Madness in the Mine

by Winter Morgan

  Poppy said, “We should get back to town. You guys have to start working on Helen’s farm.”

  “Let me just get my case, and I’ll join you,” said Ray.

  As the gang waited for Ray, Poppy spotted something on the floor. She picked it up. “Oh my, look those criminals dropped their explorer map.”

  Her two friends crowded around her and studied the map. Joe said, “It looks like there’s buried treasure on the beach. It’s right next to us.”

  “We should dig and find it,” said Poppy.

  “Yes,” said Brett. “After everything they did to us, we deserve to get their treasure.”

  Ray raced toward them. “Why are you guys heading toward the beach? I thought you were going to Meadow Mews.”

  “We have to dig up a treasure before we go,” Poppy pointed to the map.

  Once they reached the beach, the gang pulled out their pickaxes and began to dig. The sun beat down on them, and sweat formed on their brows. They dug into the sandy beach, but there wasn’t any treasure.

  “Are you sure this map is correct?” asked Ray. “Where did you find it?”

  Before any of them could respond, they saw the treasure chest. Joe pulled it out from the ground and opened it. The chest was teeming with gold ingots. As they picked up a gold ingot, a voice called out, “That’s ours.”

  3

  TREASURE

  “Who are they?” asked Ray.

  “We don’t know,” Joe said as he looked at the five masked people. “Maybe if you guys take off your masks, we might be able to recognize you.”

  “I guess they didn’t put everyone on hardcore mode last night, or they wouldn’t have respawned,” said Poppy.

  “Hardcore mode?” Ray shivered as he spoke.

  One of the criminals took off the blue cloth mask that covered her nose and mouth and pulled out her hat. She had orange hair and green eyes. She said, “Now will you give us our treasure?”

  Joe handed a gold ingot to the woman. “I am not taking something that isn’t mine. I don’t steal like you guys do.”

  Ray was confused and asked, “What’s going on?”

  Joe explained how these masked criminals appeared at his door the previous night and demanded all of their stuff from their inventories.

  “That’s horrible,” said Ray. “They don’t deserve this treasure. They should be put in the bedrock prison in Farmer’s Bay.”

  “We didn’t take anything,” said the orange-headed woman. “Unlike you guys, who took our treasure map and are now holding our gold ingots. We apologize for surprising you last night. We won’t attack you. Just leave us with our treasure.”

  Ray said, “It doesn’t work that way.” He looked at the ship docked at Farmer’s Bay and asked, “Is that your boat?”

  “Yes,” she replied.

  “Take your treasure and never come back to our town. I am going to warn other people around the Overworld about you guys. You are pirates, and nobody wants pirates showing up and looting their town.”

  “Fine,” the woman said as she picked up the large treasure chest and walked back to the ship with her four masked friends following closely behind.

  Ray and the others watched them board the ship and it sailed away. “Those guys are awful,” said Joe.

  “I can’t believe we let them leave with the treasure.” Poppy was annoyed.

  “It was their map,” Joe reminded them. “I’m just glad they’re gone.”

  Brett said, “I assume they didn’t put this town on hardcore mode.”

  Ray shrieked, “Did they say they put the town on hardcore mode? That’s crazy. We shouldn’t have let them leave.”

  “I think it was just a threat,” said Poppy. “I don’t believe it.”

  “Well, it’s too late to find out now,” said Ray. His voice shook as he spoke. He was worried they would be destroyed.

  “We could look for the command blocks,” said Poppy.

  “I think we should head to Meadow Mews and work on the farm,” said Joe. “They could be anywhere, and we might never find them. Also, I don’t believe those guys would do anything that extreme.”

  “For example, they didn’t have to ask for the treasure back. They could have just destroyed us, and then we’d be gone from the Overworld. That would be much easier,” said Brett.

  “Let’s not debate this all day,” said Poppy. “We should go home.”

  Ray lugged his large case of potions as they left Farmer’s Bay and made their way to Meadow Mews. As they approached the town, Brett pointed out the large ship docked in the distance. “It looks as if they docked their boat at Meadow Mews.”

