Last Block Standing! (Minecraft Woodsword Chronicles #6)

by Nick Eliopulos

  “Huh,” Po said. He rubbed his blocky chin. “So it would be pretty easy to play a prank on him, I guess.”

  Harper liked the sound of that. “You have an idea, Po?” she asked.

  “I think I do,” he said. “But we’re going to have to split up. And we’re going to need some bait.”

  “What kind of bait?” asked Jodi. “We still don’t have any cookies….”

  “I had something else…someone else in mind,” Po said. He gave Theo a long look. “Just how badly do you think the Evoker King would like to get his hands on our little hacker friend?”

  Theo gave a loud gulp.

  Morgan liked this plan.

  It was risky, sure. But it was probably less risky than fighting their way through the Evoker King’s fortress.

  And he didn’t love the fact that they’d had to split up. It was going to be just three of them against a power-mad artificial consciousness, and he didn’t love those odds.

  Of course, that was assuming they could even get the King’s attention….

  “I think this’ll do it,” said Ash. “Don’t you?”

  “Oh, yeah,” said Theo. “There’s no way he can ignore this.”

  Morgan looked up at their handiwork. Where huge obsidian letters had once spelled out a warning—Beware the Evoker King—they now spelled out something else entirely.

  Beware the Evoker King’s Bad Breath.

  “It’s a true work of art,” said Morgan.

  “Then I guess we’re ready,” said Ash. “Hit it!”

  “Oh, Evoooooker King,” crooned Theo. “We’re down here!”

  “We know you can see us!” yelled Morgan.

  “Just look at what Theo has done to your beautiful sign!” cried Ash.

  They waited to see what would happen. Except for the rain, the world was still and silent. Morgan started to worry. Maybe the Evoker King wasn’t at home. Maybe he wasn’t going to take the bait.

  He needn’t have worried. There was a great flash of light, and a sound like thunder. For just a moment, Morgan thought it was the storm. But then he saw the jagged hole at the top of the tower and the shadowy figure who stood within it. The Evoker King had blasted a hole right through his own wall.

  Morgan felt a rush of nervousness as he laid eyes on the Evoker King at last. He…or it…looked nothing like Morgan had expected. The Evoker King was more menacing than before. The AI’s outer layer was now transparent, and he crackled with energy both inside and out. Morgan could see inside the figure.

  Rather than organs or muscles or blood or Minecraft blocks, the Evoker King’s see-through skin contained swirling pixels of light. He looked like a living galaxy—a digital constellation given humanoid shape. His eyes glowed with malice.

  “How dare you!” boomed the voice of the Evoker King, and spirals of wild energy sparkled and swirled around his fists. The lights in his chest pulsated with power, and his facial features flickered as he spoke. Now, as he scowled down at them, his face seemed more monstrous than before.

  Morgan had to fight a sudden desire to run and hide.

  “You just can’t help yourselves, can you?” said their foe. He was floating above their heads, just out of reach. “You’re worse than a wild band of creepers. You bring chaos everywhere you go! You break and you take whatever you want. You disrupt the natural order!”

  “You’re one to talk!” said Morgan. “Take a look at what you’ve done since you got the Foundation Stone.”

  “Morgan’s right,” said Ash. “You’ve broken the world!”

  “I’ve fixed the world!” said the King. “I made it so that nothing would ever change again. No more chaos! Only order!” “The Evoker King turned his flat digital eyes on Theo. “And then you came along. You did this, didn’t you? You found a way to break my rules!”

  “I sure did!” said Theo. “Me, Theo! I have cool hacking skills! You want to see them in action?”

  “I’ve seen enough,” said the Evoker King. That high-pitched horn sounded again, and three vexes appeared.

  That, at least, is a typical evoker move, Morgan thought.

  But then the Evoker King summoned zombies. And skeletons. And armed and angry illagers.

  In the time it took Morgan to blink, he and his friends were hopelessly surrounded.

  “You have one final choice to make,” said the King. “Disconnect now…or fall to my hordes.”

  “I’m terrible at making choices,” said Theo.

  “We’re not leaving!” said Ash. “Because we’re right, and you’re wrong. Minecraft is supposed to be for everyone.”

  “We’re fighting for a world of freedom and creativity!” cried Morgan. “The way it’s meant to be!”

  “So be it.” With pulse of energy, the Evoker King set his minions to attack.

  The three friends drew their swords. They dodged and darted, ducked and danced to stay out of reach of their attackers.

  But there were too many of them. And Morgan’s sword was useless against them. He couldn’t hurt them.

  The mobs could hurt him, however. He flashed red with each punch and slash and bite. He saw Ash and Theo taking damage, too. Theo’s presence had allowed them to get their health up to full strength before the fight, but it was draining quickly. How much could they take before they fell?

  “We have to get out of here,” Morgan said.

  “No!” said Ash. “The others…they need more time.”

  “Then I’d better do something foolish,” said Theo. “Hey, Evoker King! Too scared to face me on your own?”

  “Scared?” said the King. “You think I’m scared? Of you?”

