Lily was barely surviving the battle with the Ender Dragon, but then thunder boomed and rain fell on the ground, and skeletons and zombies started spawning in the distance. The dragon’s large, scaly, gray wing slammed into Lily, and she lost a heart. At the same time, a skeleton shot an arrow that pierced her leg.
There was nobody there to help her or even hear her cries for help. Lily ran toward the dragon and tried to pound the beast with her diamond sword, but it was pointless. A sea of arrows flew in her direction, destroying her.
When Lily respawned in her bed, she was relieved to see Simon standing in her living room.
“How did you escape?” asked Lily.
“It wasn’t easy.” He hurried on. “There’s no time. I have a lot to tell you.”
Rain was still falling, and skeletons, zombies, and Endermen were spawning around Lisimi Village. A zombie ripped Lily’s door off of its hinges.
Simon lunged at the zombie and clobbered the vacant-eyed mob with his diamond sword.
“We have to battle,” Simon cried.
Simon and Lily sprinted to the center of the cluster of zombies. Simon splashed a potion on the zombies and Lily struck the undead mob with her sword, weakening it. When the last zombie was destroyed, Simon said, “We have to get out of here.”
“We need to save our friends,” Lily exclaimed.
“That’s what I wanted to tell you. Some of them aren’t our friends,” Simon warned Lily.
“I think I’ve realized that!” Lily said. “Matthew abandoned me when I was battling an Ender Dragon on my own.”
“What happened to the Ender Dragon?” asked Simon.
“I’m not sure, why?” asked Lily.
“Because I think I see it flying toward us!” Simon screamed.
10
ESCAPE PLANS
Lily gasped as the dragon flew toward them. “Not again!”
The two aimed their bows at the dragon, unleashing a sea of arrows. As they shielded themselves in the doorway, they watched the dragon explode. Without pausing for rest, Simon and Lily sprinted into the heart of the town, dodging skeletons’ arrows and narrowly escaping zombie attacks.
“Watch out!” Lily warned Simon.
A powerful spider jockey spawned behind Simon. The skeleton shot an arrow at Simon’s back.
Lily shot an arrow at the skeleton and then ran toward the bony beast riding the spider and splashed a potion on it, weakening both the skeleton and the spider. Simon attacked the spider with his diamond sword. Lily also grabbed her diamond sword and plunged it into the bony skeleton. It was destroyed, and while Simon annihilated the spider, Lily leaned down to pick up the bone it had dropped.
Lily looked up to see three zombies lumbering toward them. “Don’t put your sword away,” Lily said to Simon as she ran through the soggy village, ready to attack the undead beasts that terrorized the town.
Lily slammed her diamond sword into the zombie. She could see Juan the Butcher running toward her, and she called out, “Stay away!”
Juan didn’t listen. As Lily and Simon battled the three zombies, they saw a new horde of zombies turn a corner and appear next to Juan. One of the zombies attacked Juan, and when zombie bit him Juan transformed into a ghastly, lumbering zombie villager.
“Do you have a golden apple and a potion?” Lily asked Simon. Simon clobbered two zombies and looked at his inventory. “Yes!”
“Then you have to save Juan!” Lily cried as she battled the remaining zombies.
Simon hurried over to Juan and helped him turn back into a regular villager.
“Thank you,” Juan said gratefully.
Simon warned Juan to stay away. “Go back to your butcher shop. It’s not safe for you here.”
Lily sprinted to Simon’s side and battled the zombies that trekked through their village, ripping doors off of hinges and terrorizing the villagers.
With their diamond swords and bottles of potion, they were able to destroy multiple zombies, but more zombies kept spawning.
“There has to be a spawner around here,” Simon yelped as he slammed his sword into another vacant-eyed zombie.
“You’re probably right, but I don’t think this is the time to hunt for the zombie spawner.” Lily barely spit out the words as she annihilated a horde of zombies that had cornered her against a wall by the village library.
“Watch out!”
