by Billy Miner
Holding his flashlight in front of him, the officer led the way to another hallway.
“Now where do we go?” he said, looking confused.
“Over there!” Sarah shouted. “I see another puzzle picture.”
“Now, what does that mean?” the mayor asked.
“Well, it’s a cow, a dress and another arrow,” Sarah said.
“Cow, dress, arrow. Makes no sense,” mom said.
They thought for twenty seconds, all staring at the encryptions and talking out loud to understand what was written.
“That’s not a dress,” mom said. “It’s a gown. It should be ‘cow gown’ and the arrow is pointing where.”
“Cow gown? Such nonsense,” the mayor said, raising one eyebrow.
“Not ‘cow gown,’” mom said, “but ‘bow down.’ He wants us to bow down here. In other words, just duck and crawl underneath there.”
“Madam,” the police officer said, “I might just have to offer you a job in the forensics department. You are a genius.”
All four of them crawled beneath the wall and ended up in the main chamber.
Entry 7: More Clues
“Wow, what a beautiful room!” my mom said. “Unbelievable.”
“Your son has some talent, madam,” the officers says.
“Mom! I’m in here!” I said.
My mom walked over to the tile where the sound came from and started banging on the floor.
“You mean, you’re beneath the floor? What are you doing there? And how can we get you out?”
“Read the encryption on the pillar,” I said.
“This is no time for games. You have to tell us how to get you out of there,” she responded.
“Just do it. I didn’t put there for nothing!” I stubbornly shouted back.
“Your son is one of a kind,” the mayor said. “Now he wants us to solve his little riddles.” He rubbed his chin and looked around. “Let’s see here. Aha! The symbols are over there.”
He pointed at a rebus I wrote on one of the columns holding up the ceiling.
“That thing on the bottom looks like a mirror,” Sarah said.
“And the top drawing is a crystal or diamond of some sort,” the police officer said.
“Hey,” mom said, “Those are my mirrors.”
She turned her head back and forth at two mirrors on either side of the room.
“And that’s my crystal!” she shouted. “You are in deep trouble when you come home, young man!”
“Mom, I just borrowed them to complete the pyramid. Doesn’t it look nice?”
My mom had to admit that I did a wonderful job, but she insisted on using something else afterwards.
“The symbols,” the mayor continued, “Let’s solve the puzzle. It seems to me like the the mirrors have to point at the crystal to make it shine. That’s what it looks like in the drawings.”
“Then let’s do it,” the police officer said as he walked towards one of the mirrors.
He turned the mirror to the crystal. The beam through the tiny hole in the roof shone exactly on the mirror, which reflected the beam to the crystal. The crystal shone a little brighter already. Then he walked over to the other mirror and did the same thing. When both mirrors shone at the crystal in the middle of the chamber, it reflected the light to a switch, which I made sure got triggered by the brightness of the crystal.
Instantly, the hatch in the floor opened up and my mom embraced me.
Entry 8: Saved
When we walked outside the pyramid, another 20 people were standing there. Some of them clapped, others were just staring, and two of them were measuring the size of the structure.
“Bravo! Bravo!” some of the villagers said.
“Young man,” one of the men said who was measuring the bricks, “I would like to talk to you about the design of this pyramid. How did you do it? Can you make more of them?”
“Why do you want to know all that?” I asked. “What’s it to you?”
“Well,” he said, “My associate and I are working for a theme park in the big city. We are always out for new ideas and I think your maze could be a major attraction in our rollercoaster park. An Egyptian pyramid adds a certain theme to a section of the park and…”
I don’t really remember what he said afterwards. Just a bunch of blah-blah about schemes and construction and stuff. All I know was that it was one of the happiest moments of my life. I was proud of myself. The people loved it! For the first time in my life, I felt like they understood me, that they appreciated my art and my eccentric way of thinking.
“Hi,” Sarah said as she walked up to me. Shyly, she glanced at the ground as her face became red. “Your building looks magnificent,” she said. “It’s amazing that you’re able to build stuff like that.”
“Th-thanks,” I stammered.
She walked towards me and kissed me on my right cheek. I haven’t washed that cheek for three days now.
Everything is great now. I find pleasure in designing buildings, the theme park has accepted my plans, and the librarian found a lot of books for me to read about architecture. I don’t have much else to say. I think I am going to sleep now. Just know that if you read my diary, I had to start from scratch, but I literally built my way up and feel better than I ever did before. And my mom… she is more proud of me than a peacock. My brother would have been proud of me to. See you in heaven, buddy.
