by Dr. Block
“Yes,” said the ghast raising a tentacle and pointing toward a passageway. “He went that way.”
We went down the passageway indicated by the ghast. As with the other passage, it got dark quickly and we had to ignite our torches.
“I don’t like this,” muttered Bob.
“Chill out,” said Otis. “This is the best lead we’ve gotten about Herobrine. Now we can catch him and get revenge for Zeb.”
“What about saving the world?” asked Bob.
“A pleasant side effect of revenge,” said Otis.
“Revenge can cloud your judgment, Otis,” I said. “We need to stay focused on the task at hand: preventing the end of the world.”
“Same thing,” said Otis.
“I don’t know,” I said. “If we could just get the cuboid and the pyramid away from Herobrine, that might be enough. Maybe we don’t have to kill him.”
“But, I want to kill him,” said Otis.
Just then, we heard a noise behind us. We all got very quiet. Harold and Bob crouched, and Otis and I made ourselves as small as possible.
We looked in the direction of the sound. I could feel the same goodwill I had felt earlier. I knew that whatever had been following us was near.
“Hello?” I called. There was no response.
Otis punched me in the shoulder. “Are you crazy?” he whispered.
“No. I … I think it’s okay,” I said. “I have a feeling that what is following us wants to help us.”
“Then why is it hiding?” asked Otis.
“I don’t know,” I said. I could sense the creature following us was moving away from us. “Come on, let’s get moving.”
We continued down the passage for a few uneventful minutes. Finally, we could see a glow at the end of the passage. When we got to the end of the passage, we cautiously looked into the chamber beyond.
“You can’t be serious,” said Otis.
“What is that?” I asked.
Otis sighed and then clenched his jaw. “That … is a Nether Fortress.”
Chapter 9
We slowly approached the steps of the Nether Fortress. I could scarcely believe how massive it was.
“Do … do … do we have to go in there?” asked Bob.
“I think so,” I said. “There is nowhere else to go except back to the ghast cavern.”
“And, look,” said Harold, pointing at the ground with his beak. It was another arrow, and it was pointing directly into the Nether Fortress.
“Plus,” said Otis, slamming his fist into his other hand. “It feels evil. Herobrine is in there somewhere for sure.”
“Let’s go,” I said, kicking my heels against Harold’s sides.
As we entered the Nether Fortress, I glanced over my shoulder. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the black shadow of whoever or whatever had been following us. Wish us luck, I thought.
The entrance passage was short and soon opened into a large cavern. Two bridges traversed the cavern and streams of lava poured from the ceiling.
“Let’s try that bridge first,” I said, pointing to the bridge on the left.
Otis nodded. “No arrows here to help us. We’ll have to use process of elimination.”
We made it across the bridge and entered another passage. It got dark quickly, so we had to use our torches. After walking for a few minutes, we came to a dead end.
“Netherrack!” I cursed.
“Yeah,” said Otis. “All around us.”
We turned around and started back down the passage. We were just about to re-enter the cavern when a spinning yellow creature moved across the entrance.
“Stop,” Otis hissed. We did.
“What was that?” I asked.
“It was a blaze,” he said. “I’m not sure if it will be hostile or not. They are unpredictable.”
“It might know something about Herobrine,” said Harold.
“Or,” said Bob in a squeaky, frightened voice, “he might be an ally of Herobrine.”
“Harold and I will go check it out,” I said. “Otis and Bob, you stay here. If there is any trouble, you will have the element of surprise on your side. I’m sure both of us can defeat a blaze.”
Harold and I moved slowly to the exit of the passage and then walked out. The blaze had moved a few feet away and was not looking at us.
“Uh, hello?” I said.
Without warning, the blaze burst into flame and turned around. It moved toward us with … well ... blazing speed. I thought we were dead. But then, it stopped in front of us.
“Oh, sorry,” it said. “I thought maybe you were a player. I hate players.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. “No, no players here. Just us mobs,” I said. “There is a pigman jockey in the passage, can he come out?”
The blaze shrugged its arms. “Sure. Any mob is a friend of mine.”
“Otis! Bob!” I shouted. “Come out. It’s cool.”
Otis and Bob cautiously approached the blaze. Otis looked him up and down and then said, “You working for Herobrine?”
The blaze looked like Otis had offended him. “I work for no one, least of all, Herobrine. Ever since he came to the Nether, he has made life miserable for the Nether mobs.”
“Really?” asked Bob.
“Yes,” replied the blaze. “He thinks he can do what he wants – which, actually is true – but I still hate him. I wish he could be stopped.”
“We are on Herobrine’s trail,” said Otis. He then leaned forward and said in a low, vicious voice. “We intend to kill him.”
“Ah,” said the blaze. “Then die!” he said, bursting into flames.
“It’s a trap!” yelled Bob.
The blaze tossed three fireballs at us in rapid succession. Harold and I managed to avoid being hit, but one hit Otis in the arm, and he caught on fire. I could smell bacon as he burned.
“Ouch! It hurts!” Otis yelled.
I figured the blaze would need a moment to prepare more fireballs, so I urged Harold close to the blaze and I slashed it with my diamond sword, doing damage. But, some of the burning blaze’s flames hit me and I caught on fire too.
