Discoveries in the Overworld

by Winter Morgan

  Exhausted, Harriet respawned in the blue army’s secret room with the beds. She could hear voices in the other room. She kept quiet, not wanting to alert anyone to her presence. She listened.

  “They blew up the door,” she heard Julian say in the other room.

  “Wow, they’re resourceful,” a second person replied.

  “I really thought I’d be able to keep them here for a little while. I wanted them to meet you.” Julian spoke again to the unknown person.

  Harriet wanted to see who was there, but she didn’t want to get trapped in the room. She waited for the others to respawn, hoping she’d have backup soon. Meanwhile, she continued to eavesdrop.

  “I was able to save the second journal. I don’t think it’s a good idea that they read it.”

  “You did a good job, Julian,” the man said. “I want to thank you for all your effort. But the job isn’t done. I need to meet with these new explorers. And I need the first journal. The longer they have it in their hands, the stronger the curse will become.”

  Harriet’s heart skipped a beat. She wondered if they could really be cursed. But she still wanted to finish reading the journal.

  “I will get the journal from them and I will lead you them to you,” Julian told the man.

  “Thank you, Julian. You’re a good friend.”

  “I’ll admit, I don’t know where they are, but I’ll search the entire Overworld until I find them. I promise.”

  “Julian, I know you’re a loyal friend,” the man replied.

  Harriet heard Julian and the man leave the room. They walked up the stairs. She tried to catch a glimpse of them on their way out, but she was too late. When they had been gone for a while, Harriet walked into the room to search for clues. Maybe they had left something behind that would help her identify the man who had been with Julian.

  “Harriet?” a voice called out from the other room.

  “Who’s there?” Harriet asked nervously.

  “It’s me. Jack.”

  “Where’s Toby?”

  “He’s still battling the skeletons.” Jack walked into the room.

  Within seconds, Toby respawned. “Jack? Harriet?”

  “We’re here,” Harriet called to him.

  “That was an intense battle.” Toby was exhausted. He grabbed a potion of healing and drank some. Then he offered it to the others.

  Harriet took carrots from her inventory and shared them with the others. “We need to eat and get our energy up. I have a lot to tell you.”

  She told them about Julian and the stranger. And she told them about the journal actually being cursed.

  Toby asked, “Really cursed? Could it really be?”

  “I wonder who that person was with Julian,” said Jack.

  “I know this might sound naive, but I don’t think Julian wanted to hurt us,” said Harriet. “He just wanted to trap us so we could meet this man.”

  “Once we find out who he is, maybe this will all make sense,” said Toby.

  “And how are we going to do that?” Jack’s voice shook as he asked the question.

  “I don’t know,” said Harriet, “but he meant a lot to Julian. In fact, Julian promised him that he would search the entire Overworld to find us.”

  “Why? We’re not that important,” said Jack.

  “No, we’re not.” Toby paused and then took William’s journal from his inventory. “But this is. I don’t think they want to find us; I believe they want to find this journal.”

  “I bet they think we read the entire thing, which means we know a lot of things we shouldn’t,” said Harriet.

  “That’s what makes us important.” Jack gulped. “But I don’t think that’s a good thing.”

  “We’re cursed!” Harriet cried.

  “Stop.” Toby looked at the book. “We need to read the rest. It’s our only hope.”

  10

  JOURNAL ENTRY: THE WHEAT FARM

  Trip 5: Explorations on a Wheat Farm

  Oliver and I were already covered in purple mist when the blue soldier jumped through our portal.

  “Don’t hurt us!” Oliver cried out.

  “That’s not my plan,” the blue man replied.

  Before we could utter another word, we were back in the Overworld.

  The blue man quickly broke the portal. “I’m being followed.”

  “By Roger?” I asked.

  “Yes,” he replied. “I need help. I don’t want to be a part of their army.”

  The portal had left us in the middle of a desert—there was sand everywhere. I spotted some water in the distance and what looked like a desert temple. It was different from the temple we had visited earlier.

