Invasion of the Overworld

by Mark Cheverton

  A hissing, clicking sound made him spin quickly. A spider had snuck up on him and was attacking, striking at his diamond armor. He took a hit, but it barely registered against his nearly impenetrable shell.

  “You want some of this?” Gameknight said aloud to no one, his basement empty. “Come on, let’s dance.”

  Swinging his mighty sword, Gameknight killed the spider with just two hits. Turning to reengage with the other combatants, he heard a grunting, moaning sound: zombies. Spinning around, Gameknight saw about half a dozen zombies coming out of the forest followed by a cluster of spiders, all closing on his position. With dusk coming, it was quickly becoming monster time.

  “You wanna dance too?”

  He waited patiently for them to get closer then took off running toward the battlefield, the zombies obediently following, their thirst for destruction making them give chase.

  The other players were shocked to see a diamond-clad player emerge from the shadows and actually stopped fighting for a moment. One of them, the team captain, named “InTheLittleBush,” saw his name hovering over his diamond helmeted head.

  Gameknight, come help us, InTheLittleBush typed. We can win this.

  Hey, how did you get all that diamond? complained the opposition’s captain, Wormican; that’s cheating. Hey, Admin, Gameknight cheated. BAN HIM!

  Quit your crying, Gameknight typed quickly, I’ve brought all of you a present.

  Just as he emerged from the shadows, the mob of zombies and spiders—and now skeletons as well—flowed out of the darkness and fell onto the players, the sun having dipped below the horizon, allowing the monsters to keep from bursting into flames.

  LOL, Gameknight typed, then added, : ).

  Running through the confused players, he headed straight for the stone bridge that spanned the river of lava.

  Go Gameknight; get the wool, Phaser_98 typed. We’re gonna win.

  That’s what you think, Gameknight thought.

  Weaving between users and monsters, Gameknight sprinted through the battlefield. The players were so busy fighting monsters and each other that none of them tried to stop him.

  Get him, Zepplin4 typed as the diamond-clad warrior streaked by.

  Slashing at one of the opposition as he passed, Gameknight reached the bridge. Stopping for a moment to admire the incredible construction, he could appreciate the amount of time it must have taken to build the beautiful structure. He chuckled to himself as he stopped and placed a string of TNT blocks across the curving overpass. Satisfied with the placement of the explosives, he then placed a redstone torch near the last block. Backing away quickly, he watched as the redstone torch caused the TNT block to blink; the detonation process started. Then they exploded, first one block detonating, and then the next and the next as the chain reaction ate away at the colossal bridge, turning it from a work of art to a pile of rubble, cobblestone blocks flying in all directions. The passageway over the lava river was now completely destroyed. Looking back across the molten canal, Gameknight did a silly dance, mocking the other players.

  Quick, get the wool so that we can win, typed Phaser_98.

  That’s not fair, he cheated! typed Wormican

  Yeah, he should be banned, Zepplin4 added.

  Just get the block so that we can win, King_Creepkiller said.

  Sprinting up the circular tower, Gameknight ascended to the top in seconds. He moved close to the edge and peered down at the losers below.

  Hurry up! Get the block so that we can win, one of them typed.

  You mean this block? Gameknight typed.

  Moving right next to the white wool, he just stood there and looked at it.

  You want me to get this block right here? Game-knight mocked. This white wool right here in front of me?

  YES, JUST GET IT! Typed Phaser_98, now getting frustrated.

  I don’t think so, Gameknight typed as he planted blocks of TNT around the white wool, stringing them together with redstone dust and finishing it off by planting a redstone torch.

  As the TNT started to blink, he disconnected from the server, disappearing from their screens and leaving the combatants standing there with foolish looks on their faces. He hoped the players were now yelling at their computer screens in frustration. Now nobody could win. He’d trolled the game and won, in his view anyway.

  CHAPTER 2

  THE SERVER

  L

  eaning back in his comfy office chair, Gameknight999 laughed at the screen.

  “You’re a bunch of idiots,” he said to no one, smiling.

  The room echoed his laughter back to him, cold and empty. He was playing alone, as usual. Noises could be heard from upstairs. His younger sister was watching some foolish kids’ show, the sounds of cartoon creatures singing an annoying, childish song lightly filling the air. Gameknight shook his head; his sister could be such a pain sometimes.

  “Quiet down up there,” he yelled, the volume of her cartoon only getting louder in response.

  Gameknight growled a curse under his breath and focused back on his computer game. Next to the screen he saw the birthday card she’d made for him last week. It was a childishly hand-drawn picture of him holding his sister’s hand as they walked across pink rolling fields, gigantic purple and blue flowers dotting the landscape. She’d spent hours on it, working in complete secrecy up in her room. The smile on her face when she’d given it to him had been incredible, lighting up the room. He smiled. She wasn’t a bad sister, just annoying, sometimes.

  The volume on the TV upstairs went down a bit, likely due to a closed door.

  “Thanks!” he yelled without taking his eyes off the computer, off Minecraft.

  He loved this game, loved pranking people, “trolling,” as it was called in Minecraft, using his expertise to mess with them in multiplayer, killing them, and taking their stuff. Today was a great troll, ending the biggest team (PvP) game ever to be played on Minecraft in a draw. No winners except him.

