by Jerome ASF
Also by JeromeASF:
Bacca and the Riddle of the Diamond Dragon
This book is not authorized or sponsored by Microsoft Corporation, Mojang AB, Notch Development AB, or Scholastic Corporation, or any other person or entity owning or controlling rights in the Minecraft name, trademark, or copyrights.
Copyright © 2016 by Jerome Aceti
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles. All inquiries should be addressed to Sky Pony Press, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018.
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10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Manufactured in Canada, December 2015
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.
Cover design by Brian Peterson
Cover artwork by Josh Bruce (www.inkbyte.net)
Print ISBN: 978-1-5107-0902-7
Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-0903-4
Printed in Canada
CHAPTER ONE
All was quiet in the valley.
The warm breeze blew softly across the shimmering green landscape of the Overworld. The clouds hung low in the sky. Night had just fallen. The surrounding hills were covered in a thick green lawn. The breeze gently rustled each blade of grass.
… which completely hid the footsteps of the approaching horde.
At the edge of the valley, a peaceful crafter named Brian walked out the back door of his house and carefully closed it behind him. He had crafted his modest home out of red sandstone blocks from a nearby mesa. Brian made a living as an expert smelter, specializing in making iron ingots. Each day, he turned hundreds of blocks of iron ore into ingots which he sold to other crafters. Throughout the Overworld, there were few iron ingots finer than his.
After a long day of smelting, Brian liked to eat his dinner outside in the moonlight. There was a pleasant view of the valley from the back of his house, and Brian enjoyed it very much. However, this night was not to be like other ones. As Brian’s nose took in the fragrant evening air, he noticed that something seemed a little bit off. Staring down into the beautiful green valley usually gave him a deep sense of calm. Yet tonight, he found that he could not relax. Danger was on the wind. Danger, and the scent of … Was that bones?
“Do bones have a smell?” Brian wondered out loud. He couldn’t recall the last time he had smelled one on purpose. Whenever he cooked himself a rabbit stew, he usually just threw the bones straight into the trash.
But no. Something told him that the strange odor on the wind tonight was definitely bones.
“That’s very strange,” Brian said.
Then it got stranger.
The wind shifted directions, and Brian began to detect a second smell. It seemed to be coming from the opposite side of the valley. It was much stronger. And it was much, much worse.
This second smell carried the distinctive stench of rotting flesh. Of decay. Of gross, way-past-the-expiration-date meat, and other nasty things that were very unpleasant to think about.
Brian wrinkled his nose. Usually, his valley smelled wonderful at dusk, but tonight, something had completely ruined all of that. Yet what concerned Brian most of all was that these smells—both of them—seemed to be getting stronger by the minute. Which meant that something was getting closer.
Then Brian heard the moans.
From one side of the valley, a chorus of deep, low moans began to accompany the awful smells. Brian was an experienced crafter who had lived in many different parts of the Overworld, and he understood right away that this sound could mean only one thing. Zombies.
Brian knew these pests very well. They came out at night and sometimes wandered into your neighborhood. They could be a real nuisance—disturbing the landscaping, knocking things over, and generally being annoying. On top of everything else, they liked to attack unsuspecting people they came across, especially crafters. On the upside, they were slow, and usually easy to avoid. Brian could always retreat inside his sandstone house whenever he spotted one headed his way.
But Brian had a sneaking suspicion that whatever was making its way toward him was no normal mob of zombies.
Moments later, this sneaking suspicion was proved right.
As the smelter looked on, the largest group of zombies he had ever seen crested the hill on the east side of his valley. It was more than a mob—more than several mobs. It was a small army.
Rows and rows of hungry-looking zombies lined up at the lip of the valley. Several of them carried weapons, and many wore armor. Two or three even rode chickens. They all had mean, angry-looking expressions on their faces.
Brian was almost too astounded to feel afraid. What on earth were all of these zombies doing here? How had they all come together like this? What could they possibly want? Why were the chickens okay with this??
Then the answer (well, not to every question) loped into view.
From the corner of his eye, Brian suddenly detected movement on the opposite side of the valley. He turned and saw something even more astounding. Another army! This one was entirely made up of skeletons. Rows and rows of the bony things were carefully lining themselves up facing the zombies. Their bones gleamed brightly in the moonlight, and their bows made loud ‘clack’-sounds as they jostled against one another.
Having no eyebrows or lips—or, really, faces at all—it was usually hard for Brian to get an idea of a skeleton’s facial expression. But on this night, things were different. Each one of the skeletons’ bony skulls found a way to look really, really angry!
Brian swallowed hard.
Like most crafters, Brian didn’t particularly like zombies or skeletons. He might have said some bad things about them to other crafters. Okay, he definitely had. And sure, now and then he liked to try out a new weapon by bashing some skeletons or smacking some zombies with it. In fact, just last week he’d received a new golden sword as a birthday present from his brother. The first thing he’d done was to go looking for some zombies to try it out on. A fact he now deeply regretted.
