The Phantom Virus

by Mark Cheverton

  The villagers were still running about, looking for the sign, but nervously, being careful not to stray far from each other. They were outside after dark, and they all knew that in Minecraft, nighttime was monster time.

  A howl pierced the night air off to the left. Not waiting, Gameknight bolted in that direction. As he ran, he could see more sections of the wall disappearing as the holes tore into the landscape where the village stood, each hole exactly like the others, four blocks by four blocks in size. Ahead, he could see the wolves clustered together around a wooden sign, their eyes glowing red in the darkness.

  Herder went first and carefully pushed through the pack, clearing a space for Gameknight to enter. With his shovel, the User-that-is-not-a-user dug up the soil around the sign, looking for the cavity that he knew would be there. Almost instantly, his shovel punched through the dirt and found the small chamber. It was lit red from all the redstone torches and powdery traces that were giving off a crimson glow.

  “I found it!” Gameknight screamed as he jumped into the hole.

  Driving his shovel hard, he slashed at the redstone traces, severing the power from the command block.

  The wolves growled as footsteps thundered toward them. Drawing his diamond blade, Gameknight climbed out of the hole and turned to face the threat.

  “Put that away you idiot, it’s only us,” Hunter said as she approached.

  “You found the command block!” Crafter said as he ran to his friend’s side.

  “Yes, I’ve shut it off,” Gameknight said, then turned and faced the approaching NPCs.

  The grassy plain was filled with the cries of mourning villagers. Many shouted out the names of their loved ones that had fallen while others remembered friends and neighbors that would never be seen again. Gameknight tried to hold back his own tears of sadness and frustration as he looked upon this shattered community, but he could feel his eyes growing moist. They would never be whole again, and this village would be a permanent reminder of what was lost today.

  “Is it safe to go back into the village?” the old crafter said as he neared, two NPCs holding onto the aged leader, helping him to walk.

  “Yes,” Gameknight replied, “but I don’t know why you would want to. There isn’t much left.”

  “This is our home,” the old NPC replied. “We must return and rebuild, in memory of those we lost today.”

  The old man raised a wrinkled hand up into the air, fingers spread wide. The villagers around him did the same, giving a salute to the dead. Gameknight brought his own hand up into the air, angry tears tumbling down his square cheeks. He squeezed his hand into a tight fist as images of all the poor NPCs that had been lost appeared in the back of his mind, their terrified faces likely to haunt him for a long time.

  How could Herobrine do this evil thing? Gameknight thought as anger surged through his soul. If only I’d been quicker at destroying Herobrine, then maybe all these villagers would still be alive.

  Glancing around, he realized he was the only person with his fist still in the air. Slowly, he lowered his arm, his fingers now numb.

  “What does the sign say?” Crafter asked.

  Gameknight moved around to the front and read the words. “It says, ‘ANOTHER VILLAGE GONE BECAUSE OF GK. MORE TO COME. :-)—HB’”

  He smashed the sign with his shovel, the splintered pieces flying in all directions.

  “This was Herobrine’s doing?” the old crafter asked.

  Gameknight nodded.

  “How is that possible? That monster is dead,” Butch said.

  Gameknight didn’t answer. Uncertainty filled his mind as waves of guilt washed over him.

  “It can’t be,” Gameknight said in a low voice.

  “We think he’s dead. And even if he is, he left these command blocks behind, and must be activating them somehow,” Crafter replied. “Either that, or someone’s doing his dirty work for him.”

  The memory of his father smashing the computer that held Herobrine filled his mind, but for some reason, the memory was not as vivid as it had been before. It was as if the memory were changing. What if he were still alive? The thought bounced around inside his head as the memory slowly faded into the back of his mind. No … I saw it … I know Herobrine is destroyed! He refused to believe that terrible virus had somehow escaped.

  Gameknight turned and stared at the village that was now punctured with holes. A burning rage began to bubble up from within his soul.