  The gang sprinted toward the dock and climbed aboard the ship, but it was empty. As they searched the cavernous wooden ship, they spotted a room filled with treasure chests.

  “Wow, these guys are serious treasure hunters,” said Ray.

  “Look at how many maps they have,” said Poppy as she pointed to a stack of explorer maps. “They must spend a lot of time under the sea.”

  “I wonder what they are doing in Meadow Mews. We should get off the boat and stop them from damaging the town,” said Brett.

  The gang hurried down the stairs and into the middle of the village. They passed the library, and Heather the librarian came out and spoke to them.

  “I just had the strangest interaction today,” said Heather.

  “What happened?” asked Poppy.

  “Some woman with orange hair came into the library and asked for all of the books on the history of Meadow Mews. She said she was going to destroy them because she plans on destroying it and rewriting the town’s history.”

  “We know her,” said Poppy. “She’s awful. We will stop her.”

  “I wouldn’t let her take a book out. She can’t destroy our town,” she said.

  “She won’t,” Brett reassured Heather.

  Ray was more concerned with starting his business. As Poppy, Brett, and Joe looked around the town for the criminals, he asked if he should set up his business in the middle of the village.

  “You can do what you like.” Joe was annoyed. “We have a situation on our hands, and I assume you don’t want to solve it.”

  “I’m sorry,” said Ray. “I didn’t know you needed my help.”

  “We need everyone’s help,” said Joe.

  As the four of them walked through the village, searching for the folks that want to destroy Meadow Mews and rewrite the history, Helen called out to them.

  “You guys are back. Are you going to start on the farm today?”

  “We’d like to, but we have to find some people who want to invade Meadow Mews,” explained Brett.

  “Who would want to destroy Meadow Mews?” asked Helen. She was shocked.

  “The people who are traveling on that ship,” said Poppy. She pointed toward the water, but the ship was missing.

  “What ship?” asked Helen. “Are you sure you guys are okay?

  “There was a large wooden ship docked at the waterfront. Didn’t you see it?” asked Poppy.

  “No, I didn’t,” replied Helen.

  Poppy, Brett, Joe, and Ray were confused. Brett said, “The ship was there, and Heather the librarian described a woman we know who is traveling on that ship.”

  “I don’t know what you are talking about. Perhaps you guys should go home and rest and then start on the farm tomorrow. You guys don’t look too well,” said Helen.

  “No, we’re fine,” said Joe. “We can start today.”

  Since the ship was gone, the gang assumed the criminals had gotten what they needed and left. Ray set up his potion stand in the center of town, Poppy went home to draft up designs for the skyscraper, and Brett and Joe walked outside of the village toward Helen’s house. As they passed a large mine, they spotted a woman with orange hair entering the mine.

  “Did you see that?” asked Brett.

  “See what?” asked Helen.

  “I saw a woman entering that mine,” replied Brett. />
  “That mine?” Helen questioned with a chuckle. “Nobody has used that mine for ages. You know that it has nothing in it. Hasn’t ever since I’ve been in the town, and I’ve been here for ages. As you both know.”

  Brett remembered how he had fallen into a portal, seen Helen in the past, and fought a battle with her to keep the town standing. He had forgotten that the mine had been emptied all the way back then. He wondered what the orange-haired woman wanted in the mine. He had to go inside and find out. He readjusted his armor and said, “I’m sorry, but I have to check out this mine before we head to your house to build the farm.”

  Helen smiled. “That’s fine. I haven’t been in this mine for a long time. I used to come here because I was convinced that eventually it would be replenished with minerals and I’d be the first to mine all the diamonds and emeralds, but that never happened. I would just go inside and wind up battling a cave spider, and then I’d leave empty-handed.”

  “Do you know why the mine is empty?” asked Joe. “Do you think it’s cursed?”

  “Cursed?” Brett was shocked. He couldn’t believe his friend thought a place could be cursed.

