeze. The user smiled.
“I’ll be back soon; don’t go away.” Entity303 laughed as he pulled out his glowing sword.
He quickly checked his inventory for healing potions, then moved to the entrance of the frozen cavern. Freezing, cold air streamed out of the chamber, making Entity303’s breath turn to clouds of billowing fog. The chill bit at his skin, numbing the tip of his nose. Inside, he could see columns of ice hanging down from the ceiling, though the rest of the cave was bathed in darkness. Reaching into his inventory, he pulled out a torch and placed it on the ground. Instantly, a circle of yellow light spread out around him, pushing back the shadows. More of the short, stocky creatures could be seen moving about inside the cave. They were covered in white fur, with scaly blue skin ringing their face and hands. The largest of the monsters had six blue protrusions sticking out of his head; they resembled horns. The monster stood almost three blocks tall, with muscles rippling along its arms and chest. It was a ferocious beast.
“Hey, Alpha Yeti, I’m here for you,” Entity303 said in a loud, booming voice.
The monster turned and stared at the cave entrance. A strange breathy wail floated out of the cavern. It was a cold sort of sound, like the last breath from some kind of gigantic, frozen beast. It made chills run down Entity303’s spine and tiny little square goosebumps form on his arms.
The Alpha Yeti approached. It threw a block of ice that shattered on the ground, throwing shards of ice in all directions. Entity303 easily stepped aside. Reaching into his inventory, he drank a potion of speed. Now he was ready.
“I’m really sorry about this, yeti, but I must destroy you,” the user said with a smile. “You see, I need one more piece of your fur to complete something special, and I don’t think you’ll just give it to me willingly … so I must take it.”
The monster just stared at him, then threw another cube of ice.
“It’s nothing personal; it’s just business.”
The monster growled and stormed toward him.
“This shouldn’t take too long,” Entity303 said, then dashed forward and began to destroy the Alpha Yeti.
CHAPTER 9
FLETCHER
They left the mushroom biome behind and moved into a snowy forest. The air was cold and biting, freezing Gameknight’s nose and cheeks. His breath puffed out before him like smoke that quickly disappeared as it left his mouth. This reminded him of the wintery biomes in the Overworld, but there was something still unusual about it. Far to the left, he could see a structure that looked like a massive translucent wall. It was almost as if it were made of blue glass…. That’s strange, he thought.
The atrocity at the mushroom castle weighed heavily on Gameknight’s mind. He was confident it was meant to be a message from Entity303; the evil user was demonstrating his willingness to destroy anything to achieve his goal. Now they understood each other perfectly.
Crafter was furious. He couldn’t believe anyone could be so ruthless. Hunter and Stitcher were both anxious to exact some revenge, though Stitcher talked about it as if this were all some kind of game. Woodcutter and Herder formed theories as to why the crazed user would do something so terrible, trying to come up with some justification that would explain this insane behavior. Digger and Empech remained silent, but the shock of what they’d seen was still etched deep into the scowls they wore on their square faces.
Fletcher seemed the angriest, though he was also the quietest. He was boiling with anger, his eyes almost glowing with rage, but he was keeping it all bottled up. The large villager hadn’t spoken a word since leaving the mushroom biome, but his body was tense, like a coiled spring ready to explode in some unknown direction. Gameknight felt he needed to get the large villager to talk.
“Fletcher, tell me of your family,” Gameknight asked.
The villager seemed shocked by the question. An uneasy silence fell across the group, only the crunch of their boots on the freshly fallen snow making any sound.
“You know what happened to my family.” Fletcher adjusted his iron armor, his large shoulders and round belly fitting poorly under the chest plate and leggings. “After all, you were there.”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t remember,” the User-that-is-not-a-user said.
“How can you not remember?” Fletcher growled, a deep, sad look on his face.
“I didn’t live through that timeline. In my past, Weaver was an important person and things progressed differently for me than they did for you. Can you tell me what happened?”
“Well, Herobrine was in dragon form,” Fletcher explained. “I don’t know if you remember that?”
Gameknight nodded. “Yes, he did that in my timeline as well.”
“We’d been fighting for days. The monster kings threw everything they had at us. Everyone who could hold a blade or aim a bow was on the walls fighting.”
“I remember.”
“We lost so many good friends,” Fletcher said in a low voice.
“Builder,” Hunter said, then raised her hand in the air, fingers spread wide.
“And Farmer,” Crafter said, raising his hand.
