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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.
Cover photo by Megan Miller
Print ISBN: 978-1-5107-0351-3
Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-0354-4
Printed in Canada
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1: Preparations and Portals
Chapter 2: Journal Entry: Fear of Fire
Chapter 3: In the Nether Fortress
Chapter 4: Journal Entry: Lava Life
Chapter 5: The Treasure Hunters
Chapter 6: Journal Entry: Hopeful Escape
Chapter 7: Sidetracked
Chapter 8: Journal Entry: A New Friend
Chapter 9: Treasure Trove
Chapter 10: Journal Entry: Small Exploration
Chapter 11: Battle in the Nether
Chapter 12: Journal Entry: False Start
Chapter 13: Nobody Wins
Chapter 14: Journal Entry: An Encounter
Chapter 15: The Attack of the Wither Skeletons
Chapter 16: Journal Entry: Almost Home
Chapter 17: Slimes and Surprises
Chapter 18: Journal Entry: It’s the End
1
PREPARATIONS AND PORTALS
I’ll make the portal,” said Toby, “but I need some obsidian.”
Harriet checked her inventory, then shook her head. “I don’t have any. But before we travel to the Nether, shouldn’t we read more of the journal? I know William might be there, but we should have a plan before we go. We could be walking into a trap.”
Jack looked over at Julian. “Well, what does it say next?”
Julian was riffling through his bag and starting to panic. “It isn’t in my inventory!”
“Where is it then?” asked Harriet.
Together they looked around the desert, searching the ground for the book in case Julian might have dropped it. They couldn’t find anything though, and it looked like the journal really was gone.
“Wait a minute,” said Oliver. “Ezra is missing.”
Renewing their search, they called into the distance. “Ezra!”
There was no reply.
“Maybe he took the journal,” said Toby.
Julian defended his friend. “I don’t think Ezra would steal the journal. He’s a good guy.”
“Well, where is he then? Why didn’t he tell us he was leaving?” Toby asked.
Julian was silent. He trusted his friend, but Toby was right—Ezra had left without telling them. As Julian stood without a response, a voice called out in the distance. “Help!”
“What was that?” asked Harriet.
“It’s Ezra!” shouted Jack.
In the distance, Julian spotted Ezra in a portal. Charles stood beside him, holding Ezra in place. Purple mist rose around them, and they disappeared. “We need to help him!” Julian cried.
“I bet Charles stole the journal, too,” said Harriet.
“You’re probably right. There’s no time to waste. We need to save Ezra,” said Julian. “And maybe we can retrieve the journal, as well.”
“We need to find more obsidian,” Toby reminded him.
The group searched all of their inventories and found enough obsidian to make a portal. They passed through the portal, enveloped in purple mist. Within seconds they arrived in the Nether.
Harriet shuddered as she looked around. She didn’t like being in the Nether and she hoped their visit would be short.
Julian broke the portal. He didn’t want anyone following them. Then he looked out at the Nether landscape. He couldn’t see Ezra or Charles nearby. “We’re going to have to search for them. They could be anywhere.”
Oliver was an expert at crafting maps and had charted many parts of the Nether, but when he spoke he sounded nervous. “I have no idea where we are. I think we’re just going to have to walk around and make our own discoveries.”
Harriet reassured Oliver. “I know you’ve been imprisoned for a long while and this is your first time exploring in ages, but we will find our way. We always do.” Of course Harriet was also nervous, but she knew she had to be hopeful. Being nervous wasn’t going to help anyone.
Toby and Jack led the way. They were confident in the Nether. Toby heard a noise and looked up at the sky. “Blazes!” he shouted.
“Snowballs!” called Jack.
The group grabbed as many snowballs as they could out of their inventories and began pelting the flying fiery mobs. Jack had perfect aim and destroyed one blaze in seconds. The other two blazes were harder to battle. They shot fireballs at the group, and Harriet only narrowly avoided being struck.
Julian threw a snowball. “Bull’s-eye!” he called out when it destroyed the blaze.
As they battled the final blaze together, Julian noticed two people watching in the distance.
“I got it!” shouted Jack, skillfully destroying the final blaze and ready to celebrate.
Julian didn’t congratulate Jack—he was too busy running toward the two people who were now passing by a lava waterfall.
“Where are you going?” Toby called out.
“I think I see Ezra and Charles!” Julian shouted back.
The gang followed Julian, sprinting toward the two people in the distance. When they got closer, they realized they had made a mistake. Ezra and Charles were nowhere to be seen. The two strangers took out their bows and shot arrows at the gang.
“Stop! Please don’t shoot!” Julian called out.
“Don’t come any closer,” shouted a girl wearing a red helmet.
