Down into the Nether

by Danica Davidson

  “Stop stalling, Stevie!” Alex hissed in a whisper.

  This room led us into another long hallway. The more my eyes adjusted, the more I realized how red the walls were. Two doors were very close together, and the music disc wanted us to go through one.

  A flash of yellow caught my eyes.

  “Uh, Alex?” I said, hoping my eyes were fooling me.

  “I said stop—”

  When balls of flames came shooting out toward her, I lunged and pushed her out of the way. Almost immediately two more balls of fire blasted by our heads.

  “It’s a blaze!” Alex hollered, scrambling back to her feet.

  The blaze came barreling out of the other doorway. Yellow blocks spun around a square golden head. Flames were licking along its body, as black smoke spiraled up out of its mouth. It was a half-mob, half-fire creature, and it had found us.

  As we scrambled to our feet, we saw the walls around us burst into flames. Whirring wildly, the blaze shot more balls of fire at us, and all Alex and I could do was dodge frantically.

  “Your arrows, Alex!” I shouted. There was no way I could get close enough to that blaze to take it out with my diamond sword. We needed a weapon that worked from a distance, but the blaze wasn’t giving us enough time to do much.

  Behind us, the walls of the fortress were engulfed in flames. Everything was fire and heat.

  “Just run!” Alex yelled. We bolted through the doorway the music disc directed us to. When I glanced behind me, I saw the blaze slam into the doorway, shooting quick blasts of fire. The fire rapidly spread up the walls.

  We ran and ran, passing several more rooms until we realized that the blaze had stopped following us.

  “Oh, phew,” Alex said. She looked at me very seriously right then. “You saved me. Thank you.”

  I shrugged. “I just reacted,” I said. I didn’t think pushing her out of the way had been as heroic as her saving me from falling off the cliff. But I guess either way we would have been equally doomed. I had just saved her, the way she had just saved me.

  Alex shook her head and kept walking. “No, I should have known better,” she said. “I was so caught up in the music disc I wasn’t checking every corner.”

  “We all make mistakes,” I said.

  “Yeah, but every time I make a mistake, it feels like it gets rubbed in my face,” Alex said. “You know I want to be an explorer when I grow up, but my mom’s against it. She points it out every time I make a mistake as if that’s proof I can’t be an explorer.”

  Then her face hardened. Talking about our parents was mostly off-limits then. I couldn’t stand to think of Dad in Herobrine’s clutches, and Alex didn’t even know where her mom was. She just knew that her mom had changed and turned against Alex after Herobrine started to gain power in the Overworld.

  “Did you get close enough to the village to figure out what might be going on with your mom?” I asked tentatively.

  “No,” Alex said. “She’s probably too busy being mayor of her own village to think about her daughter. And if she sees those wanted posters with my face on them, she’s going to be especially mad.”

  That was true. But that was the least of our worries right then. We turned a dark corner and saw a magma cube in front of us. And as soon as it saw us, it jumped toward us in attack.

  CHAPTER 16

  AFTER GHASTS AND BLAZES, MAGMA CUBES DIDN’T look so bad. They kind of reminded me of the slimes in the Overworld. The magma cube in front of us was a dark red square with fiery red and yellow eyes. When it bounced, the pieces of its body separated, so it looked like it was made of different layers. Inside I could see it burning with lava and heat.

  Alex and I had just come across a very, very dangerous mob.

  “Watch out!” Alex cried.

  I struck out with my sword, hitting the magma cube. This was probably the dumbest thing I could have done. Instead of defeating it, the magma cube broke off into several smaller magma cubes, and they all dove at us, surrounding us in seconds.

  As they approached us, we had no choice but to hit them again with our weapons, which made the magma cubes multiply and multiply. First there was one magma cube, and then there were three, then five, then ten.

  I continued to slash out my sword at them, to keep them at bay. If they landed on me, I would be badly hurt, and that would allow the rest of the magma cubes to pile on. My peripheral vision was full of red-and-yellow eyes and rebounding dark-red squares. I felt the heat of their lava bodies.