“And Cut
ter,” Herder said.
“And Tanner,” Woodcutter said.
“And Topper,” Digger said, his voice quiet and cracking with emotion.
They all spread their fingers wide, giving the salute for the dead, then clenched their hands into fists and slowly lowered them.
“Many lives were destroyed in that battle, but finally, it seemed as if we were going to win,” Fletcher said. “That was when Herobrine himself joined the battle. He attacked and turned everything into end stone just after a massive attack by the spiders. Those fuzzy beasts …” Fletcher grew silent as the nightmare replayed itself through his memory. He moved away from the rest of the group and walked by himself, hiding his tears from the others.
“Great … now look what you’ve done,” Stitcher said with a frown.
“What did I do?” Gameknight asked softly. “What happened?”
Crafter moved closer and spoke softly.
“His family became entangled in the spiders’ webs,” the young NPC explained. “They were caught by Herobrine’s transformation wave. Fletcher had to watch from the safety of an obsidian platform while his family was changed from flesh and blood to pale end stone.”
Crafter grew quiet as he too relived the terrible moments. The birds and animals in the forest seemed to feel the solemn nature of the moment and grew quiet. The only thing audible was Fletcher’s sobbing. Gameknight didn’t know what to say.
When there were no more tears left to be shed, Fletcher returned and finally broke the silence. “If we had been able to destroy more of the monsters before Herobrine arrived, maybe those spiders wouldn’t have been there.” The big NPC sighed.
“When we fought that battle in my timeline, we used minecarts with TNT in them, and hidden TNT cannons to blast the monsters,” Gameknight said.
“What do you mean? Minecarts with TNT? Cannons?” Crafter asked.
“Much of it was actually your idea, Crafter,” Gameknight said. “You were the TNT master … in my timeline.”
“I wish we’d had that in our battle,” Fletcher said.
“They were restored when the dragon was killed, weren’t they?” Gameknight asked.
Fletcher sighed, then glanced down at the ground with fists clenched. A lone tear trickled down his flat cheek.
“Gameknight, Herobrine destroyed everyone that was transformed,” Crafter said. “Even though they were no longer a threat, Herobrine flew around and shredded them with his dragon claws, regardless if they were warriors, women, children, the elderly … he destroyed them all.”
“You mean, your wife and daughter …” Gameknight’s voice trailed off as the sorrow of what he had just asked Fletcher to relive hit him hard in the chest. “Fletcher, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.”
Fletcher sighed as more tears tumbled down his cheeks.
“We ended up destroying the dragon in the end,” Stitcher said in a loud, triumphant voice. The volume of her comment was shocking, shattering the uneasy silence.
“But too late,” Fletcher moaned.
The User-that-is-not-a-user placed a hand on the large NPC’s shoulder. Fletcher turned and stared straight into his eyes, then moved a little closer. He reached into his inventory and pulled out a shattered piece of end stone wrapped in a soft red cloth.
“This is a piece of my daughter,” the large villager said, his blood-shot eyes filled with despair. He then leaned in close and spoke in a quiet voice, his words only meant for Gameknight’s ears. “If getting Weaver back into the past will save my family, then I’ll do anything, even sacrifice my own life.”
“No one is gonna sacrifice their life,” Gameknight whispered. “We’re all gonna survive whatever Entity303 has in store for us. We’ll stop that crazy user and fix all the damage he’s done to Minecraft.”
“I hope so,” Fletcher said as he wiped his cheeks clean.
One of the wolves far ahead howled. It was the forward scout.
“They found something,” Herder said with a smile.
“Come on, let’s see what it is!” Stitcher exclaimed. She sprinted forward, jumping up and down like a child excited for a surprise.
The rest of the party ran toward the howling wolves, as now more of the proud voices had joined the animal’s song. When they sprinted around a cluster of trees, Gameknight saw a huge stone enclosure, the walls decorated with the undulating shape of some kind of serpent. Bright fireflies sat on the side of the wall, their fat bodies glowing bright green, casting some light on the surroundings.
Near the wall sat an oak tree. Gameknight pulled out a shovel and quickly dug up some dirt blocks, then built a set of steps. He climbed to the top of the tree and peered down into the courtyard. The snow, for some reason, did not fall in the enclosure, making things on the ground easy to see. There were numerous creatures moving about; a small herd of deer munched on grass while a group of boars moved about in the courtyard, doing whatever boars do.