THE END
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Minecraft Ninja
A Minecraft Ninja Diary
By Billy Miner
Copyright @2015
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher, Billy Miner.
This book is or will also be available in audio form. I have hired professional narrators who do voices and make the story come alive.
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Contents:
Introduction
1st Notes: The Ninja League
2nd Notes: Trouble
3rd Notes: The Emperor’s Treasure
4th Notes: Competition
5th Notes: Trapped
6th Notes: The Duel
7th Notes: Everything or Nothing
Introduction
They are ninjas, a league of thieves. They don’t kill, they don’t murder, but they know exactly how to execute justice upon those who try to impose a corrupt system on the civilians of
the Minerslands. The ninjas care about the poor, they are skilled, trained warriors and slick robbers with a conscience.
The Minerslands are full of corruption. Those at the top don’t lift a finger to help out those in need. Someone needs to stand up for something. Maybe more persons than just one.
Follow the adventurous story of these Minecraft ninjas, who go through extensive lengths to make the lands prosper again and divide the wealth among the public.
1st Notes: The Ninja League
We are close. We are almost there. Gliding over the rooftops of the city, we look at the building we are about to enter through the roof window.
Whoooosh!
All three of us land on the angled ridge of the edifice, maintaining our balance. We sneak towards the window and get out our tools.
“This window is easy to break open,” Kawaki whispers.
“No problem whatsoever. Piece of cake,” I say.
“And once we’re inside, then where do we go?” Shitoko asks.
“No idea, but we’ll see it soon enough.”
My name is Ryu. I am the son of master Nawaka. He trained me in the ways of a true ninja thief. The others are my friends. They joined the ninja league a year ago. Since then we have protected the innocent and divided the wealth in this town.
The Minerslands are full of corrupt government officials, politicians, and blackmailing bureaucrats who get away with murder, sometimes literally, if it weren’t for us. We follow the rumors and the reports, making sure that no criminal gets unpunished and no civilian gets robbed of his or her rights.
When Nawaka trained me, he enabled me to become skilled in the art of sword fighting and burglary. Kawaki, on the other hand, is better with knives. He throws them, can slice with them, and even uses them quickly when he is cooking something for us. He learned how to break open windows and is now applying that benefit as we sit on the rooftop. Then there is Shitoko. He loves to solve puzzles, break codes, and use a stick to knock out our opponents. Sometimes I wonder how he does it without getting hurt.
We all wear black of course, and we have headbands, a belt, and the typical shuriken stars which always come in handy when trying to improvise.
So here we are, the three ninjas, together on a mission to set things right.
Setting things right is right! The building we’re on belongs to Tikata, a head villager who bribed the parliament to charge a higher tax fee, so he could get a larger percentage of it. The details of his maneuver don’t matter. He needs to pay! And that’s why we’re here.
In his vault, he keeps a sacred artifact he stole from the villagers in the mountain. It’s an ancient scroll with infinite worth. Museums and religious leaders have already tried everything to get it into their hands, since it contains a code of conduct for those who live in the high mountains.
With his troops, this malicious monster barged into the naïve village and raided their houses, pillaging and stealing wherever he could. The government blamed it on a foreign enemy, which is why nobody suspects his guilt in the matter.
But we know better. Those villagers need their scroll back, and WE are going to help them.
Enough about that. I thought you might want some background information, but let’s get back to what we’re doing.
Kawaki opens the window with one of his special knives, and we all jump in.
“This building is bigger than I thought,” he says.
“The more reason to split up and search the place,” I say. “You go right, I will go left, and Shitoko will go straight. When you find the scroll, fetch it and come back here.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Shitoko says in a low voice.
I walk into an empty room and slide open the door. In the corner, there is tea, and a little table with expensive items, such as golden cups, incense sticks of high value, and a powder I have never seen before. Nobody is there, so I slide open the next door.
Entering the next room, I notice the silver wear and the trinkets on each ornamented chair. This guy is rich. No wonder he has the money to buy off officials. I am tempted to steal more and stuff things into my pockets, but I control myself and move on.
“There,” I whisper as I catch myself thinking out loud.
The scroll is placed on a special stool, high above the ground, but easy to reach for me. I reach out to grab it, but I am stopped by a voice that says, “Hold it right there!”