  “I think we should make our way toward the temple. Maybe there’s treasure in there,” I suggested.

  Oliver began to craft a map. “This would be very valuable. People in the Overworld are always looking for desert temples. If I can lead them to the temple with my map, that would be fantastic.”

  The blue man said, “That’s a good idea, but I’d like to change my skin first, if you don’t mind.”

  “That’s fine,” I said, and then asked, “But who are you?”

  “My name is Julian,” the man said as he put on a new skin. He had dark hair and wore a gray shirt. “I never wanted to be a part of that army. I thought Roger was going to lead us to victory over Charles and Thao, but he is even worse than they are. He wanted to take over once he destroyed them.”

  “We’ll help you escape,” Oliver said.

  Unlike Oliver, I was wary of Julian. Could we really trust him?

  “Where do you want to escape to?” I asked Julian as we walked toward the desert temple.

  “I’d like to go back to my wheat farm. I used to be a farmer.”

  “We’ll help you get there,” Oliver reassured him.

  As we made our way through the sand toward the temple, Julian cried out. “Ouch!”

  “It’s Charles and Thao!” I shouted.

  They stood beneath an arch near the desert temple and were shooting arrows at us. Their enormous army erupted from the desert temple and attacked. We didn’t want to be taken prisoner, so we fled the desert as fast as we could move.

  “Take this.” Oliver handed us bottles of potion of invisibility, and quickly we were safely out of sight.

  With nowhere else to go, we decided to take Julian home. When we reached Julian’s village, he was happy, but it was a bittersweet return.

  He explained: “The town isn’t the same since Charles and Thao arrived. At first we were all excited for explorers to visit our town, but then they started recruiting people for the army. Nobody wanted to go, so they forced a group of us to join. The town was upset to see us go. I bet they’ll be surprised to see me back.”

  Julian was right. The minute we walked through the small village, a librarian wearing a white robe called to him. “Julian!”

  “Tess!” he shouted, running up to her.

  “How did you escape?”

  “It wasn’t easy.”

  “What about the others?”

  “I’m the only one I know who escaped. I just want to get back to my farm.”

  Julian led us to his wheat farm. There was a small house. An ocelot purred and rubbed up against his feet. “This is Snowball,” he said, petting her gently.

  We were exhausted—as we entered Julian’s house, night was beginning to set in.

  “I know you’re happy to stay here on your farm,” I said to Julian, “but we could use your help to stop Charles and Thao. Once they’re defeated, we can become the explorers that we want to be, and then you can return to your wheat farm for good.”

  “But how are we going to defeat them? They have an army. They’re so powerful.”

  “I have no idea,” I told him. “Do you know any weaknesses they might have? You were in their army.”

  Oliver added, “Yes, we all have weaknesses. Maybe they’re afraid of fire, like William.”

  I g
lared at him. Again, Oliver was too trusting. Now that Julian knew my weakness he could use that against us. I hoped he really was on our side.

  Julian thought for a moment. “I know that Charles is very afraid of going to the End—I think it’s because he’s afraid of the Ender Dragon.”

  “Maybe we can summon Ender Dragons to attack them in the desert,” I suggested.

  “That’s a good idea,” said Oliver. “We can do that with command blocks.”

  “I think we should all get some sleep first,” said Julian. “We can attack them in the morning.”

  As they both slept, I secretly wrote in my journal. As I write now, I am excited for our plan. I have never summoned an Ender Dragon before, and I think this attack on their desert headquarters might work. Then we’ll finally be able to continue our lives as true explorers.

  11

  TRACKING DOWN OLD FRIENDS

  So Julian isn’t a bad guy?” asked Harriet.

  “So far, he isn’t, but I think we have to read more,” said Toby.

  “We should just go back the wheat farm and find Julian. I think he is a good guy, and hopefully he’ll be able to give us some answers,” suggested Jack.