  Laughing again, Gameknight logged back into the game and went to his server list. He’d heard of a new server, something really big. Pulling out the paper he’d written the IP address on, he joined the server. It was a survival game, his favorite. With all his mods and software hacks, he’d rule this server in no time at all. Hopefully their security wouldn’t be very good and he could get into creative mode quickly.

  As the game started, the opening scene looked . . . different, with strange writing on the screen that he didn’t recognize, letters and words that were completely intelligible.

  “This is different,” Gameknight said to himself as he tried to decipher the image.

  Just as patterns started to surface from the writing, the screen went blank and his character suddenly spawned into the game. The area where he appeared was interesting—no, it was very interesting, with gigantic cliffs nearby and a long waterfall falling from its heights. Overhanging surfaces hung high up in the sky next to the waterfall at least forty blocks into the air. The water was falling down the complete height but continued into a deep cavern at the foot of the cliff. Bright light from within the chamber told him that there was lava somewhere down there, likely the meeting of the water and lava forming cobblestone. Climbing to the top of a nearby hill, Gameknight could see another interesting stone outcropping nearby, with more overhanging surfaces sticking out into the air, a village beyond that just barely visible in the distance. This rocky structure had long columns hanging underneath the overhang, the stony spikes looking like the giant fangs of some blocky leviathan. Yes, this server was definitely interesting.

  The sun was starting to set, something that could be a problem on a survival server if you weren’t prepared. But of course, Gameknight was always prepared. Hitting ctrl-z, he opened his favorite cheat. An inventory popped up on his screen, giving him access to everything. Of course, he took diamond armor and a diamond sword, but he also took a bow, a stack of arrows, and an anvil. Placing the anvil on the ground, he enchanted his bow with Punch II, Powe
r III, and Infinity. Not as good as his last bow, but still respectable with the Punch II acting like Knockback for a sword, and of course the Infinity giving him infinite arrows. After grabbing some golden apples to eat later, he closed his inventory and went hunting.

  Seeing some pigs on the grassy plane below, he fired a few arrows at them to get the range, then started drilling them from the hill, firing six quick shots at the annoying pink animals, hitting and killing four and barely missing one. He decided that he would allow this lone pig to live out of the kindness of his heart, but then changed his mind and fired a seventh arrow, the iron barbed projectile quickly transforming the animal into a pile of bacon.

  Running down the grassy hill, Gameknight collected his prize: pork. As he picked up the last pile, he saw a couple of players moving toward him, walking under the canopy of a small cluster of trees, mostly oak and birch. They were obviously noobs, having only leather armor and stone swords, and staying much too close to the shadows. Quickly scanning the area and looking around for threats, Gameknight moved behind a group of birch trees, the low hanging branches hiding him behind their leafy arms while he waited as the players neared.

  A zombie suddenly jumped out of the shadows and surprised them, arms outstretched. The two players struck out at the creature with their pathetic stone swords. They slashed at the green beast, its moaning filling the air, hacking furiously rather than one of them attacking while the other defended—idiots. The zombie clawed and pounded on their thin leather armor, doing damage to sections of the protective coats as they battled. Rather than aiming for the head, the two noobs continued to hack at the outstretched arms, doing damage, but not very much, letting the creature respond in kind until they eventually killed the beast, but taking some damage themselves in the exchange.

  What a joke, taking damage from just one zombie, Gameknight thought. These two don’t deserve to play Minecraft.

  Pulling out his shimmering enchanted bow, he loosed an arrow at the nearest of the two, then quickly fired another at his companion. Once he had the range, he continued to fire at the two players, piercing them with multiple arrows and killing them without a problem. Their armor offered little protection after the zombie battle . . . how pathetic. Their belongings fell to the ground: stone tools, bows, arrows, and of course their puny stone swords, the items floating just off the ground. Normally, he would collect the spoils of war, but these two had nothing of value, so he ignored them and moved on.

  Turning, he headed toward the village he’d seen in the distance. Pausing to drink a potion of swiftness, Gameknight sprinted the distance, wanting to get there before dawn. As he ran across the blocky terrain, he could see the lights of the village drawing nearer, the darkness making it difficult to see his surroundings.

  Oh, no, hole in the ground.

  Stopping quickly, Gameknight just barely avoided falling into a cavern where he would’ve likely taken damage. Slowing his pace, he proceeded more carefully, avoiding the many caverns and crevasses in this world.

  What an interesting map.

  It was like nothing he’d ever seen before.

  The village appeared as he crested the next hill. It was your standard village with crops at the center near the well, small structures surrounding the fields, and larger buildings on the periphery. Dispersed amidst the wooden homes were the stone buildings that looked castle-like, with a tall two-story tower rising above the rest of the structures. And of course there were the villagers, maybe twenty of them. Most of them were hiding in their homes because it was dark, and nighttime was monster time.

  There were monsters all throughout the village: spiders, skeletons, zombies, and the occasional enderman.