2nd Notes: Trouble
Tikata is standing in front of me, holding up his hand as to stop my endeavors. He looks angry, infuriated. It gives me the shivers. His voice sounds harsh and low, and his posture is aggressive but restrained. The funny thing is that despite his evil gaze, he is in his pajamas. The outfit is patterned with hearts, polka dots, and bunny rabbits. What a loser!
“Ha! Where did you get those silly pajamas?” I ask.
He seems offended. “It’s a kimono,” he says, stepping back and raising his eyebrows with pride.
“Well, whatever it’s called, it looks cute, which is not typical for a corrupt magistrate like yourself.”
“You’re calling me corrupt?!” the guy in the bunny and heart pajamas yells. “I will show you corrupt!”
He pulls out his sword of its sheath and storms at me. I didn’t expect that actually. This sudden turn of events throws me off guard. He swings at me and fortunately, I am able to barely block his attack with my sword. However, I fall over and am lying on my back.
Pointing his sword at my throat, he chuckles, “Hehe… Who looks cute now, wimp? Any last words before I kill you?”
I wince and say, “Never eat noodles with a spoon. I tried it once. It really doesn’t work.”
“You’re just trying to sound smart now. Well, have it your way.”
But before he can stab me, a stick hits him on the head.
“Ouch!”
Shitoko stands behind the now unconscious minister, looking contently at me and the scroll.
“I guess he never learned to watch his rear end,” he says.
We all laugh out loud.
“Okay, enough joking around. Let’s leave before we alarm anyone else,” I say.
We roll up the scroll and I put it under my arm before we run towards the window and leap out onto the rooftop. We slide down a rope we have spanned across the roofs of the town and end up on a small house.
“I will take it with me now. Tomorrow, let’s head to the mountain village and hand it back to the townsmen. They need it and they will be able to use it better than we can.”
“Good idea,” the others agree.
The next day, we head to the village. We arrive after a few hours and I hear Kawaki complain while we’re walking upwards and need to take a break sometimes. It’s not very rich, so the one scroll that they esteem of worth should not be lost in my opinion. But now we are here to set it right, to give back to the community.
It’s peaceful there, showing little houses in every corner and a place of worship in the middle. Despite their poverty, they have managed to keep the village clean. Flowerpots are on the balcony of every house, and the wooden structures of their homes are well polished. Decorations of every sort are painted on the signs and statues displayed in the center of the town, and we are welcomed with a smile by most of the pedestrians who notice us.
We walk straight to the hall where they worship.
“Knock knockety knock,” I say as I open the door.
Nobody there.
The hall has benches and an altar with patterns and inscriptions, as well as drawings of swirly dragons and round symbols. The columns hold up a leaky roof, which obviously haven’t been renovated or updated in a long time.
The treasure box is see-through and clear as glass, but it only holds one coin and a coupon with “one free hug” on it. Is this a joke? Who would put that in there?
“Is anybody there?” I ask.
“Doesn’t seem like it,” Shitoko says. “Look how impoverished this place is.”
“Helloooo…”
they hear after a while. It sounds like a voice from an old man.
They turn around to the direction the words are coming from and see a guy in a robe walking towards them. His robe is red and orange, and he is bald, but he has a hat and a stick in his hand, which helps him maintain his balance.
“You young fellows don’t look like you’re from around here,” he says.
“We’re not,” I say briefly.
“And for what reason do we have the pleasure of your visit?”
“We wanted to return this,” I say.
His eyes get bigger as I pull the scroll out of my backpack and hand it over. Tears of happiness roll down his cheeks. He opens the scroll and stares at it for a while, mustering his wits and controlling his emotions.
“Th-thank you, young man,” he says. “You probably have no idea how much this means to us.”
“You’re welcome,” I say. “We knew it was important to you, and we realized it was stolen by that evil dude.”
He smiles.
“Anyway, see you later!” I say.
“Hold on a minute,” the old spiritual man says.
“If you don’t mind, I have request.”
“Go ahead and speak up,” I say.
“Did you see our village?” he asks.
“Of course. We walked through it to get here, remember?”
“And you probably noticed we don’t have much here, didn’t you?” he says.
“I did. Where are you getting at?”
“When was the first time you were here?” he asks.
“I don’t know,” I say. “Maybe a year ago or something.”
“Ah, you are fairly new. Even just two years ago, it was extremely different. Our village prospered. We had wealth beyond anyone’s imagination. Fountains were flowing in our springs and wells. Homes were not rotten and decaying with mold, as they are now. Merchants from all over the country came to reside here to acquire our abundant resources. That is… until it got taken away.”