“We won’t. We aren’t here to harm you. We just thought you were someone else,” Julian said.
The girl put down her bow, and told her friend to stop shooting arrows. “Why are you here? What’s your purpose for traveling to the Nether?”
“We are looking for friends who are being kept prisoner here,” Julian explained.
“The Nether is so large. How do you plan on finding them?” she asked, eyes darting across the group.
“We don’t know, but we can’t abandon our friends,” said Julian.
“What is your purpose for traveling to the Nether?” Harriet asked the girl.
“We’re treasure hunters. I’m Veronica.”
The man with a green helmet spoke now, too. “I’m Valentino.”
The gang introduced themselves. When it was Oliver’s turn, Valentino studied him for a moment, then remarked, “You look very familiar. You kind of resemble the famous explorer Oliver.”
&n
bsp; “That’s me,” Oliver said proudly.
“That’s impossible,” said Valentino. “He’s been missing for years. Nobody knows where he is.”
“They found me,” Oliver told Valentino, gesturing at the others. “I was being kept prisoner for years.”
“What about William, your fellow explorer?” asked Veronica.
“That’s who we are looking for,” explained Oliver. “We’re looking for him and another friend who we lost during our quest.”
Jack was upset that Oliver had just told the strangers that they were searching for William. Veronica and Valentino were treasure hunters and to them William would be more valuable than a mine full of diamonds. This meant they would probably want to help them find William, and once they did find him, he would just be another treasure they could trade.
“You’re searching for William? We want to join you,” Valentino exclaimed.
Jack jumped in before Oliver could agree. “I think we’re fine. We’d like to do this on our own.”
Veronica smiled. “That’s okay. We understand.”
Jack didn’t believe a word she said. As Veronica and Valentino walked away, he had a feeling this wouldn’t be the last they saw of them.
A voice called out in the distance.
“Did you hear that?” asked Toby.
“Yes!” Julian was excited. It sounded like Ezra.
“Where is it coming from?”
Julian looked in every direction. He could hear the voice cry for help, but he couldn’t see anyone.
“Look!” Harriet pointed to a book on the ground.
Julian picked it up. “It’s William’s second journal!”
“How did it get here?” asked Toby. “Could Charles have dropped it?”
“It doesn’t matter,” said Toby. “Just read it.”
Julian flipped open the book and started to read.
2
JOURNAL ENTRY: FEAR OF FIRE
Day 1: Solitude
I am stuck in a cell and I have no way to escape. I have searched through my inventory, but I don’t have a pickaxe or a shovel. I am tired and I don’t have any food left. I don’t know how much longer I will survive here. After one attack, I worry that more blazes will spawn in this small room and I will be trapped with the fiery mobs. This wasn’t how I imagined my life as an explorer. For the first time in my life, I dream of being saved by someone. I’m usually the resourceful one. I am the one who rescues other people. What have they done to me?
I’m also worried about Oliver. I wonder where he’s being kept prisoner. I want to save him, but I can’t even save myself.
I had a visitor today. There is a small hole in the wall and someone threw a carrot through it. It’s enough food to keep me alive, but not enough to build up my energy and food bar.
I’ve been trying to figure out who is keeping me prisoner. When they dropped off the carrot ration, I shouted, “Who are you?”
A voice replied, “Who I am doesn’t matter. Just eat your food. You will have a visitor soon enough, and they will explain everything.”
“Who? Tell me more!” I pleaded.
Silence. There was no response. The visitor’s deep voice had sounded sinister. My mind began to wander and I conjured up various images of the potential visitor. Was it Charles? Or Thao? Had they resurrected their blue army?
As my mind raced, a blaze spawned in the center of the room.
I jumped up. I was so scared. I hate fire. I was also a little shocked—I hadn’t thought the cell was big enough for the horrific yellow creatures to spawn. But the cell must have been larger than nine by nine. I had nothing to help me, no snowballs in my inventory. It shot a fireball at me. And with no place to hide, I was hit. Hard.
I respawned in the bed, still a captive. Luckily the blaze was gone, but I was so very tired. My energy was at an all-time low.
A stranger entered the room.
“Who are you?” I asked. He wore a red shirt and jeans. He didn’t look too scary.
He didn’t reply. He was very weak and had a depleted health bar. He looked over at me and asked, “Can you craft a bed? I’m afraid I might have to respawn and I’d rather respawn here than in the last prison.”
I looked through my inventory and luckily I had enough resources to craft a bed for him. As I worked on it, I asked him, “Why are you here?”
“I was treasure hunting in a Nether fortress when a group of people trapped me. They held their swords to me and told me I had to follow them. I didn’t want to get destroyed, so I followed them down a hole. They led me to a tiny cell, where they kept me prisoner for a long time, all by myself. I have no idea why they moved me. But this morning, they brought me here. I’m glad for the company.”