Four creepers were silently lurking behind Simon. He dove out of the way, avoiding their powerful blast. As he escaped the creepers, he accidentally locked eyes with a lanky Enderman. The Endermen let out a high-pitched shriek and teleported to Simon.
“Run to the water! I’ll come with you,” Lily advised her friend. She spotted an army of skeletons and zombies marching into the heart of Lisimi Village. Lily knew they were about to face an intense battle, and she had a plan. When they reached the shore, she gave Simon a bottle of potion.
“What’s this?” Simon asked.
“It’s a potion of water breathing. We should drink this and hide under the sea for a while. It’s too dangerous here.” Lily gulped the potion and jumped into the deep blue water. Simon followed. The Enderman also jumped into the water, but the water destroyed the hostile mob.
They swam deep underneath the sea. “I hope we find an underwater temple,” Simon said. “Maybe there’s still time to look for some treasure.”
Lily replied, “I hope so, too, but I don’t see any guardians. And if we did find an ocean monument, it would probably be looted, since Matthew spent so much time exploring this biome.”
Simon agreed. Matthew was always under the water, searching for treasures. Now that they suspected Matthew was evil, they both hoped he hadn’t placed any booby traps in the ocean biome. He might even have a secret underwater headquarters in the ocean biome.
“Should we continue to explore the ocean biome?” questioned Lily. She knew that it was their only escape from the perpetually rainy Lisimi Village, but they had been swimming for a while and they hadn’t spotted any underwater monuments. A guardian hadn’t even attacked them.
Simon suggested, “Why don’t we swim to the shore?”
Lily liked Simon’s idea. She added, “I bet this potion is going to wear off soon, so that is a fantastic idea.”
They swam to the ocean’s surface. Simon called out, “Lily, look over there. Do you see land?”
Lily exclaimed, “I do! I see land!”
They swam toward the land. As they approached the shore, they saw large mushrooms sprouting from the ground.
“It’s Mushroom Island!”
11
MOOSHROOMS
Simon and Lily climbed onto the shore of Mushroom Island. Lily was excited. This was a peaceful biome, and she knew they needed to take a break and figure out a plan to save all of their friends and stop their enemies.“Look, there’s a mooshroom!” she cried. “Let’s go milk it. I’d love some mushroom stew.”
Simon tagged along behind Lily as she walked over to the mooshroom and milked the spotted animal, offering some stew to Simon.
“Thanks.” He devoured the stew. Simon didn’t realize how hungry he was until he started eating the savory stew.
Lily ate her portion of stew and put her bowl down.
“What’s the matter?” asked Simon.
“Do you hear that?” Lily asked. “I hear someone talking.”
Simon stood silently. “Yes, I do hear something.”
Simon and Lily walked in the direction of the voices. Lily clutched her diamond sword, prepared for battle. She didn’t want to assume that whoever was on Mushroom Island was bad, but after everything they’d been through she wanted to be cautious. The last thing she wanted was to be destroyed and forced to respawn in the middle of rainy Lisimi Village, where she would have to battle a never-ending group of zombies, skeletons, and Endermen again.
“I think I see something up ahead,” Simon said, and he ran in front of Lily.
Lily spotted two people standing by a smal
l house made out of a mushroom. As she walked toward them, Simon advised, “I think you should put the sword away. It might scare them.”
Lily reluctantly placed her diamond sword back in her inventory. “I guess you’re right. But if they attack us, we had better have a plan.”
Simon and Lily didn’t have time to come up with a plan, because the two girls spotted them and walked over.
“Hello.” One of the girls spoke quickly; she appeared quite frazzled and nervous. “Are you the folks from the building competition?”
“No. What’s that?” asked Simon.
The girl responded, “We were both invited to this server to participate in a building competition. Once we accepted the invitation, we were zapped into the game.”
Simon and Lily looked at each other. That sounded like the work of many of their griefer enemies. “We’re also trapped,” Simon explained. “I’m Simon, and this is my friend Lily. We were trapped on the server a while ago.”