“Weaver’s scent went into that enclosure,” a voice said at his side. Gameknight turned and found Herder standing next to him. “We need to go in there and see where they came out. Or maybe they didn’t come out and there’s a tunnel or cave in there.”
Gameknight scanned his surroundings. The ground in the enclosure was covered with grass, stone slabs sprinkled throughout. Maybe twenty columns of cobblestone stood tall throughout the courtyard, with a wide platform of stone slabs at the top and bottom. They were probably six blocks high and a good place to put some archers, just in case.
“Why do you think these walls are here?” Crafter asked from the ground.
“I don’t know,” Gameknight replied.
“I’m not thrilled with the picture of a serpent on the walls,” Hunter said as she drew an arrow from her inventory and notched it to the bowstring.
Stitcher paced about next to her, the younger sister clearly anxious to get in there and see what would happen.
“Empech recommends caution, yes, yes,” the little pech said from the ground. “It is not clear if this wall was meant to keep intruders out, or something else in.”
“Weaver went in there,” Gameknight said. “I think we need to do the same.”
“Excellent,” Stitcher replied, grinning.
“Something ancient lies within these walls, yes, yes,” Empech murmured. “Empech can feel it through the fabric of Minecraft; something angry and dangerous.”
“Probably just a spider,” Stitcher said. “Let’s get started. Weaver’s getting farther away as we stand here.”
“I hate to say it, but my noisy little sister is right,” Hunter added. “We have no choice. If we’re gonna catch Weaver, then we need to follow his trail.”
“OK, everyone up onto the wall,” Gameknight said.
He stepped from the tree to the top of the wall, then moved further from the leafy blocks to make room for the others. When everyone was on the wall, he glanced to his friends, then nodded his head. They all jumped down into the enclosure at the same time. Instantly, a scraping sound filled the air.
“Did you hear that?” Digger asked. “I heard something.”
“Me too,” Woodcutter said, his axe held at the ready.
“Move forward,” Gameknight said.
The companions walked slowly forward, stepping over stone slabs and around pools of black sand. Suddenly, a hissing sound, like that of a massive balloon slowly leaking air, reached their ears. Then a scraping sound, like heavy plates of steel being dragged across the ground, filled the enclosure … and was getting louder.
Gameknight saw something begin to emerge through the haze. It was on the far side of the enclosure, but heading straight toward them. At first it just looked like a large cube bobbing about in the air, but as it neared, the creature materialized through the fog of Minecraft. It was a snake, a gigantic, scaly green snake. It had a massive head that was as tall as Gameknight, with eyes glowing blood red and filled with rage. Its mouth yawned open, a line of pointy white teeth decorating the jaw. It stopped for a mom
ent, staring at the intruders.
“The Naga,” Empech said in a high-pitched whisper.
“Maybe it’s not hostile?” Digger said in a low, shaking voice.
“It is certainly hostile, yes, yes. Empech can feel its anger. All should stand still and …”
The massive green snake suddenly bellowed an ear-splitting roar and charged straight at them, its body smashing through stone pillars like they were made of paper. The monster seemed to come straight at Gameknight999 as if it had been expecting him. Every nerve in the User-that-is-not-a-user’s body told him to run, just run away. He didn’t want to fail his friends; he just wanted to disappear, but he knew he couldn’t do that.
He glanced around to see if anyone noticed his fear … no, his panic. Terror filled every aspect of his being, the panic pulsing through his body with every heartbeat. But he knew he had to do something; Weaver was counting on him, and Gameknight didn’t want to fail him again. So instead, he focused on what was important: Weaver and his other friends.
The giant green snake seemed to move in slow motion, its thick scales dragging against the ground.
Be strong and have faith, child, a scratchy voice said in his head. It seemed as if it came from some memory, the voice vaguely familiar. And for a moment, it filled him with the faintest flicker of courage.
Gritting his teeth, Gameknight999 drew his iron sword from his inventory with his left hand, his diamond blade with his right, and charged straight at the creature, yelling at the top of his voice.
“FOR WEAVER!”
CHAPTER 10
THE NAGA
Gameknight999 leapt high into the air just as the mighty Naga reached him. He flew over the massive square head, its jaws snapping at him, just barely missing his diamond boot. He landed on the ground, and spun, swinging his sword at the body that slithered past. His sword clanked against the hard, green scales as if they were made of iron. He swung again and again until the point of his blade finally slipped between some of the scales and found soft flesh. The monster flashed red and screamed in pain, then turned and charged at its attacker.
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