I ignored the pain and slashed at the blaze again, scoring a direct hit. Now, however, the pain of the fire was too great, and I had to retreat, hoping to put out the fire.
As I backed away from the blaze, an arrow whizzed by my head and hit the blaze in the face. The blaze howled with pain. I looked in the direction from which the arrow came and saw Otis already notching another arrow.
Just as Otis let go of the arrow, the blaze shot three more fireballs at Otis. The arrow passed between the fireballs, striking the blaze in its chest. I could tell it was weakening. But the blaze’s fireballs hit their mark, burning both Otis and Bob.
“You hurt my friend!” shouted Harold. “Come on, Zeke!”
Harold rushed directly at the wounded blaze. I raised my sword high, preparing to deliver a crushing blow. The blaze was wounded indeed, but it still had the ability to shoot fireballs. Just as I was bringing my sword down on the blaze for what I hoped would be a death blow, the blaze shot three fireballs at me at point blank range.
The pain from the fireballs was intense. Rather than giving into the pain, I channeled the pain into my arms, adding even more force to my sword strike. My sword found the blaze’s body, and I felt it push through its body and slice it in half.
The blaze was dead. Otis and Bob came over and kicked the ground where it died. “Good riddance,” Otis spat.
My flesh had finally stopped burning. I looked down at Harold and saw that he had also been on fire. Some of his white feathers had turned black.
“At least he dropped this,” said Otis, picking up some sort of stick.
“What is it?” I said.
“A blaze rod. We can use it to make a brewing stand,” said Otis. “Well, if we survive, we can.” Otis tucked the blaze rod into his inventory.
“Come on,” I said. “Let’s try the other bridge.”
Chapter 10
We were about half-way across the other bridge when we knew we were on the right path. There was an arrow carved in to the bridge.
“These arrows are freaking me out,” said Otis. “Who is doing this?”
“I think it might be the thing following us,” I said.
Otis laughed. “How can something that is following us draw arrows in front of us?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know, but no one else down here wants to help us. Who else could it be?”
“Herobrine, of course. He’s probably leading us into a trap,” said Bob with a quivering voice.
“I think Zeke might be right,” said Harold. “If Herobrine knows we are after him, why would he mess with us and not simply kill us?”
“Because he is an insane maniac, that’s why,” said Otis. “You guys need to pull your heads out of the soul sand and get your minds right. The only reason I am following these arrows is because I think Herobrine is making them. It just means we are close.”
We got to the end of the bridge and looked around. There was only one way to go. Straight ahead there was a small opening. We could see a bright orange glow coming through from the other side.
“Must be a lava chamber through there,” I said.
Otis nodded his agreement. “Let’s go. Be ready for anything.”
We walked toward the passage. We were only a few feet away from the entrance when we heard a strong hissing sound coming from the passage.
“Oh, great,” said Otis, raising his sword. “Here we go again.”
I raised my sword just as a black wither jockey jumped from the passage.
“You! Shall! Not! Pass!” he shouted as his spider headed straight for us.
“Split up!” I yelled as Harold and I went to the left. Otis and Bob understood and went to the right. The wither jockey could only attack one of us at a time, so the other could sneak up from behind and slash at him.
The wither jockey stopped between us. His head swiveling as he tried to decide which of us to attack.
“Ha, ha, you stupid wither jockey. Now what you gonna do?” said Otis, taunting our enemy.
The wither jockey turned and looked at Otis, hate burning in his eyes. He ground his teeth together, making a horrible crunching noise.
“That’s an easy one,” said the wither skeleton in a menacing tone. “I’ll kill you first.”
Otis was about to laugh again, when the spider on which the wither skeleton sat lept to Otis’s side in a single bound while the wither skeleton brought his sword down hard, slashing at Otis’s chest. If he had not been wearing diamond armor, he probably would have been killed.
“Oh my Notch,” said Otis, as he and Bob stumbled backwards, attempting to recover from the blow.
As the wither jockey closed in on Otis for another strike, I pulled out my bow and shot an arrow. It missed the wither skeleton, but hit his spider in the butt. The spider howled with pain.
“Nice shot!” said Harold, just as the wither jockey turned to face us.
“You will pay for that,” he growled as his spider jumped toward us.
But, Harold had a great idea. He darted forward so that we were under the wither jockey in mid-air.
“What the?” said the wither skeleton in shock.
As the wither jockey landed, I raised my sword and shoved it into the belly of the spider. The spider screamed in pain, and then died, dropping a spider eye. I quickly grabbed the spider eye and put it into my inventory.
“Yayah,” said Otis.
The wither skeleton had recovered now and stood in front of us. “You killed my spider. Now, I am going to kill you,” he said as he rushed toward us. He was totally out of control. His rage at the death of his spider had made him go crazy.
I blocked his sword attacks with my sword and shield, but his rage-filled strikes were getting to be too much for me to handle.
“Can’t. Hold out. Much longer,” I said through gritted teeth.
It was then that the wither skeleton knocked me from Harold, and I landed hard on my back on the ground.