  “Yes, why not?” asked Joe.

  “I don’t believe in curses,” replied Brett.

  “Why not?” Joe questioned.

  “Because they aren’t real,” said Brett.

  “Guys.” Helen wanted to defuse this potential debate on the legitimacy of curses. She said, “There are many stories about the mine and what happened to it. Some of them do involve curses. We have no answers for why this mine has been emptied and nothing grows there. We can make up any story we want, but we will never know the truth. Whenever this mine became emptied, it was way before any inhabitant settled in Meadow Mews. Before Grant settled the town and Connor tried to destroy it. This predates everything we know.”

  Brett said, “Well, I saw that woman go in here, and I want to see what she is up to.”

  Brett pulled a torch from his inventory and walked into the mine. He spotted a cave spider and slammed it with his sword.

  “I told you,” Helen said. “The only things in this cave are spiders. There’s nothing else.”

  Joe looked at the hole in the ground. There were no signs of diamonds or other mining finds. It was barren.

  “She’s right,” said Joe.

  They heard a sound of someone digging into the ground with a pickaxe in the distance. Brett rushed toward the sound until he heard someone scream, “Stop! Don’t move!”

  4

  MINED

  Brett didn’t listen and kept tearing through the mine. The voice called out again, “I’m warning you. Please don’t move. You will get hurt.” Brett kept running.

  Joe spotted command blocks. He walked toward them and slammed his diamond sword into them. “These command blocks are probably being used to put us on hardcore mode.” He screamed as he destroyed the blocks.

  “Stop!” A masked criminal lunged toward Joe and struck him with a diamond sword while also splashing a potion of Harming on him. Joe had one heart left. He stopped destroying the cubes because he worried that they had put players on hardcore mode, and he feared being destroyed forever.

  “What are you doing with these blocks?” asked Joe.

  “That’s none of your business,” said the masked criminal.

  “Where did your ship go?” asked Joe.

  “Again, that is also none of your business. Stop asking questions,” the masked criminal pointed his sword at Joe. “With one more strike, you will be gone.” He laughed.

  Joe tried to pull a bottle of milk from his inventory, but his hands were shaky. He finally was able to get a bottle and took a sip. “I don’t understand what you want from us.”

  “I want nothing from you but to leave us alone. Get out of here,” said the criminal.

  Helen hid in the corner. Nobody had seen her, but now two cave spiders were crawling near her leg, and she had to attack them. She swung her sword at the cave spiders, and the masked criminal called out, “Who is over there?”

  “Leave her alone,” Joe pleaded. “She’s our friend. She didn’t even want to go into this mine.”

  “She’s intruding,” said the criminal.

  “You don’t own this mine,” Joe reminded him.

  “Didn’t I tell you to stop talking?” the criminal asked Joe and then sprinted toward Helen.

  “Please don’t hit me,” Helen said. “I’ll leave. I just want to find my friend Brett.”

  Brett called out, “Helen, get out. This is a trap.”

  Joe sprinted toward Brett’s voice. He had to help his friend get out of whatever trap he was in. Helen battled the masked criminal by the cave’s entrance. As they battled, a loud, thunderous boom shook the town and rain fell hard in the ground outside the cave. A crop of skeletons spawned by the cave’s entrance and began attacking Helen and the criminal. The criminal was weak, then had only one heart left, then was destroyed.

  Helen sprinted back into the cave. She could see Joe and Brett battling the woman with orange hair, and she rushed in their direction, but she dropped her torch and couldn’t see. She ran in the darkness, but she tripped and fell down a large hole. Helen screamed for help, but she felt as if she didn’t make a sound. Helen had never felt this cold in her life. Her body shivered, and her skin felt like it was covered in ice. She tried to imagine herself on a warm beach, but nothing helped. She was cold, and she was quite sure she might freeze to death.

  When she landed after falling in the seemingly never-ending hole, she landed with a large thump. She looked around. It appeared that she was still in the mine, but this mine was filled with diamonds. She pulled out her pickaxe and began to dig into the blocks.