  “I want to get out of this ice biome, and I hate this secret room. I keep thinking we’re going to get trapped again,” Harriet said as she walked toward the door.

  As the group made their way to Julian’s town, Jack reminded them, “We still have a house there.”

  “Yes,” said Harriet, “that is very helpful.”

  As they continued on, Toby mused, “I wonder if Julian’s house exploding has to do with his past? Maybe the explosion has a link to Charles and Thao?”

  “Yes, they could still be around and terrorizing him,” said Harriet.

  The town was bustling, and people walked through the streets, entering the shops. A librarian in a white robe walked by them, and Jack called out to her. “Are you Tess?”

  “Yes.” She was surprised. “How do you know my name?”

  “We’re friends with Julian,” Jack replied.

  “Julian,” Tess paused. “Do you know where he is?”

  “We thought Julian was here,” said Harriet.

  “No, Julian’s house exploded a few nights ago, and he has been missing ever since. It’s awful. Everyone is worried about him.”

  “Don’t worry, we’ll find him,” Harriet told Tess.

  “We’ll search his farm for some clues,” added Toby.

  “That’s wonderful,” said Tess. “If you find him, can you please tell him to come see me? I’ve been very worried about him.”

  The gang told Tess they would do their best, and then walked on toward his home. When they reached the wheat farm, an ocelot meowed.

  “That must be Snowball,” Harriet remarked. She found him hiding and reached down to pet the ocelot. They walked around the farm inspecting it.

  “I don’t see any clues,” said Jack, looking around carefully.

  “Me neither,” said Toby.

  The sky grew dark. Harriet suggested they head to their house before night set in.

  Before they reached the house, two Endermen walked by them. One of the Endermen stared at Harriet, let out a loud piercing shriek, and teleported right in front of her. She lashed out with her diamond sword, but the Enderman kept attacking. Jack approached the Enderman from behind and struck it with his diamond sword. With one final hit from Harriet, the Enderman was destroyed.

  The second Enderman attacked Toby. Harriet and Jack ran to his side and helped him defeat the lanky mob. When the two Endermen were defeated, the trio returned to the house.

  “Oh no!” Harriet cried.

  “What happened to the house?” Jack shouted.

  The house had been blown up. Just like Julian’s. A cluster of endermites crawled around the ground beside the remnants of the building.

  They used their diamond swords to battle the bugs. “We’ll have to rebuild,” said Harriet as she swung at one of the creatures.

  Toby annihilated the final endermite and then looked through his inventory for supplies to craft a house. “I don’t have any wood.”

  Jack and Harriet looked through their inventories. They didn’t have any wood, either.

  “What are we going to do?” Jack stared at the dark sky. “There’s no way we’ll survive the night without shelter.”

  The group walked back into town. They hoped somebody might offer them a place to stay. As they trekked through the quiet town, a voice called out to them.

  “Who’s there?” Harriet couldn’t see anyone.

  “It’s me,” the voice replied.

  The group stood still and looked for the person who was calling to them, but they couldn’t see anyone nearby.

  “It’s me—Julian.” Julian walked into the center of the town.

  “What are you doing here?” asked Harriet.

  “Come with me,” Julian told them. “Let me help you.”

  The group followed Julian out of the town and into a grassy biome. They could see zombies spawning just a few feet in front of them. Julian grabbed a potion and splashed it on the zombies.

  “Where are you taking us?” Jack asked as he swung his diamond sword at the zombies.

  “I can’t tell you. But I want you to meet someone very important,” Julian replied.

  Harriet destroyed the final zombie. “We don’t want to follow you unless we know where we are going.”

  Julian looked at the gang. “I’m sorry, but you’re just going to have to trust me.”

  They glanced at one another and then followed Julian into the dark night and up a mountain. “Are you taking us to the ice biome?” asked Jack.

  Julian replied, “I told you, I can’t tell you where we are going, but I can tell you, it’s very important that you come with me.”

