The floor vanished. Orange light burst from the tunnel from where the floor used to be. Now it was a river of lava. A river they were falling into.
Flames erupted all around Hamid as he splashed into the flaming liquid. Ant crashed into the lava beside him, sending up jets of fire.
Above them, the floor slid back into place, sealing them in the fiery tomb.
Hamid’s hearts flashed at the bottom of his vision. His armor absorbed the heat damage but not for long. If he didn’t get out, those hearts would disappear and it would be game over, literally.
Beside him, Ant flailed around in the lava like a drowning skeleton.
“Don’t panic!” Hamid shouted to his friend. But he was on the edge of panic himself.
He kicked his legs, trying to swim to the wall. Swimming through lava is a lot like walking through a snow drift. It took all his strength to move his legs through the thick, burning liquid.
He drifted into the wall, flames jumping around in front of him. His legs kicked uselessly under the lava. There was nowhere to stand.
Pain spiked through Hamid’s body, making him grunt. Hearts vanished from the bottom of his vision. He didn’t need to check his inventory to know his diamond armor had burned through. It was gone and with it any protection he once had.
Another jab of pain. Another heart lost.
“There’s no way out!” Hamid shouted over the roar of fire.
Ant pushed himself to the wall beside Hamid.
“Then let’s make one,” he said.
A diamond pickaxe appeared in his hand. Ant smacked the wall in front of them. A block disappeared, creating a small niche in the wall.
Hamid pulled his pickaxe from his inventory and smashed the blocks nearby.
Jerking in pain and smacking the wall, very soon they created a ledge above the lava. They kept breaking blocks until it was big enough for the both of them.
Ant scrambled into the tiny hole in the wall.
“Get in!” He grabbed Hamid by the arm and pulled him out of the burning liquid.
Ant leaned out from their ledge, teetering dangerously over the lava.
“Where’s Bano?” Ant said.
In the confusion of the fall and the lava, Hamid hadn’t seen where Bano landed.
On the far side of the lava pit, a brown disc floated in the fiery liquid. It quickly sizzled into nothingness.
“The Seed Sensor,” Hamid said.
Sadness burned through him as he watched loaves of bread, a pickaxe and the rest of Bano’s inventory items catch fire and vanish under the lava. Their guide and friend was somewhere beneath the burning liquid, too.
Hamid and Ant were now truly alone and truly lost in this very strange world of Minecraft.
Chapter 10
Marching with skeletons was worse than gym class.
Slashax and his band of skeletons led Jaina through dark tunnels, across rivers of lava and around a large underground lake, leading them deeper underground. The skeletons trudged on silently without complaint, dragging that strange cage with the spinning seed with them. A constant flow of numbers floated from the seed into the air before disappearing.
Jaina cursed her carelessness at letting Whiner sneak up on her. She had been so hungry, she hadn’t heard him backtrack and come up behind her. She didn’t fight the skeletons when they took away her diamond sword. She tried not to cry when she saw Bones slip away from her captors and disappear into the shadows. Even her only friend in Minecraft couldn’t help her. As they marched, she had kept an eye out for the wolf’s white fur, hoping Bones was following them. But there had not been any sign of her friend since Slashax and Whiner had led her away. She was alone.
Principal Whiner marched with Slashax at the front of the group. Occasionally, he sneered at Jaina like he had caught her cheating on a test or some other crime against his authority.
He’s up to something, Jaina thought. He always had some scheme cooking in his bald head. Whatever it was, it wouldn’t be good. The way he nodded as Slashax spoke. The gleam in his eyes when he listened to the skeleton leader. Clearly, Whiner had joined the Cult of the Boneheads.
Jaina tried to guess where they were going. As they walked, she strained to catch any clues of their destination, but what little she did hear did not make any sense.
“I have brought you two,” Whiner said. “Are you sure that is not enough?”
“Four. That is the number I need, Mr. Whiner,” Slashax said. “You have done well to provide me with the two, but the four must be made one.”