  The zombies were milling in front of the many homes with their putrid green arms extended out in front of them, as always, their tattered clothes barely clinging to their decaying bodies. They banged on the wooden doors, hoping to break them down and gain access to devour those hiding within or to catch the foolish villager that might be wandering outdoors. The spiders also prowled about the village, their bulbous bodies swaying side to side as their eight hairy legs scurried across the ground, their multiple red eyes looking in all directions at once. The skeletons stood off at a distance, each one armed with a bow and arrow, the moonlight shining bright off their bony physiques.

  But the worst of all the monsters were the endermen. These tall, dark, lanky creatures were the stuff of nightmares. With the ability to teleport from place to place, they were a terrible foe to face in battle, very difficult to kill. With their long arms, they had quite a punch that could do damage to even the most stout of armors. The most terrifying aspect about them though was their glaring eyes, wide and always glowing with hate, and their maniacal laugh, bringing terror to the unfortunate soul who was close enough to hear it. Right now, these black monsters were just standing on the outskirts of the village, as if closing off the perimeter and making escape impossible.

  Gameknight sprinted to one building and broke a block at head level, giving a skeleton an easy shot into the structure. The bony white monster took advantage of the opening and fired into the building, eventually killing the female villager inside. Gameknight smiled. Moving to another building, he sprinted past a group of zombies and broke the door with his diamond pick. The zombies leapt at the chance and charged into the home, attacking the occupants within. They clawed at the blocky villagers, landing blow after blow on the helpless NPCs until their victims changed, becoming terrible demons themselves, villager zombies; their long noses were now a greenish-brown, their arms finally released and extended straight out in front of them. Their new moaning voices added to the cacophony of the battle. Gameknight laughed.

  This was fun, feeding these NPCs to the mobs while at the same time running too fast for the monsters to catch him, but sadly the fun was going to end. Gameknight could see the sun starting to show its bright square face as it peeked over the horizon in the east, the ground brightening until the zombies and skeletons burst into flame, the endermen and creepers fading back into the hills.

  It was now time to search the village and steal anything of value. Moving from building to building, he searched for chests and treasures, pushing past the dim-witted villagers that seemed everywhere, their arms permanently folded across their chests. He found some iron in the blacksmith’s shop as well as a loaf of bread but little else.

  This village sucks, he thought to himself.

  Moving next to the castle-like structure at the center of the village, Gameknight found an empty chest and left his enchanted bow in case he needed it again later. Then he left the house and went back to the spawn location, the waterfall and cliff.

  Suddenly feeling thirsty in real life, he reached across his basement desk and grabbed the can of soda he’d been nursing throughout the last game. Bringing it to his mouth, he drained the last bit of sugary goodness, leaning way back to empty the can. Looking around the basement, he surveyed his surroundings. Around him were his father’s inventions, nearly all being abject failures: an automatic ketchup bottle opener that tended to break off the top of a bottle, a 3D printer that printed using melted licorice, an iPod holder that mounted to your glasses so that you could walk and watch videos at the same time . . . failure after failure. Virtually all of these items were ridiculous and did something other than what they were intended to do. However, his latest creation, the 3D digitizer ray, a device that could take a 3D image of a real thing and pull it into whatever computer software you had running at the time, seemed to actually hold some promise.

  A sound came from upstairs, likely his dad coming home. He was playing on his father’s computer, the one hooked up to the digitizer, and he knew he wasn’t supposed to be on it. It had an awesome video accelerator on it, lots of RAM, and multiple CPUs, making Minecraft look really cool and run really fast, but he had to get off it before he got caught.

  As he cleaned up the desk, Gameknight tossed the empty soda can toward the trash, but completely mis
sed. He didn’t care; someone else would pick it up. The can bounced off the rim of the trash can with a ringing thud, ricocheted off the wall, and then hit a screwdriver that was hanging off the edge of his father’s workbench. Tipping as if in slow motion, the screwdriver slowly leaned over the edge of the table and toppled to the floor, landing on the control electronics to his father’s digitizer. A bright yellow spark jumped out of the rat’s nest of wires and electrical components, the smell of burned insulation filling the air. More sparks jumped up into the air, making the basement lights dim just a little as the digitizer powered up. It all seemed to happen in slow motion: the can flying through the air and the screwdriver falling onto the electronics. The entire sequence played through his mind like a bad YouTube video.

  I hope I didn’t break anything, Gameknight thought to himself, but just as he was about to get up and check the electronics, a low hum started to fill the air. Sounding like an approaching swarm of angry bees, the ray-gun-looking digitizer starting to glow yellow. Before Gameknight999 could get up and turn it off, a sparkling white beam of light burst from it and struck him in the chest. Tingling sensations swept across his body, making him feel burning hot and chillingly cold at the same time. Then things started to spin around as if the rest of the room was caught in a tornado and Gameknight stood stationary in its eye. Bright white light enveloped him as the room spun, the radiance searing his eyes and making his skin tingle. At first, it felt like the blinding light was filling every aspect of his mind with its blazing fury, but then it started to pull at him, drawing him into its source like a drain pulling water into its shadowy pipes. Gameknight felt as if he were being wrenched from his body and drawn somewhere through the light, his very being pulled from the physical world somehow.