  The group traveled all night as the sun began to rise. A chicken spawned in front of them. Julian hunted the chicken and offered the group some food. “We need to eat and replenish our energy. We are about to do something amazing.”

  Harriet accepted the piece of chicken, wondering what amazing thing they were going to do.

  “I have to travel the rest of the journey on my own,” said Julian, “and will meet you back here. But you have to promise to stay here and wait for me.”

  Harriet saw a stretch of beach up ahead. “We’ll wait on that beach, but we’ll only wait until dusk. We need to find a place to stay when it gets dark.”

  Julian promised he wouldn’t be very long, and thanked them and left to continued on.

  “So, we’re just supposed to wait here?” Jack asked when Julian was out of earshot.

  “I guess so,” replied Harriet.

  Toby took out the journal. “At least we can read this while Julian is away.”

  12

  JOURNAL ENTRY: DANGEROUS DESERT

  Trip 6: The Ender Dragon War

  I had never summoned anything with command blocks. Julian helped as we worked on summoning several Ender Dragons to spawn in the desert.

  “How many should we spawn?” I asked.

  “As many as we can,” Julian replied.

  We summoned four Ender Dragons and sprinted to the desert to watch our attack take place. Our plan was enter the outskirts of the desert, dig a hole into a dune and watch from there. We wanted to make sure we won, but we didn’t want to have to fight. As we reached the sandy biome, Julian pointed to the winged beasts that flew overhead. We could hear Charles shout, “Oh no! Not the Ender Dragon!” We could hear the dragon let out a loud roar.

  “There are more than one!” Thao shouted.

  We couldn’t see very much from inside the hole that we had built, but we heard an explosion, and then we heard Charles order his troops to start throwing snowballs. We waited until the sky began to grow dark.

  “What are we going to do?” asked Oliver. “We need to find a place to spend the night.”

  Julian suggested that we keep digging and set up an undergroun
d bunker similar to the one they had in the ice biome. We both agreed that was a good idea and began to work on constructing it.

  As we dug deeper, I noticed a door.

  “What’s that?” Oliver asked.

  “We’re in luck,” Julian told us. “We’ve found a strong-hold. We can probably craft beds in there.”

  I opened the door to the stronghold. The first room was very large and filled with silverfish. Oliver and I destroyed the silverfish, as Julian searched for the spawner.

  “Found it!” he called out. A moment passed. “It’s destroyed!” he shouted.

  I couldn’t concentrate. Even though there was a quiet room to craft beds, I wanted to know what was going on above us. I wished we had a periscope, like on a submarine, to see the battle between Charles, Thao, and the Ender Dragons.

  When we awoke, I made my way to the exit, climbed to the top of the hole, and peeked out. There was nobody outside. A lone Ender Dragon flew through the sky, and the desert temple was partially destroyed.

  “I think we won,” I told the others.

  We put on armor and went to explore the desert temple. It was eerily quiet. I entered the temple, readying myself for an attack, but it was abandoned. There was no sign of Charles, Thao, or their blue soldiers.

  “This is fantastic!” Julian was thrilled that we had won the battle.

  The Ender Dragon swept down and one of its scaly wings hit the side of the temple.

  “I think we’re going to have to destroy that Ender Dragon now,” said Oliver.

  Julian, Oliver, and I hurried outside and threw snow-balls at the beast. It took about seven hits, but together we destroyed the dragon. It dropped an egg, and a portal to the End spawned by the desert temple. We chose not to travel to the End though. Not yet. We wanted to explore the temple.

  Oliver spotted a large chest in one of the temple’s many rooms. He opened it. “It’s filled with diamonds.”

  “I’ve never seen that many diamonds,” Julian marveled.

  “I found another chest,” Oliver called out. “And this one is filled with enchanted books.”

  We were about to distribute all of our newfound treasures, when I came up with another plan.

  “This is a lot of stuff. I think it would be best if we bury it here and come back to get it later. Oliver and I are about to start our official exploration of the Overworld, and once we’re done, we’ll want these valuables.”