  One magma cube almost hit Ossie, who was still perched on my shoulder. Ossie angrily batted it away. There were so many cubes I was hitting at rapid speed. One brushed against my shoulder and I cried out in pain. The heat seared me. I flung my sword back, slashing the magma cube that had hurt me, and then slashing out at the others. First they multiplied, and as Alex and I fought, they started to subtract. Ten magma cubes. Then five. Then two. After I took out the last one, Alex came over to check out my shoulder.

  “Are you all right?” she asked, concerned and out of breath.

  “Yeah,” I winced. “It wasn’t a direct hit, so I’ll be okay.”

  Ossie got back up on my other shoulder. We moved in the darkness and turned another corner, coming into a deep, dark room that stretched out until I could barely see the shadowy end of it. The music disc began glowing like crazy, as if it was getting excited. I strained my eyes into the shadows. Could it really be?

  Alex was thinking the same thing. We sprinted across the room, too scared to say what we were thinking because we didn’t want to jinx it. But when we got to the other side of the room, the shadows fell back and we knew our eyes weren’t tricking us.

  “Oh, thank goodness!” I exclaimed.

  Against the back of the room were piles and piles of the stones. The special stones we needed to build a new portal.

  CHAPTER 17

  EVEN THOUGH WE STILL HAD TO GET BACK OUT OF the Nether, I felt about a hundred pounds lift off my shoulders. “We found them, we found them!” Alex and I were chanting as we gathered up the stones. The music disc had led us to the right place!

  It won’t be much longer! I thought, as if Dad and Maison could hear me. Hold on, because we’re on our way!

  “Let’s just get what we need for one portal,” Alex said. “But let’s come back another time and mine more so we can always have a supply handy.”

  I didn’t say anything, since I didn’t want to tell Alex I would be more than happy if I never stepped foot in the Nether again. Besides, we only needed that one portal, right?

  When we stepped out of the room, bringing the stones with us, I noticed the music disc wasn’t directing us back the way we came. It wanted us to go out a different way.

  “Why do you think that is?” I asked.

  Alex shrugged. “Maybe it wants to keep us from running into that blaze again, and the rooms it set on fire.”

  That made sense, until I thought about it a little longer. Why would the music disc protect us from the blaze this time, but not the first time through? It hadn’t protected us from that magma cube, either. Or the ghasts. Or….

  “I don’t think that music disc is trying to protect us,” I said.

  “Well, then maybe this way is faster,” Alex replied. She was in a good mood from finding the stones, though I was already starting to worry about getting back to the Overworld. “Besides, maybe the music disc can’t help having us run into mobs because there are so many mobs in the Nether. Maybe it’s keeping us away from the worst mobs so we only see a few smaller mobs we can handle.”

  Soon we were on our way with the stones. The music disc led us through dark passageways and through gloomy rooms. I really missed sunlight.

  “Look!” Alex said, pointing. “We’re almost out!”

  Sure enough, we were approaching a doorway that let us out of the Nether fortress. In the distance I could see the tiniest peek of the lava waterfall we’d walked under earlier.

  Seeing the exit excited us
and we sped up. We were super exhausted but the idea of getting out of this Nether fortress was so thrilling it felt like the equivalent of taking a Potion of Swiftness. I even forgot that my one shoulder still hurt.

  Just as we were about to reach the exit, we were in for a surprise. Several dark figures stepped out, blocking us from getting through. In the shadows I could see they were tall, almost as tall as Endermen. In their hands they clutched black swords. They weren’t moving very fast until they saw us, and then they came rushing our way like a small army, lifting their weapons to attack.

  CHAPTER 18

  “WITHER SKELETONS!” I CRIED.

  Skeletons in the Overworld were bad enough, but these wither skeletons were even bigger in size and their swords looked brutal! There was no way we could just run past them the way we’d managed to run past the blaze.

  Alex drew back her bow and let an arrow loose, nailing one of the wither skeletons. The wither skeleton jolted, turned red, and then disappeared. Several wither skeletons came at me and I stabbed at them with my sword. Ossie got jostled on my shoulder and jumped down.

  “Don’t let them hit you!” Alex said.