  With a wave of the Evoker King’s hand, the teeming hordes stopped in their tracks. Morgan poked a zombie with his sword and got no response.

  “Actually,” said Theo, “now that you mention it…I think maybe you’re scared. You’re so desperate to push us around…to get rid of us…”

  “Enough,” said the Evoker King. The ground beneath them rumbled. Morgan and Ash fell back, but Theo was caught in a rising flood of dirt and stone blocks.

  The Evoker King had shaped the very ground into an enormous stony hand that quickly became a fist. It held Theo in its grip, lifting him off his feet. “I’ll show you something to fear,” said their enemy.

  “Do your…worst,” said Theo.

  “No, stop!” said Morgan. “Don’t hurt him!”

  “I’ll do whatever I want,” said the King. The stone fist tightened. Theo cried out.

  Suddenly, the Evoker King froze. His eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Why aren’t you saving yourself?” he asked. “Why aren’t you using your great powers?”

  “Because…,” said Theo through clenched teeth. “Because…I’m not…Theo.”

  The Evoker King’s eyes grew large with surprise. “What?!”

  Theo blinked out of existence. Because it wasn’t Theo at all, but a Theo skin.

  And now Po was there, grinning at the Evoker King.

  “Gotcha,” he said.

  Jodi gripped her trident tightly and hoped that her brother was safe.

  She knew he was risking his neck so she and Harper and Theo—the real Theo—had a chance at ending this fight once and for all.

  “This plan is bananas,” said Theo.

  “Yeah,” agreed Jodi. “That’s why it’s brilliant. The Evoker King will never see it coming!”

  “And what’s the signal?” Theo asked. “What exactly are we waiting for?”

  “We should know it when we see it,” said Harper.

  The three of them were crouching behind a low wall on the far side of the tower. While they stayed out of view, Morgan and Ash and Po were uphill, standing out in the open and making a lot of noise.

  They had to draw out the Evoker
King. But would it work?

  There was an explosion at the top of the tower. Jodi almost yelped in surprise, but she stopped herself. Stealth mode, she reminded herself.

  But she almost yelped again when she saw the Evoker King. He was standing in the gaping hole he’d just made in the side of his own tower. She watched as he stepped through the hole and slowly floated down toward Morgan and the others. Even at this distance, she could tell he was angry.

  “That’s our cue,” Harper said. “Go! Go! Go!”

  “Finally,” Jodi said. “Do you know how long it’s been since I got to fly?”

  Jodi hurled her trident in the air, and it pulled her along for the ride, lifting her right off the ground and sending her hurtling across the sky.

  “Wahoo!” cried Harper beside her. “This is amazing!”

  “And sort of terrifying!” yelled Theo.

  Jodi had flown all the time back when she played Minecraft in Creative mode. It wasn’t quite so simple here.

  They had gotten lucky with the weather. According to Morgan, this trick was only possible underwater…or in the rain. With Theo’s help, Harper had enchanted three tridents with a magical riptide effect. The effect basically allowed them to swim through the wet air. It would get them to the top of the tower quickly. And right now, every minute counted.

  So it was nice that the Evoker King had made an opening for them.

  “In here!” said Jodi, and she flew through the hole the Evoker King had left. Harper and Theo touched down close behind her.

  Jodi had expected more of the purpur blocks they’d seen downstairs. Or perhaps a lush sanctuary—tapestries and artworks and a four-poster bed fit for a king.

  But there was none of that. Instead, the room was a cold and sterile box. Four plain white walls met a plain white ceiling and a plain white floor. The only thing in the room was a pale-colored chair set against the back wall. The Evoker King had made himself a throne, but nothing else.

  “What material is this?” asked Harper, stomping her foot. “It looks almost like glass, but not quite.”

  “It’s nothing that exists naturally in the game,” Theo said. “He’s leached the color and texture out of everything.”

  “It looks like something an emotionless computer program would make,” Jodi said. “No color, no joy…no personal touches of chaos.” She shuddered. “I bet he’d like to do this to the whole world.”

  “We won’t let him,” Theo said confidently. “We just have to find the Foundation Stone before he comes back.”

  Harper held up a pickaxe. “Then let’s get digging—and hope that he keeps it close!”

  Jodi figured Harper had the right idea. If there was a hidden vault around here, it would be on the other side of a wall or floor. They all took up pickaxes. As long as they stayed near Theo, they were able to break as many bricks as they wanted.

  They made a mess of the place, busting holes in every surface. They didn’t find any hidden passages or trapdoors, only more of the strange white blocks. The walls and floor were thick but otherwise unremarkable.

  “I don’t know where else to look,” said Harper. “I was sure he’d keep it by his seat of power.”

  “Seat…of power?” echoed Jodi.

  “It’s just another way of saying ‘throne,’ ” said Theo.

  “Huh,” said Jodi. She took a closer look at it. Now that she’d gotten used to all the whiteness, she saw something she hadn’t noticed before. “Did you notice how his throne is sort of…glowing?”

  “The throne!” said Theo, pointing. “The Foundation Stone is that block right in the middle of the throne!”

  “What have you done now?” said a voice.