Lily added, “I know how painful the first few days on the server are and how scary it is to live in the real Minecraft world.”
“I’m Sarah,” said one of the girls. “And this is my friend Georgia. I can’t believe someone would zap us into the Overworld.”
Georgia said, “It’s been more than a few days. We’ve been on Mushroom Island for a while. You are the first people we’ve met.”
Sarah explained, “We were too scared to leave the island. I tried to convince Georgia to build a boat and set sail, but she just wanted to stay on Mushroom Island.”
“There are no hostile mobs on Mushroom Island, and I didn’t want to have to battle any mobs. I couldn’t imagine how terrifying it would be to encounter them in the real world when they’re so scary in the game.” Georgia shuddered at the thought of battling hostile mobs.
Lily shook her head. “It is awful. At the moment, our village is under constant attack from hostile mobs. We came here to escape.”
“But we can’t stick around this island. Our good friends are trapped in the desert.” Simon told Georgia and Sarah about Mr. Anarchy and the other griefers, Otto and Emma.
“And don’t forget about Matthew,” Lily reminded him.
“Wow.” Georgia was petrified. “This is an awful server. Not only are you trapped here, but you’re being attacked by griefers.”
“Yes,” Simon agreed. “Would you like to help us find and free our friends in the desert? If you do, you can come back to our village and work with us. We are going to find a way to get back to the real world.”
Sarah said, “I wish you luck finding your friends, but we don’t want to get involved in any battles.”
Georgia agreed. “I think Sarah and I will just figure out a way to get off of this server from Mushroom Island. If it was so easy to get zapped onto the server, it probably isn’t that hard to get off.”
“That’s not true. It’s harder than you think. We’ve been trying for a long time,” Simon told them.
Sarah’s eyes widened. “Really? How long?”
“I’ve lost track of time,” Simon confessed.
“We did have good friends who escaped from the server.” Lily didn’t want Georgia and Sarah to lose hope, so she told them the story of the Prismarines.
Georgia asked if she could talk to Sarah in private, and Lily and Simon nodded. After the two new players spoke in a hushed whisper by a large mushroom, they walked back to Simon and Lily.
Sarah said, “We do want your help. We don’t like being trapped on Mushroom Island. But we’re scared.”
“It’s normal to be scared,” Lily reassured them. “But you can’t stay here and do nothing. We know who might have trapped you on this server, and if we don’t defeat those griefers, there won’t be any peace and none of us will escape.”
“And they will keep zapping new people onto the server,” Simon added. “I know how it feels to be zapped onto a server, and I don’t want anyone else to have that awful experience. I know why I’m in this battle and how important it is to defeat the griefers.”
Sarah sighed and asked, “What do you need us to do?”
Lily paced. “We have to come up with a plan. We know that our friends are trapped in the desert, and we have to travel there to free them.”
Simon said, “Once we free them, we will battle the griefers. But this plan isn’t as easy as it sounds.”
Georgia was stunned. “It doesn’t sound easy at all.”
Sarah agreed. “This sounds like it’s quite dangerous.”
“It’s worth it,” said Lily.
“It’s our only way out of here.” Simon wished there was an easier way out. He wished he could use a cheat like he had many times while playing other video games. But there was no easy battle. This was similar to the moment in class when his teacher, Mrs. Sanders, had spotted him tossing a note. He had had to admit that he was the one who threw it or the entire class would have gotten in trouble. Sometimes, he knew, you just couldn’t take the easy way out.
Sarah was having second thoughts. “Maybe we will stay here after all.”
Georgia looked at her friend. “That sounds like a good idea.”
Sarah asked, “Can you come back for us when you’re done rescuing your friends and battling the awful griefers who trapped us on this server?”
Lily couldn’t believe they were backing out of the plan. She wanted to lecture them on the importance of working together, but there was no time to talk.
Sarah shrieked, “Zombies!”
Lily gasped as an army of zombies marched through the peaceful mushroom biome, ready to attack.