  That was good advice for any hostile mob, but especially good advice for a wither skeleton. If they managed to hurt me, they had a withering effect, which meant I’d get weaker and weaker.

  I saw a wither skeleton advancing on Ossie.

  “No!” I shouted. I ducked under several wither skeleton swords, rushing to save Ossie. Ossie hissed and jumped back as I slammed my sword down on the wither skeleton that had been going after her.

  “Stevie, duck!” Alex called.

  I obeyed. Two wither skeletons had snuck up behind me while I was saving Ossie and they were about to pounce. As soon as I’d ducked, Alex hit one and then the other with her arrows.

  “Thanks, Alex!” I said, leaping back up and swinging out with my sword, hitting several wither skeletons that were approaching me. I could hear Alex’s arrows being flung from her bow, one after another, taking out the wither skeletons right and left. The closer ones I went after with my sword. One good slash with my diamond sword and the wither skeletons fell away, until finally Alex and I stood in a mobless room.

  “You’re not hurt, are you?” I asked. In the craziness of fighting I hadn’t been able to watch after Alex. Now I could see that she was rubbing her arm. I felt sick at the idea a wither skeleton might have gotten her.

  “Yeah, just fine,” Alex said. “How about you?”

  “Fine for now,” I said, picking Ossie back up. “Hey, what’s that?”

  Sometimes mobs dropped things when you defeated them, and I saw one of the defeated wither skeletons had dropped a sword. I picked it up and gave it a quick once-over. It wasn’t as nice as a diamond sword, but who was I to turn down a free weapon that might come in handy? Alex nodded her approval.

  New sword in hand, I said, “Let’s go!”

  We raced out of the fortress, letting its dark majesty disappear behind us. Under the lava waterfall we went. Back to the cliff and over the rickety, unsteady bridge. A few ghasts were seen flying around in the background, crying their creepy baby cries, though none came toward us. The music disc led us back, plus we had Alex’s torches set up to show us the way.

  “There!” I said when I saw the portal out of the Nether.

  “What did I tell you, Stevie?” Alex said with a delighted laugh. “It might have been scary while we were doing it, but now that we’re going to be out of the Nether, it’ll make a great story: ‘Alex and Stevie’s adventures in the Nether.’ Ghasts, blazes, nearly falling off a cliff, a few wither skeletons, a few close calls for both of us….”

  She was rattling on and I barely listened. I was counting the steps till we reached that portal and got out. The portal was beckoning there, its middle pulsing with a deep purple color. Against all the blacks, reds, and oranges of the Nether, that purple stood out like something magical.

  I was still counting my steps when I noticed that the ground lifted slightly, and instead of lifting my feet high enough, I was gawking at the portal. One foot hit against a rock, and I felt myself start to trip.

  I tried to catch myself, and it was no good. I spilled face-first, with Ossie jumping off my shoulder so she wouldn’t land so hard with me. The sword I’d gotten from the wither skeleton flew out of my hand.

  I lifted my head just in time to see the sword flying through the air. Everything was going in slow motion again. The sword spun, glimmered, and hit one of the nearby zombie pigmen.

  “Stevie, you—!” Alex began in an outrage.

  We were seconds from getting out of the Nether and I’d had the stupidest, most unfortunate accident possible. I’d made the zombie pigmen mad. As soon as that sword knocked into that one zombie pigman, all the others lifted their golden swords and ran to attack us.

  CHAPTER 19

  ALEX YANKED ME TO MY FEET AND WE RACED for the portal, the zombie pigmen right behind us, brandishing their weapons as they grunted and squealed.

  “I told you not to touch them!” Alex screamed above the noise.

  “I didn’t mean to!” I protested. “I tripped!”

  With zombie pigmen running at us from all different angles, the portal suddenly seemed much farther away.

  A zombie pigman stood in front of me with its golden sword held up high. I ducked and slashed with my sword. Alex ripped out two arrows and struck two more of the zombie pigmen.

  “Just get to the portal!” Alex stressed. That was already my plan of action, but it wasn’t a very good one, because zombie pigmen go through portals, too. I was slashing my sword like crazy as I ran, knocking aside zombie pigmen left and right, getting them before they could swarm all over me.