But on the other hand, it wasn’t like Brian was some kind of special undead-hunter. Plenty of crafters had spent more time than him shooting at zombies with arrows or whacking away at skeletons with a nice sharp axe. Why both mobs would choose to get together and gang up on him was completely beyond Brian.
Brian nervously rubbed his hands together and wondered what to do. Were they coming for him? Should he run back inside his house, shut the door, and hope all the monsters just went away? Should he flee from the valley entirely, even though it was his home? Should he break his golden sword over his knee and tell the zombies he was really, really sorry and he’d never do it again?
As Brian tried to figure out how we could possibly make it through the night alive, the zombie army and the skeleton army did something very strange. It was something that Brian had never known zombies or skeletons to do in the history of Minecraft. Ever. It was something unexpected. Something unprecedented.
And something—Brian reckoned as he looked on in mo
unting confusion—that might just change the Overworld forever.
CHAPTER TWO
Bacca stood at the center of the improvised crafting workshop in the garden that framed the front of his estate.
Bacca’s enormous castle loomed in the background. Its high turrets cast a welcome shadow that kept everyone shaded from the hot sun. It was a gorgeous summer day. The breeze softly tousled Bacca’s fur. In a rare show of informality, Bacca had unbuttoned his suit jacket and loosened the knot on his necktie.
Bacca was the most famous crafter in the entire Overworld. He was known far and wide for remarkable feats of crafting, and equally impressive accomplishments of bravery and guile. His creations were famous for their beauty, for their usefulness, and for being generally awesome.
Bacca himself was about the same size as most other crafters, but in all other ways his appearance was very different. Every inch of Bacca was covered with short fur, making him look a little bit like a dog or a wolf, or maybe even a particularly well-groomed bear. He had very long canine teeth and his nose was suspiciously close to a snout. But despite this animal hairiness, Bacca managed a very formal appearance. He always kept his fur cleaned and combed, and never went anywhere without his trademark three-piece suit.
Bacca’s castle was perhaps his finest crafting creation of all. It was perched dramatically on the edge of a cliff and featured some of the tallest towers and spires in all the Minecraft universe. On the lawns in front of his castle, Bacca had crafted expansive gardens filled with blue orchids, tulips, and sunflowers. Crafters came from all around the Overworld to see Bacca’s impressive home and marvel at these gardens. Bacca didn’t mind the visitors. He was friendly, and liked guests. Sometimes, he even invited them to come inside and enjoy some raw fish, which was his favorite food—and, in fact, the only food he ate. Luckily for Bacca, being the top crafter around came with plenty of benefits. Being able to craft enormous fish tanks with endless supplies of yummy fish was just one of them!
Although Bacca could often be sassy and sarcastic, he was kind and cared about other people. At his core, the most important thing for Bacca was helping others. It wasn’t enough for Bacca just to challenge himself to make bigger and better crafting creations—though he certainly did that. It was also important to Bacca to be a mentor to the next generation of crafters. Which was why, every summer, he took time out of his busy crafting schedule to host a special workshop for the Overworld’s leading young crafters.
And today, because it was such a nice day, Bacca had decided that they could have class outside.
Seated in a half circle around Bacca were ten very gifted young crafters. Most of them were not old enough to be on their own yet, and had to be dropped off by their parents. In most cases, Overworld parents were delighted when their child was selected for Bacca’s yearly master class. (Successful graduates were presented with the prestigious “Bacca-laureate” degree, which came with a diploma and a set of fine crafting tools. It virtually guaranteed a long and prosperous career in crafting. Suffice it to say, the class had a very competitive application process.)
Assisting Bacca with the teaching was Bacca’s girlfriend, LadyBacc. An accomplished crafter in her own right, LadyBacc was perhaps the perfect match for Bacca. She looked more or less exactly like him—which could sometimes be hilarious and confusing—except that she wore a dress instead of a suit, and had a ribbon tied to her mane. Both Bacca and LadyBacc loved being sarcastic and silly, but when it came to crafting they were both dead-serious.
This year, their summer crafting class had turned out to be unexpectedly controversial. That was because, for the first time, a zombie had been admitted.
The zombie’s name was Dug. (Not “Doug” as Bacca had originally thought, but “Dug,” as the young crafter’s parents had carefully explained. It had to do with digging … like out of a grave … because you were a member of the walking dead!)
Many people in the Overworld disliked zombies, and this was true of most of the parents of the crafters in Bacca’s class. When they’d dropped their sons and daughters off, some of them had let Bacca know exactly how they felt.
“So a zombie’s in your class this year?” one of the parents had said rather rudely. “I guess it’s not as exclusive as we thought.”
“You’re letting a zombie crafter in?” another parent had quipped. “What’s next? Sheep crafters? Pig crafters? What about very smart mushrooms?”