12
ZOMBIE ATTACK
“The griefers know we’re here,” Lily called out as she ran toward the undead beasts.
“The zombies are so much scarier in real life.” Georgia’s voice shook.
“Zombies aren’t too hard to battle. Just use your diamond sword,” Lily called over her shoulder.
Simon nodded and reached for his inventory. “Lily and I have a bunch of potions. We’ll splash them on the zombies to weaken them.”
Georgia stood frozen. Her hands were shaking almost too hard for her to hold her diamond sword. She watched as Simon and Lily splashed potions on the zombies and then struck the beasts with their diamond swords. Taking a deep breath, Sarah ran into the fray to fight alongside Simon and Lily. Georgia wanted to help, but she was too scared, and her new friends were too immersed in the battle to notice Georgia.
“Good job!” Simon called out to Sarah as she struck two zombies and destroyed them.
Sarah picked up the rotten flesh the zombies dropped, then turned around to look for Georgia. “Come on!” she called. “It’s not as hard you think!”
Lily splashed more potions on the zombies that lumbered toward the group. “We have to find the monster spawner. Otto, Emma, and whoever they’re working with must have placed one on this island.”
Sarah obliterated three of the weakened zombies. She was growing more confident. She called to her friend again. “Georgia. We need your help. If you aren’t going to battle the zombies, can you search for the monster spawner?”
Georgia couldn’t imagine going off on her own. What if the griefer who had placed the spawner was standing beside it waiting for her? She had no other choice; she had to join the others in battle. With a shudder, she lunged at a zombie. Her sword plunged into the beast, destroying it. “I did it!” she called out, but the others were too busy destroying their own monsters to notice Georgia.
There were only a couple of zombies left, and the group was relieved. “Maybe there isn’t a spawner,” Lily said while clobbering the remaining zombies.
“You’re right. The griefers could have just summoned the undead horde without placing a spawner,” said Simon.
“In any case,” Lily said, looking around the quiet island, “I think we should head to the desert biome as soon as possible. We aren’t getting anywhere sticking around this island.”
“Before we go, w
e need to get our energy back,” Simon told them.
“Let’s drink some mushroom stew,” Lily said as she walked toward a spotted mooshroom.
The gang gathered around her while she milked the peaceful animal. They all ate the stew and drank milk. When their energy and health bars were full, they walked to the shoreline.
Georgia suggested, “If we’re going to leave the island, I can build us some boats.”
“Georgia makes some of the best boats in the Overworld,” Sarah agreed.
“I can craft something very quickly.” Georgia took out wooden planks from her inventory and started to construct a boat. “It’s more important to have a functional boat than a fancy one right now. I don’t want to be here if more zombies spawn.”
Simon and Lily were impressed with Georgia’s building skills. Within minutes, she had built four small wooden boats. They each hopped in a boat and set sail for the desert. As the boats floated next to each other, Simon checked his map. “Just follow me,” he said, turning his boat once he got his bearings. “According to the map, we don’t have to travel very far until we reach the desert. Since we’re leaving Mushroom Island anyway, we should try to find where are friends are being held.”
Georgia and Sarah were beginning to feel comfortable in this new world. “I think Georgia and I are ready to help you face those griefers,” Sarah said, looking to her friend for confirmation.
Georgia nodded. “I know I was scared of battling the zombies, but once I started to battle them, I realized it wasn’t as scary as I imagined,” she confessed.
Simon nodded. “Sometimes thinking about something we’re afraid of is actually scarier than doing it.”
As the sky turned dark and rain fell on the sea, the peaceful journey on the water grew perilous.
“What’s happening?” Georgia asked.
“Are the griefers following us?” Lily looked for other boats that might be traveling near them, but she didn’t see anything.
“They must have summoned a storm,” Simon said, looking up at the sky.
Thunder boomed, and a lightning bolt hit the water.
“Oh no!” cried Sarah.
Terror on a Treasure Hunt Page 4