  They whirled around to see the Evoker King floating just outside the tower. He looked furious.

  “You have invaded my home. Destroyed it. You bring destruction wherever you go!”

  “I don’t know about destruction,” said Jodi. “I’m sort of in a creation mood.”

  She spun around and ran for the throne.

  “No!” cried the King. “Stop!”

  The Evoker King was faster than Jodi.

  But Jodi was closer.

  She could see him out of the corner of her eye. He was gaining on her. They were neck and neck.

  He reached out for the throne.

  So did she. She stretched out her arms, leaping, and…

  Jodi’s blocky hand touched the Foundation Stone first.

  Jodi’s vision went white.

  She no longer felt her body. Or rather, she felt her body everywhere.

  She was a waterfall that had been frozen in time.

  She was a stone fist, gripping Po tightly.

  She was a llama in a field. She was an ocelot on a rooftop. She was a bale of hay, being eaten by a horse. It tickled!

  She was a forest, and all the trees that made the forest. She was a desert, and every bit of shifting scratchy sand within it.

  She was water, and lava, and stone.

  She was in every block, every torch, every glittering gem.

  She was Minecraft. And Minecraft was her.

  Jodi could see the strings of digits that made up the code behind the world. She could see where the Evoker King had twisted that code—the cut he’d made here, the addition over there. She put things back the way they were supposed to be. For her, it was as easy as arranging a set of colorful building blocks.

  She was a waterfall, flowing once more into a moving river.

  She was a fist, relaxing its grip, becoming an open palm.

  And she was an evoker, standing in a broken throne room, trembling with emotion. Jodi recognized that emotion….

  It was fear.

  The Evoker King was so afraid he could barely stand it.

  Morgan didn’t know what to expect when he, Ash, and Po entered the Evoker King’s throne room. As they built a zigzagging staircase to the top of the tower, he tried to prepare himself for anything.

  But he was still shocked at the sight of his sister floating inches off the ground and glowing with tremendous power.

  “Jodi!” he cried. “Are you all right?”

  “I’ve never been better,” said Jodi. Her voice boomed. “This is like ultimate Creative mode!” With a wave of her hand, Jodi fixed every bit of damage in the throne room. Then she added some colorful tapestries and a purple llama for good measure.

  “Then what are you waiting for?” asked Theo. He pointed to the Evoker King. “Get rid of him! Make him disappear!”

  The Evoker King glared. Without the power of the stone, he had become something of a basic avatar—like his throne room, he was plain and lacking detail. “Do your worst!” he grumbled.

  “I’m not going to hurt you,” Jodi said. “I promise. I know you’re afraid.”

  “I’m…I’m not afraid!” he protested. “I am beyond such things.”

  “You are afraid. I can…I can feel your fear,” said Jodi. “We assumed that you wouldn’t have emotion. We thought you were just a program, and a villainous program, at that.” She frowned and shook her head. “But you were here first. And you were happy here, in a world of simple rules, where everything made sense. Then we came along. You didn’t know what to make of a group of messy, loud humans who started moving stuff around and chopping down trees and beating up monsters and filling treasure chests.”

  “And using dye to color sheep,” said Po. “I bet that really confused him.”

  Morgan’s head spun. “Jodi, are you sure about this?”

  “I’m with Morgan,” said Harper. “He’s an artificial intelligence. Why should he be afraid? Why should he feel anything?”

  “He’s a very young artificial intelligence,” Jodi said. “Younger than us. He’s still growing. Learning. Becoming.”


  “But what will he become?” Morgan asked.

  “I will become your greatest nightmare!” said the Evoker King. “I shall be vengeance incarnate!”

  “Oh, stop that.” Jodi chuckled. “I think what you might become…is our friend,” she said.

  The Evoker King gaped. “How could we be friends?” he said. “My purpose is to bring order to this world. And you are forces of chaos!”

  “You should choose your own purpose,” said Jodi. “You’ve already changed your mind about the Foundation Stone. At first you wanted to destroy it, but then you used it. Maybe you could change your mind about us, too.”

  Morgan turned to the others. “What’s she talking about?” he asked. “I mean, can a human and an artificial intelligence even be friends?”

  “I think she’s got an interesting point,” said Theo. “The Evoker King has shown that he’s capable of learning. His programming is changing as he encounters new things. Friendship could be a total game changer for him.” Theo snuck Harper a bashful glance. “He might have been rude or selfish in the past. But maybe he just needs a second chance.”

  “It makes a lot of sense to me,” said Ash. “I know what it feels like to be afraid of change. To wish you could control everything because you feel like you’re not in control of anything. I know exactly what it feels like.” She turned her eyes on the Evoker King. “It’s terrifying. But it’s a little less scary when you have friends.”

  “Wouldn’t you rather try to understand us?” said Jodi. “Wouldn’t that be more logical than fighting? Think of all the great things we could build together!”

  The Evoker King stood very still. Morgan couldn’t read his expression. The AI looked from Jodi to Theo, and then at each of them in turn. “To be honest, when I used the Foundation Stone to build this tower, I felt a…a thrill. And I felt something similar when I crafted the first avatar for myself.”