  Although Helen wasn’t certain where she landed, she knew that she had to make the best of the situation. She had never been in a mine that had so many diamonds. It seemed like every time she banged her pickaxe into the ground, she uncovered another cluster of diamonds. A voice called out, “Is there anyone in here?”

  The voice sounded familiar, but she couldn’t quite place it. She didn’t reply. She grabbed milk to replenish her energy, traded in her pickaxe for a diamond sword, and walked toward the sound of the voice.

  “Hello,” the voice said.

  Helen smiled when she saw Grant standing by the entrance. It had been a long time since she saw her old friend. “Grant!”

  Grant looked confused. “Do I know you?”

  “Yes.” She smiled. “It’s your friend Helen. I haven’t seen you in ages.”

  “I don’t think we’ve ever met,” he said. “I’m sorry if we did and I don’t remember you.”

  Helen thought about the portal. She recalled the first time she met Brett and Joe and how they had said they were from the future. She trusted they were telling the truth but didn’t know if they were until she met them in their time period. Now she was meeting an old friend in a similar way. She wasn’t sure how she could explain this to him. Instead of telling him she was from the future, she just said, “It’s okay if you have forgotten me. We met only briefly.”

  “Isn’t this mine great?” asked Grant. “I feel like I can mine here every day and it never gets emptied. It’s like a gift to the Overworld. I am using all of the resources I gather from this mine to start a town. I want to call it Meadow Mews.”

  “That’s a good name. I’m sure it will stick,” Helen said with a chuckle.

  “Why are you laughing?” Grant questioned.

  “Oh, no reason. Sorry.” Helen walked out of the mine and into the sunlight. It was nice to be in the sun. She still had a chill from when she fell down into the portal.

  “Would you like something to eat?” asked Grant. “I just made a big lunch.”

  Helen followed her old friend toward his home, then she heard someone call out to her.

  “Helen!”

  She turned around and saw Joe and Brett jogging toward her. “Where are we?” asked Brett.

  “Wh
at time period is this?” asked Joe.

  Grant walked toward them, and Joe and Brett both said in unison, “We are in the past.”

  Brett looked at the landscape. There was one solitary house in the distance, which he recognized as Grant’s house. He said, “We are in the way past. Like, well before we were here the last time.”

  “What are you talking about?” asked Grant.

  Helen ignored Grant and told Brett and Joe, “We are here before the mine was emptied.”

  “The mine will be empty?” questioned Grant.

  “Yes,” said Joe.

  “How do you know? Who are you?” asked Grant.

  Joe said, “I’m Joe, and this is my friend Brett. I come from a town called Farmer’s Bay.”

  Grant interrupted him, “Farmer’s Bay?”

  “Yes,” said Joe.

  “I have plans to create a town called Farmer’s Bay. I made a map and everything,” exclaimed Grant.

  “It’s farther down the coastline.” Joe looked around the grassy meadow and wasn’t sure which direction Farmer’s Bay would be in. There were no buildings to help him find his way. He usually used landmarks, like Poppy’s gorgeous castle, to guide him.

  Grant pointed toward the left. “Down that way. Yes, I have a few people there who are helping me settle the town. But I don’t recognize you.”

  “We are from the future,” said Joe.

  “Wow,” said Grant.

  Joe, Brett, and Helen weren’t sure if he believed them, but he did invite everyone to his house to have lunch. As they approached Grant’s house, he saw his door was open.

  “Who is in my house?” asked Grant.

  “Maybe you left the door open?” suggested Helen.

  “No, I’d never do such a thing,” said Grant.

  Grant sprinted toward the house and rushed through the door. The woman with orange hair and one of the masked criminals stood by an opened chest. They looked up at Grant and pointed their diamond swords at him.

  “Don’t get any closer!” the orange-haired woman warned.

  5

  JOURNEY TO THE PAST

  “What are you doing?” Grant hollered. “Get away from my stuff!”