“Save yourself, Harold,” I shouted as the wither skeleton closed in for the kill.
The wither skeleton raised his sword and looked me in the eyes. “I’m going to enjoy this.”
I raised my hand in a futile attempt to block the sword. And that was when Otis and Bob struck.
Bob had snuck behind the wither skeleton and crouched behind him. Otis rushed in, seemingly from nowhere, and pushed the wither skeleton backwards, sending him toppling over Bob.
“Table top! Yeah,” said Bob.
As the wither skeleton tried to recover from the surprise, Otis closed in on him and slashed him over and over with his sword. I could see that the wither skeleton was losing strength, so I stood up and dragged my sword over to him.
Otis looked over at me and said, “Help me out, man.”
“No problem,” I said. I raised my sword and brought it down on the wither skeleton’s face, shattering his skull and killing him. He dropped a piece of coal and bone.
“Leave that junk,” I said. “I don’t want any of it contaminating our inventories.
Harold came over to my side. “That was close,” he said.
“Yeah, it sure was, buddy,” I said resting my hand on his neck. I looked over at Otis and Bob. “Thanks, guys. Great idea with the table top.”
Otis chuckled. “I’ve actually been looking for an opportunity to use that on you, but I figured it was now or never.”
“Okay, let’s see why that wither jockey was trying to keep us from entering that passage.
Chapter 11
We cautiously entered the narrow passage. The orange glow coming from the other end of the passage was bright enough that we did not need to use our torches to see. The fresh scratches of a pickaxe on the wall of the passage showed that it had been mined recently.
It only took about twenty steps before we reached the end of the passage. What we saw on the other side shocked us.
The passage opened into a massive cavern, larger than anything I had ever seen, or even dreamed could exist. Dozens of streams of lava poured from the ceiling into the huge lava lake below.
There were no bridges across the cavern, and only a narrow ledge – maybe two or 3 blocks wide – encircling the cavern. The very same ledge on which we now stood.
And, in the middle of the lava lake was a large island on which was constructed a massive structure. The same structure I had seen during my dream when Herobrine came and stole the cuboid and pyramid from Zeb!
“Oh my Notch! This is exactly what I saw in my dream about the end of the world,” I said. “Herobrine must be in here.”
“But where?” asked Otis. “There is nowhere to go. No bridges. No other passages that I can see.”
“There has to be something, right?” I said.
We began scanning the walls of the chamber, hoping to find some clue as to where we should go next.
“If we could just get to that island somehow, maybe we could destroy that structure,” suggested Harold.
“I don’t know, buddy,” I said. “Even if we could get to that island, the structure is so massive, I don’t think we could just knock it over.”
“Too bad we don’t have some TNT,” said Otis. “That might work.”
“Look!” squawked Bob, pointing with a trembling wing.
We looked and saw him: Herobrine.
He was walking on the island, inspecting the base of the tower. We could see him running his hand along the side of the tower, as if it were a cherished pet.
“Zeke,” whispered Otis. “Let’s give that glowing-eyed freak a surprise. Get your bow.”
I nodded. I brought my bow out of my inventory and notched an arrow. It was a long shot. I knew I could get close, but wasn’t sure I’d actually be able to hit Herobrine from this distance. Still, it was worth a try, since there was no other way to get to the island.
Otis had his arrow at the ready. He
said, “Shoot on the count of three. 1 … 2 … 3.”
We let our arrows fly. In the still air of the cavern, they flew straight and true toward Herobrine, who was oblivious from the danger.
“Come on, come on,” said Otis, shaking his fist.
My arrow just missed hitting Herobrine in the chest, it zipped by him and plinked off the side of the structure. Otis’s arrow had more luck, hitting Herobrine in the thigh, drawing a howl of pain.
Herobrine looked around for a moment, confused at the sudden appearance of the arrows. Then, he composed himself, pulled the arrow from his thigh and looked directly at us.
“So, you made it past my blaze and wither jockey?”
“Yeah,” shouted Otis, “not a problem at all.”
“No matter,” said Herobrine. “You are too late. My plan to destroy the world is nearly complete.”
“Why? Why do you want to do that?” I yelled.
Herobrine laughed. “You are too pathetic and stupid. You would never understand my reasons.”
“Try me,” I shouted, trying to distract him as long as possible. Maybe Otis could figure out something to do to stop this.
Instead of replying, Herobrine began climbing up the sheer face of the tower.
“How is he doing that?” asked Bob.
“I don’t know,” said Otis. “The more important question is why is he climbing the tower.”
I thought back to my dream and remembered. “I think he needs to get to the top of the tower to destroy the world. When he gets to the top, he will join together the two small objects he took from us, and the world will be destroyed. Somehow, the tower amplifies the power of those objects.”
“Let’s at least try to stop him. Shoot all of your arrows at him,” said Otis. “Maybe we’ll get lucky.”
We began shooting our arrows at him, but could never hit Herobrine. He was taking a zigzag route, making it nearly impossible to line up a shot from this distance.
After he had shot his final arrow, Otis threw down his bow in frustration, jumped off of Bob, and sat down on the dirt and started crying.