  The reds and blacks of the Nether fell back as my vision turned green and pink from all the zombie pigmen. There were so many! My blue diamond sword kept on hitting against their golden swords and throwing them back. Alex was shooting them with her arrows as they charged her.

  Ossie had the right idea. Because she was small and wasn’t human, she darted past the attacking zombie pigmen and made her way to the portal. Instead of going through, she turned and mewed at us, as if begging us to hurry up.

  “Alex, look out!” I warned.

  As a zombie pigman charged at Alex from behind, she dodged out of the way and I leapt forward with my sword.

  “Remind me to thank you later for that!” Alex yelled.

  Behind us we could hear more squealing and grunting. When we dared to turn back, there had to have been at least a hundred zombie pigmen running at us from the depths of the Nether.

  “Run, run, run!” Alex said. A golden sword skimmed over my square head and another sword would have tripped Alex if she didn’t jump over it. As we approached the portal, Ossie was getting more worked up, mewling and arching her back.

  “Out, Ossie!” I shouted.

  Ossie obeyed, gracefully jumping through the portal. Alex and I were right behind her, but at the last moment, several zombie pigmen stepped out in front of the portal, blocking us. Alex and I screeched to a halt. There were zombie pigmen in front of us. There was an army of them behind us. They were coming at us from all angles. We were trapped.

  “Look!” Alex cried.

  Just overhead, the greatest and most terrifying mob of the Nether was rising up. A Wither!

  It was enormous, even bigger than some buildings I’ve seen, moving like a dark storm cloud. At the top of it were three black skeleton heads. Sizzles of black smoke rose from its towering body as it flew directly over us, casting a darker shadow over the already gloomy landscape.

  The Wither began spitting out blue skulls in all directions. Wherever the blue skulls hit, there was an enormous explosion, as if the ground had been smashed with TNT. One blue skull hurtled out into the zombie pigmen army, knocking them back. Another landed just a few feet away, destroying the ground where it landed. A zombie pigman nearby fell into the hole.

  Alex raised her a
rrows to shoot it. “Get back!” she screamed.

  We both fell back as a blue skull hit the space just before the Nether portal, blasting out the zombie pigmen that had been blocking us and leaving a big hole there.

  “We’re doomed!” I concluded.

  “No, it’s perfect!” Alex said. “Zombie pigmen can’t jump!”

  She was right! Alex and I had to jump out to get through the portal now, and this meant the zombie pigmen wouldn’t be able to follow us out.

  I thought this Wither was the worst of the worst, and now I saw it had saved us without even meaning to. This gave me courage. “Let’s go!” I said, grabbing Alex’s hand so we couldn’t be separated in the fiery chaos.

  Alex and I jumped through the portal at the same instant. Everything went purple. Then we tumbled out into the Overworld, landing on our bellies, silky green grass beneath us and a blue sky above us. No zombie pigmen. No fires. No Wither. Sunlight!

  I heard Ossie hiss, and I didn’t know what she could be upset about right now. It was time to celebrate! But when I raised my head, my eyes widened in horror.

  We were surrounded by an army of armored guards, all of them holding their arrows and swords at the ready. Standing in the middle of the guards was a tall and regal woman with red hair, her face turned into a sneer.

  “There they are!” she said to the guards. “Arrest them at once!”

  “Mom, no!” Alex exclaimed.

  CHAPTER 20

  I COULDN’T BELIEVE IT. STANDING THERE WAS ALEX’S mom, my Aunt Alexandra. She was the most respected mayor in the area, or at least she had been before Herobrine brainwashed her. Now her cold eyes looked at Alex and me as if we were criminals, not family. And the guards worked for her, so they obeyed her every word.

  “I’m sorry to have to do this, Alex,” Aunt Alexandra said.

  “Mom?” Alex gasped, her face pale. “You were the one who ordered our arrests?”

  Aunt Alexandra sniffed. “If you break the laws, you pay the price. You brought that feared being into our world. As the mayor, I have to do what’s best.”