I finished the bed and the man thanked me. “What’s your name?” I asked.
“I’m Sean.”
“I’m William.”
Sean paused. “You’re not William the world-famous explorer . . . are you?”
“I am, actually.”
“Oh no. If you’re trapped here, that means the people who captured us are extremely powerful. If someone like you can’t escape, I’ll never make it out of here! You know all the tricks of the Overworld.”
I didn’t know how to reply. I was both flattered and offended. “I think we will find our way out of here together,” I said finally.
“Really? Do you?”
“I hope so. But it’s not going to be easy.”
“As long as we get out of here,” said Sean.
We could hear someone shouting, a muffled voice through the walls. “Do you know if other people are being held prisoner down here?” I asked Sean.
“I’m sure we’re not the only ones.”
I thought about Oliver. I wondered if he was kept prisoner in one of these cells. I also wondered how many other people were trapped in this prison. If we could get them all to escape, maybe we’d have a better chance of fighting our unknown enemy. The voice grew louder.
Sean walked over to the wall. “I can hear them calling for help!”
“I wish we could help them.” I stood beside Sean.
“Me too.”
The voices stopped. I wondered if their owners had been destroyed. There was an eerie silence.
“What happened?” Sean put his ear against the wall, hoping to hear something. Anything.
“I don’t know. But we will find out,” I said.
“Is that a promise?” Sean smiled.
“Yes, it is.”
A voice broke through the silence. “Help!”
This time, the voice sounded familiar.
3
IN THE NETHER FORTRESS
I wonder where William is trapped. We need to find him as soon as possible. We have to free him and the other prisoners,” Harriet said to the group.
Oliver was thinking about the cries that William and Sean had heard. “That wasn’t my voice,” he said. “I wonder who it was.”
“We’ll find them.” Julian sounded extremely confident.
“How?” asked Harriet, skeptical. The Nether was so big.
“We need to read more of the journal,” said Toby.
“We need to find Ezra,” Julian reminded them.
“We will find Ezra. But first we need to read the journal.”
Julian flipped open the journal again and was about to read from it when an arrow struck him. “Ouch!” he cried and then he dropped the book.
“It’s Veronica!” shouted Harriet.
“And Valentino!” Toby cried as he took out his bow and arrow and shot in the direction of the two treasure hunters. They were going to be trouble after all.
The duo ran toward the gang. They put away their bows and arrows and took out enchanted diamond swords. With all their might, they began to attack the group.
“There are only two of you!” Toby shouted at Valentino and Veronica as he fought back with his sword. “You guys will never win.”
Then, Valentino called out. “Hel
p!”
At his signal, a group of red men emerged from behind a lava waterfall. They sprinted toward the group. They carried diamond swords and descended upon the gang.
Veronica laughed as she struck Toby. “You guys are never going to win.”
“What do you want from us?” asked a terrified Jack.
“We want the book you’re reading,” Veronica told them. “Give it to us now and you won’t get hurt. Otherwise we’ll destroy every one of you.”
Toby fumbled with his sword as Veronica struck him again. His health bar was dangerously low. Harriet sprinted toward Toby’s side and hit Veronica with her diamond sword. “You aren’t going to get away with this,” she shouted.
“Look at our red army,” Veronica laughed. “We have many people working for us. You won’t be able to escape the Nether, and you’ll never be able to find your friend.”
“Don’t threaten me.” Harriet plunged her sword into Veronica’s side.
“Watch out!” Oliver called to Harriet.
A ghast flew through the sky and shot a fireball at Harriet. Thanks to Oliver’s warning, she jumped back just in time. The fireball hit Veronica instead. She was instantly destroyed.
“Veronica!” Valentino called out, running to where she had stood.
The ghast shot another fireball. This one hit Valentino, destroying him as well. Harriet hit the next fireball with her fist, obliterating the ghast. The red soldiers fled.
“We’re safe!” Jack was relieved. Toby drank a potion of healing and was happy to see his energy restored. Oliver picked up the ghast tears that the ghast had dropped. They would be useful for making potions.
Julian announced, “But William’s journal is missing. One of them must have grabbed it during the battle. How are we going to find him without it?”
“We need to find Veronica and Valentino. I’m sure they’re the ones who have the journal.” Harriet was upset. She had no idea where Veronica and Valentino might have respawned. It was hard enough having to find William, and now they had to hunt for the devious treasure hunters.
“If they have the journal, they might be able to find William before us. And who knows what they would do to him. They will treat him like a treasure to be sold.” Oliver was upset.
An Explorer's Guide to the Nether Page 1