  “We have to get to the next village before it is destroyed,” Gameknight growled, his anger barely held in check. It felt like as soon as one fire was put out, another one immediately flared up. When would it stop? he thought. They had to do something other than react to Herobrine’s latest trick.

  “What direction is the closest village from here?” Stitcher asked.

  “There are three villages, all approximately the same distance from us,” the old crafter said in a scratchy voice.

  “Which one do we go to?” the young girl asked, then turned and looked at Gameknight999.

  The User-that-is-not-a-user glanced at Stitcher’s questioning eyes, then looked down, afraid to make a wrong decision that would cost more lives.

  “Is there one to the northeast?” Crafter asked.

  The village’s crafter nodded his square head, his gray hair swaying back and forth.

  “I think we continue in that direction.” Crafter turned to face the butcher. “Send riders to the other villagers and warn them. If something happens, look for the sign and dig. When you find the redstone, break the circuit. Understood?”

  Butch looked to a group of warriors and cast them a questioning stare. They nodded, then ran back to the village. In minutes, they were mounting and galloping off in different directions, one group going east, the other south.

  “We have to get moving,” Digger said, his booming voicing startling some of the villagers. “These command block tricks are starting to happen more frequently. I fear we do not have much time before the next one activates.”

  “Digger is right,” Hunter said. She turned to Butch. “Can we get horses?”

  The commander nodded, then glanced at one of the villagers. A young boy ran back to the village with a handful of young NPCs with him. He soon returned with seven horses and a packhorse trailing at the rear.

  “Butch, we appreciate the horses, but we only need six,” Crafter said.

  “I am going with you,” the NPC commander said. “Your quest is to find and stop these terrible command blocks. Well, I want to find the person responsible and teach them that they cannot mess with my village and get away with it. I’m coming along, whether you like it or not.”

  Gameknight nodded at Butch, but the look in the NPC’s eyes scared him a little. The villager had such overwhelming hatred and need for revenge that the User-that-is-not-a-user was afraid, not for his friends or even for the monsters they would likely encounter, but for himself.

  What if Butch realizes that all of this is my fault? Gameknight thought. Will he turn his rage on me?

  The image of a furious Butch attacking him made icicles of fear form within the User-that-is-not-a-user’s soul.

  CHAPTER 15

  SHAIVALAK

  “What do you mean, Shorin, when you ssssay that they esssscaped?” Shaivalak asked.

  “They had help from the NPCssss at the village,” Shorin replied, her voice sounding weak.

  Shaivalak looked down on her subject, the bright purple light from her multiple eyes adding to the soft red glow of the nearby redstone torches, painting the gray cobblestone a deep burgundy. Shorin was lying on the ground, completely exhausted. She had been one of the few surviving spiders from the Bryce Canyon battle. The small handful of spiders had nearly consumed their HP trying to get back to the hidden cave and their queen, all to deliver the bad news.

  “Gameknight999 and hissss friendssss cannot interfere with the Maker’ssss planssss,” the spider queen said, anger filling her bright purple eyes.


  “I undersssstand,” Shorin said, trying to bow even lower, but her entire body was already pressed onto the cold stone floor.

  Shaivalak reached out with a dark claw and brought it to within a hair’s breadth of Shorin’s head. The spider shook with fear. Shaivalak then moved it gently onto her head and stroked the tiny black hairs back, comforting the sister.

  “Bring her mosssss, quickly,” the spider queen ordered.

  Two of the brothers, cave spiders, scurried forward, each holding a clump of green moss. It was the smaller, blue spiders’ job to collect the moss from the cobblestone in dungeons that lay hidden deep underground. They used it to nourish the young spiders just after hatching, but today, it would be used to help Shorin regain her strength.

  The sister quickly gobbled up the piles of moss as soon as they touched the ground, her mandibles shoving them into her toothy mouth. After consuming every last morsel, Shorin was finally able to stand on eight wobbly legs and bow her head to Shaivalak.