“What is so special about a bunch of silly swords?” Whiner said.
“With the four made into one, I will be unstoppable,” Slashax said. “Even Herobrine will kneel before the might of Slashax. I will command all. And you will be at my side — if you do as I say.”
There was no hiding the sinister warning behind Slashax’s words. From where she trudged behind them, Jaina knew her principal was making a deal he certainly did not want to break.
As they marched, she worked to untangle the questions in her head. They were bringing the spinning ball contraption to his base deep underground. It seemed to be important, but Slashax seemed more concerned with their diamond swords. It was the first thing he had taken from her when she was captured.
Jaina had already figured out they were special. Their swords in-game must be the foam swords that dude in the red-haired villager costume gave them at Mini-Minecon. It was the only thing in her inventory when she arrived in this world. Whiner had a matching blade. Now Slashax had them both. And he wanted more. Hamid and Ant had the other two swords, and Slashax seemed to think he would get them soon. If the skeleton thought the diamond swords were within reach, then Ant and Hamid were somewhere in this world. That thought lifted much of the weight from Jaina’s shoulders. If she wasn’t alone, she had hope.
They emerged from a long tunnel into a big cavern. Slashax stopped on a wide ledge overlooking the massive opening.
“We are here.”
Where ‘here’ was, Jaina had no idea. But she knew she didn’t want to stay.
The cavern looked like it had been blasted out by a million blocks of TNT. A domed ceiling stretched high into the shadows and as far across as Jaina could see. Monsters of all shapes swarmed the rocky ground below. Skeletons riding spiders patrolled pathways that crossed over rivers of lava and pools of deep water. Green slimes slurped along the shadows. Zombies lurched from one end of the cavern to the other, like lost actors from a bad monster movie. But the most disturbing collection of beasts was not free to move. They were corralled in a circular trench in the center of the cavern. Creepers. Lots of creepers. All of them packed into a wide circle surrounding the other monsters. They strolled back and forth, bumping into each other and walking into the high wall that hemmed them in. Jaina shuddered at the thought of being trapped in that trench. To fall in would mean a dozen blasts from the exploding creatures. No one would survive crossing that minefield.
The reason for all this protection stood in the middle of the dome. A massive fortress rose out of the rock, reaching to the roof of the dome. Towers of obsidian connected to walls of nether brick, creating a castle of darkness.
“Welcome to Fang Fortress,” Slashax said.
Jaina swore she saw a tear form in the skeleton’s empty eye socket at the sight of his fort.
“It is quite impressive,” Whiner said.
“My minions will build you one, too,” Slashax said. “If you continue to be loyal and serve me.”
Principal Whiner bowed his head. “I am at your service.”
Slashax turned to his skeleton guards and pointed to the cage.
“Bring that to the Portal Chamber. I am eager to try it out.”
“Are we not returning it to your Herobrine master?” Whiner said.
“I have the Seed Generator and two of the True Diamonds.” Slashax chuckled. “I am my own master. And very soon, we shall teach that lesson to Herobrine himself.”
> Chapter 11
The diamond pickaxe shattered in Hamid’s hand.
A wall of stone stood in front of him and his friend’s complaints echoed behind him.
“I told you we were going the wrong way!” Ant said.
“No,” Hamid growled. “You said we were completely lost, so there wouldn’t be a ‘wrong way’ to go.”
“It doesn’t matter what I said. What matters is we now only have my pickaxe, so we better choose the right way this time or we are trapped down here forever, without any torches or food.”
Hamid spun on his friend.
“We don’t have food because you ate it all!” His words echoed off the walls of the narrow tunnel.
“How was I supposed to know it was all we had!” Ant said.
“Because I said ‘Don’t eat that. It’s all we have.’ But did you listen? Of course not. You never listen. And you never think about anyone other than yourself.”