“I’ve got nothing against zombies,” said still another parent. “I like them just fine. When they’re lurking in the shadows and trying to eat people. You know, like zombies are supposed to. But a zombie trying to be a crafter? That’s just too strange!”
Other parents had expressed concern about the safety of their children around a zombie. Bacca knew that this was silly, if only because he would be present at all times, and could easily put a stop to any roughhousing. (In addition to being a renowned crafter, Bacca was also a highly skilled warrior. He never went anywhere without his diamond axe, which he had lovingly named Betty. Breaking up fights between students, even zombie ones, would be no problem for him.)
For his part, Bacca was actually excited about his zombie student. This was because Dug was one of the fastest learners of any crafter Bacca had ever met. Period. While his style was sometimes a little rough around the edges—mostly owing to the lousy selection of crafting tools available to zombies—Dug showed enormous potential. Who knew what he might be able to accomplish with a little bit of guidance?
The undead didn’t have parents in the same way that living crafters did, but it was clear that a group of zombies had claimed Dug as their own. These zombies showed up to drop off Dug on the first day of class, right at the momentt before night became morning. (Most zombies had to stay underground during the day because they burned in sunlight. Baby zombies did not burn, however, and were effectively sun proof. Dug wasn’t a baby, but he wasn’t an adult either. As near as Bacca could tell, the sun didn’t hurt Dug yet, but he still preferred to be in the shade whenever possible.) Bacca had made a point to have a friendly chat with Dug’s parents. He could see in the rotting, half-formed faces of these zombies that they were incredibly proud of their young protégé.
On this particular morning, the class was learning to craft golden chestplates. The task involved smelting gold ore into gold ingots, and then using eight of the ingots to carefully create the finished piece of armor. It was only their first day working with gold, but Bacca was already seeing a lot of advanced work from his students.
“That’s some nice hammering, Jason,” Bacca said as he strode from crafter to crafter, reviewing each student’s progress. “Make sure you get the front of the breastplate nice and smooth, but don’t make it too thin. Remember, this thing has got to protect somebody from a creeper or a skeleton or a z—”
Bacca stopped himself, remembering his new student.”
“Or a … ?” said the student, waiting for him to finish.
“Or a zebra, I was going to say,” Bacca lied. “They can, you know, run up and kick you when you’re not looking. It’s very unpleasant.”
Bacca quickly moved down the row of crafters.
“That’s looking excellent, Sara,” Bacca said to the next pupil. “Be sure to reinforce the top so that it protects the wearer’s shoulders.”
“Will do!” said the enthusiastic student.
Then Bacca arrived at the crafting table where Dug was working. The young zombie did not appear to be in very much of a hurry. Maybe Dug was lazy? Bacca knew that zombies tended to move slowly, and so he was prepared to give his student the benefit of the doubt. However, after a moment, Bacca realized that the lack of action was due to the fact that Dug was already finished.
“Let’s see what you’ve got here,” Bacca said, picking up the gold chestplate and turning it over.
It was immaculate. Strong and lightweight, the front of the armor had been polished to a brilliant golden gleam. The young crafter had even adorned it
with tasteful engravings along the edges. Looking more closely, Bacca saw that they were engravings of zombies.
This kid is ready to work with diamond, Bacca thought to himself. Dug was already head and shoulders above the other crafters in the class. Higher than that. He was practically up in his own stratosphere.
“Very nice work,” Bacca said evenly.
Bacca hesitated to tell the young zombie just how skilled he actually was. Bacca didn’t want the other crafters in the class to get jealous. He also didn’t want Dug to grow an inflated ego.
“Mmmm,” Dug responded with a smile. Traditional speech was a challenge for zombies. They could talk, but they preferred simply to moan whenever that would get the point across. Dug was no exception.
With his single moan, Dug seemed to transmit the idea that Bacca didn’t have to worry, because while Dug might have been many things—like, say, a living corpse reanimated to feast on crafters—‘intimiated’ wasn’t one of them.
Bacca liked this boldness, and gave his student a grin. Then he stepped over to where LadyBacc was preparing the next lesson—a lecture on bone meal and its many useful properties.
“This zombie kid is just blowing everybody away,” Bacca whispered. “I’m really impressed.”
“I know,” agreed LadyBacc. “So am I. Did you see the iron sword he crafted on the very first day?”
“I sure did,” Bacca replied. “He made the cross guard and hilt without even being told how. And that blade! It was practically sharp enough to split obsidian.”
“Can you believe there were people who thought Dug shouldn’t even be here?” asked LadyBacc.
“I think those skeptics are going to come around soon,” Bacca said confidently. “Especially when they see what hecan do.”
“And he hasn’t tried to bite any of the other students even once,” she observed.
“Yes,” he replied. “That’s a point in his favor as well.”
“But back to his crafting, I think he’s ready for diamond.”