  “Go outsssside, and bassssk in the ssssun atop a nice tall tree ssssomewhere,” the spider queen said. “When you are fully healed, return and be ready to fight for the Maker.”

  “Yessss, my queen,” Shorin replied, grateful to still be alive.

  As the sister scuttled away, the king of the skeletons stepped forward out of the shadows.

  “If one of my skeletons failed me as that one did, I would have killed them,” Reaper said.

  “That issss why you musssst command from a point of fear,” Shaivalak hissed. “My followerssss act out of loyalty and will alwayssss fight harder than your sssskeletonssss.”

  She turned and looked at the cave opening far from where they stood. A small flow of lava spilled out of a hole in the wall and oozed down into the darkness. The molten stone cast a warm glow on the entrance and the many skeleton archers that stood near the cave opening, making their bones glow a soft orange. She knew there were more of the pale white monsters hidden in the shadows all throughout the chamber, and yet she still wondered if they would be enough.

  “I see you looking at the entrance to the Maker’s cave, spider queen, but you need not worry. My skeletons will defend this cavern and the tunnels that lead to it,” Reaper said. “Gameknight999 and his army will not be able to penetrate our defenses. I have hundreds of skeletons spread out all through the tunnels up above. We can easily defend it against an army twice our size.”

  “Reaper ssssoundssss very ssssure of himsssself,” Shaivalak said.

  The skeleton grunted, then thrust his chest out confidently.

  “The Maker underesssstimated the Usssser-that-issss-not-a-usssser many timesss, and the other monsssster kingssss did assss well. Every time, Gameknight999 tricked them ssssomehow. Your overconfidence issss your weaknesssss.”

  “We shall see,” Reaper said, his voice rattling. “Besides, if my skeletons get in trouble, you can simply spawn your spiders into this cavern with that command block next to you.”

  Shaivalak looked at the orange-checkered block that sat next to her, a lever sitting beside it. A single flip of that switch and the command block would spawn hundreds of spiders in the cave. It was a backup plan, in case the skeletons failed to keep the User-that-is-not-a-user out of the cavern.

  “Hopefully, we will not be in need of thissss block,” Shaivalak said. “But we musssst expect the unexpected from Gameknight999.”

  Reaper harrumphed.

  “He will fall before my skeletons and beg for mercy. But he will get none. Herobrine defeated him and escaped the Minecraft server, and now we will defeat him as well. When all these command blocks are ready and the timer reaches zero, then Herobrine’s revenge will be complete, as his command blocks will destroy all the villages across this server.”

  The skeleton looked up at the redstone-powered display built into the cavern wall. It showed numbers ticking down from one hundred. Currently, the display showed 48.

  “Once the countdown reaches zero, there will be nothing the User-that-is-not-a-user can do,” Reaper said.

  He let out a hollow, scratchy laugh, his head tilted back until he was looking up at the ceiling. He then brought his gaze back to the nearest command block.

  “I see the first test block is set to go off when the timer is at 45,” the skeleton king said. “Hopefully, Gameknight999 and his friends will be caught in that village when the command block is triggered. I would love to be there to see him destroyed.”

  “My ssssisterssss will be there, watching. I will tell you what happenssss, but we musssst sssstill be prepared. Gameknight999 issss clever and dangeroussss.”

  “We’ll see,” Reaper replied, then laughed again, his harsh laugh filling the chamber.

  CHAPTER 16

  LAVA

  They rode through the night, driving the horses as hard as they dared. Around midnight, the party passed from the grasslands biome into the desert, the rolling grass-covered hills transitioning into sandy dunes.

  “Gameknight, we must rest,” Hunter said.

  “No, we can’t,” he replied.

  I can feel Herobrine’s next command block getting ready to activate, Gameknight thought.

  “We must keep riding so we can reach the next village in time,” the User-that-is-not-a-user said.