“All you think about is bossing me around!” Ant snapped. “No one put you in charge, Hamid. No one asked you to lead us. You just think you’re so smart and I’m so dumb. You think you know it all. Well, you don’t. We’re lost and it’s all because of you.”
Ant’s words hurt Hamid more than any zombie bite.
They were in bad shape after their little swim through lava. Their diamond armor had protected them but had melted away with the damage. Most of the items in their inventory also went up in flames. They had lost so much, including their guide and new Minecraft friend.
Seeing Bano’s inventory items floating above the flames was all the confirmation they needed that their friend had perished in the lava. Ant and Hamid had stood in silence and watched as his other items caught fire and eventually disappeared, too. Ant had not said anything but Hamid could tell the loss of their friend weighed heavily on him. By comparison, the loss of their other items meant nothing.
All the items crafted by Ranwin and the villagers were gone. They managed to salvage three loaves of bread. Ant gobbled up two of the loaves right away. Hamid ate the other, but only after snatching it from his friend’s hungry mouth.
Hamid knew Ant wasn’t greedy. Planning ahead just wasn’t one of his stronger skills. Ant had trouble thinking about the future, like ten minutes into the future. He was all impulse and all about right here, right now. That’s why he made ‘poor decisions,’ as Principal Whiner would always say. Poor decisions like dropping the classroom globe out a third floor window to see if it would bounce. It didn’t. It crashed onto Ms. Jannel’s car parked below, denting the hood and landing Ant in the office. Again.
Now, stuck underground in a world of limited resources, planning ahead was a matter of life and death. With a friend like Ant on his side, Hamid was sure death would meet them soon.
They were down to their last pickaxe and had only a long tunnel to show for it.
“You said if we dug upwards, we would hit a cave,” Ant said.
“We should have hit a cave by now,” Hamid said. “A cave or a tunnel or an abandoned mine. Anything.”
But all they had hit was rock. Solid granite. Block after block of rock, with a few chunks of gravel thrown in to break the monotony. Their plan was to use what few tools they had left to dig away from the lava pool and back up to the tunnel Slashax and his skeletons had taken. But their swim through fire had spun them both around. Every block looked the same and Hamid couldn’t be sure where Slashax’s tunnel was. Up and away had been their decision. And now it looked like it was a bad one.
“We have a few hits left in my pickaxe. We need to choose our strikes wisely.” Ant pushed past Hamid. “I’ll find us a way out.”
“Take it easy. No need to shove,” Hamid said. A drop of blue liquid landed on Ant’s shoulder. Hamid grabbed his friend. “Wait! Don’t hit that!”
But it was too late. Ant smacked the block with the diamond pickaxe. It vanished, revealing a solid layer of blue above their heads. Water.
The water gushed through the hole. In a heartbeat, their passage became a river. The rush of water swept them both off their feet and sent them tumbling back down the way they came.
Hamid struggled to keep his head above the water. He grabbed at the walls as he tumbled along with the current. Memories of going to the waterslide park with his family washed through his mind, along with about a gazillion gallons of water. His heart ached at the thought of his family. His dad’s voice rang in his ears, telling him to log out of Minecraft for the millionth time. He would pretend not to hear or bargain for five more minutes, just so he could put down one more block. One more block. Now, Hamid did not want to see another block. He wanted to log out. He wanted to be home and never see another Minecraft brick ever again.
An arm emerged through the rushing water, right beside Hamid’s face. Hamid reached up and grabbed it.
Immediately he stopped tumbling. Water rushed by him, but he managed to get his head above the surface.
Ant crouched in a tiny niche in the wall of their tunnel. He held on to the rock with one arm and reached out to Hamid with the other.
“Hold on and try to stand!” he shouted.
Hamid kicked his feet and found solid rock beneath him. He pushed against the flow of water and slowly walked closer to Ant.
“Get in here!” Ant said over the roar of the water.
“I have a better idea,” Hamid said. He pushed past Ant’s cubbyhole and kept walking. He called over his shoulder to his friend. “Follow!”