  “Gameknight, we will kill the horses if we continue at this pace,” Crafter said. “If that happens, it will take even longer to get to the village than if we had stopped.”

  He sighed, knowing his friend was right. Pulling on the reins, Gameknight slowed his horse to a walk, the others behind him doing the same. He then glanced about nervously, scanning the desert and looking for threats.

  “You need to calm down,” Crafter said as he pulled his horse up next to him. “You’re so wound up, you’re about to explode.”

  “Don’t you see? Herobrine’s command blocks have been getting more lethal with each occurrence,” Gameknight said in a low voice. “What will it be at the next village? What could be worse than all those holes that almost destroyed every villager, plus us?”

  “I don’t know,” Crafter replied.

  “I can’t let it happen again,” Gameknight mumbled. “I can’t let more families be destroyed because of me. The only way I can stop it is if I get there before the command block goes off. It’s my responsibility to fix this.” He then lowered his voice to a whisper. “This is all my fault. I must do something.”

  “Gameknight, you can’t take the responsibility for—”

  A howl pierced the still night air. Gameknight snapped his head in the direction of the sound, then turned and looked at Herder. The lanky boy had a huge smile on his face.

  “I sent the wolves ahead to look for the village,” Herder said.

  Gameknight nodded his approval, then kicked his horse into a gallop.

  “Come on!” he yelled as his horse climbed a sand dune.

  When he reached the top of the dune, Gameknight could see the desert stretching out before him. Nearby, a flower forest butted up against the sandy terrain, then an extreme hills biome after that. In the distance, he could just make out a massive mountain, bigger than he’d ever seen. It was barely visible through the darkness.

  At the bottom of the dune, Gameknight saw a desert village. A huge wall of sandstone and cobblestone surrounded the collection of pale yellow homes. Torches placed on walls and fence posts cast circles of light upon the sandy structures, allowing Gameknight to make out individual features: a blacksmith’s house, the animal pens, the village’s well, and, of course, the tall sandstone watchtower that rose high up above the community.

  Charging down the dune face, Gameknight sprinted for the entrance.

  “Open the gates!” Gameknight yelled as he rode. “OPEN THE GATES!”

  He could see the villager atop the watchtower turn and face him, then pull out a piece of armor and bang a sword against the iron coat. More torches came to life as the community woke to the alarm. But as he approached the wall, a strange shimmering appeared
above the village gates. A block of lava suddenly appeared within the shimmering field. The molten stone slowly flowed downward and spread across the ground, completely blocking the entrance to the village.

  Skidding to a stop, Gameknight looked on in horror as more blocks of lava appeared directly over the village. The boiling stone flowed downward, creating glowing orange fingers of that stuck up high in the air. The lava crept downward, flowing across homes and buildings, creating large pools of death across the community. Screams of terrified villagers cut through the silent desert, each one stabbing at Gameknight’s soul.

  The gates are blocked, and they’re trapped in the village … what do I do? Gameknight thought.

  A flaming arrow streaked past him. Following its path, he saw a block of TNT had been placed next to the protective wall, the flaming shaft of the arrow sticking out. The blinking cube exploded, tearing a huge gash in the wall.

  “Now that’s how you make a door,” Hunter said as she dashed by.

  Gameknight leapt off his horse, scanning the desert for Crafter. He spotted him approaching off from the right.

  “Crafter, give Herder some fireworks!” he yelled to his friend.

  The young NPC looked at Gameknight, confused.

  “Herder!” the User-that-is-not-a-user shouted in the other direction. “I want you to stay out here and launch a new rocket every minute to show the villagers where to run.”

  The lanky boy nodded, his long, dark hair falling across his face.

  Crafter dropped a handful of striped rockets off with Herder, then followed Gameknight into the village through the hole in the wall. Already, Hunter and Stitcher were directing the NPCs inside toward the opening.

  “Everyone, this way!” Gameknight yelled, waving his enchanted sword over his head.