With his feet on the ground, Hamid leaned into the water’s flow and pushed through it. After an agonizingly long walk, he was back at the source of the downpour. Ant was right behind him.
Water gushed in from the hole in the low ceiling.
“Plug it up! Quickly!” Ant said.
Hamid shook his head. “We’re not plugging it. We’re swimming through it!”
Before his friend could argue, Hamid walked into the downward column of water. He jumped up and grabbed the edge of the block above him. With all his strength, he pulled himself up and through the narrow opening.
Bubbles bounced at the bottom of his vision. He was underwater and wouldn’t be able to hold his breath for very long. He looked above him, but all he saw was darkness. There had to be a surface to this water. Whether he could hold his breath long enough to reach it was a different question.
Hamid pushed off the ground and swam upward. Below him, Ant crawled through the hole.
Bubbles popped one after another at the edge of his vision and still the surface was not in sight. What if the water was too deep? What if it went all the way to the ceiling? There would be no space for air. And no time left for him and his friend.
Hamid pushed these dark thoughts from his mind and kicked faster. He was down to two bubbles. After they were gone, he would start taking damage and not be able to swim.
The blackness above him became a dark blue. Another bubble popped. One left. Pain burned through his legs with each kick. Dark blue became blue, then light blue. Almost white.
Hamid’s last bubble popped. He lost control of his body. His mouth opened against his will and inhaled desperately. He waited for the sting of water to burn through his lungs.
Instead, he got air. Sweet, delicious air. Hamid had gulped down a second deep lungful before he realized he had made it to the surface.
A second later, Ant burst through the water.
“You see?” he said between coughs. “I told you I’d find us a way out.”
“What would I ever do without you?” Hamid smacked a splash of water at his friend.
He floated while his eyes adjusted to the brightness of the surface. Dark granite walls swept up and over them from either side of the water. They were in an underground lake in the middle of a wide cavern.
“At least we’re alive,” Hamid said.
“But still lost,” Ant said. His wet face broke into a wide grin. “And I’m still hungry.”
Hamid hit him with another splash and started swimming to th
e shore.
Dripping wet but not complaining, Hamid and Ant pulled themselves out of the water and fell onto the rocky shore. Hamid struggled to keep his eyes open, but it was no use. His whole body was one big ache. His legs were numb from kicking from the bottom of the lake. His lungs burned from holding his breath. And his brain was just plain fried. Ant must have felt the same. They lay there without speaking for many minutes.
Stones crunched beside Hamid. His exhaustion vanished in an instant. He snapped open his eyes to see another pair staring back at him.
Hamid didn’t dare move.
“Get up, Ant!” he hissed.
Ant sat up sleepily.
“What is it? I was having such a nice dream.”
Ant’s jaw slammed shut at the sight of the stranger towering over them.
It had no arms, a sad face and a long body. A creeper, but unlike any he had seen before. Its long body was white, not green. And it hadn’t killed them. Yet.
“Why hasn’t it exploded?” Ant whispered.
“I don’t know,” Hamid said.
“Because blowing you up would be such a waste,” the creeper said. “Besides, if I blow up you won’t be able to save your friend.”
Chapter 12
Slashax knew how to build.
Jaina had never seen Minecraft creations on such a large scale. Slashax’s guards led her into the massive cavern, through the minefield of creepers and past the skeleton archers. Towers of obsidian loomed over sturdy battlements lined with deadly TNT cannons. A maze of lava traps and soul sand pits waited below the walls to catch invaders in its twisting paths. The skeleton had a talent for placing blocks. Well, his minions did at least. In the distance an army of block-carrying endermen were busy adding a new wing to Slashax’s already colossal fortress. Ant would have been impressed.
Jaina’s step faltered at the thought of her friend. Ant was always the creative builder in their group. Normally he was more annoying than a creeper attack, but right now, she’d give anything to hear one of his lame jokes.
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