by Mark Mulle
Yes, they were searching for something – or someone. I needed to get out of here. I didn’t have any weapons to defend myself with.
There was a back exit that I could go through. I just had to get to it before they saw me. I darted behind another shelf and began to work my way to the back of the library. I could hear the Ender Men chittering to one another. Were they speaking? I had never heard them speak before. Each time I had gone to the End, it had seemingly been to a different section of it. As far as I could tell, the End was vast and never-ending. That meant there were all sorts of crazy things going on in there that I had no knowledge about.
My heart was beating very quickly as I crept towards the back exit. The ground had stopped shaking. But the wind was slamming against the side of the library. It was dangerous going outside yet it was too dangerous to stay in here.
I nudged the back door open with my foot. It was unlocked. That was lucky. Glancing behind me, I pushed the door open and spilled out into the village. The door slammed shut behind me from the power of the wind.
The village had been thrown into chaos. The wind and rain struck my skin. The temperature had dropped and it caused me to shiver. All around me, portals from the End had opened. Ender Men were spilling out of them. Villagers were arming themselves to try to shove them back and close the portals.
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I had never seen anything like this in my entire life. Was this what I had tried to warn myself about? There was no time to dwell. There was a weapons store next to the library. I burst inside, trying to find the shop owner.
There was a group of people in the store. All of them were yanking weapons off the walls. The store owner was in the center of the chaos, urging people to take what they could get. I didn’t have to be told twice. Even though it wasn’t as nice as my diamond sword back at my house, I didn’t have time to run back there to retrieve it. I had to help now.
I grabbed the nearest iron sword and took off back into the streets. The guards were trying to take care of one of the portals that had opened near the residences. Fighting against the wind, I managed to go over to them.
An Ender Man teleported in front of me. I had forgotten how much I disliked them. With their bright white eyes and ability to disappear, I hadn’t missed them. I brought my shield up to deflect a blow from it and then brought my sword down.
But the Ender Man disappeared. I spun around but the rain was splashing against my face. It made it impossible to see. One second I was standing there. The next I was thrown to the ground. I landed on my back, in the muddy ground, and saw an Ender Man reaching for me.
I swung my blade but my aim was messy. The Ender Man picked me up and held me off the ground. My sword fell from my fingers and struck the dirt. It made that strange chittering noise as it stared at me.
But whatever it was trying to do it didn’t get to finish. One of the guards struck the Ender Men from behind. The hit was strong and true. The Ender Man turned to ash. I crashed against the ground. The guard helped me up.
“Are you okay?” He asked, raising the visor of his helmet.
It was Liam, one of the newer guards in town. I nodded but didn’t get to thank him because a group of Ender Men were suddenly closing in around us. With our backs pressed against each other’s, we were cornered.
“We have to close that portal!” Liam shouted at me.
I could barely hear him over the wind but he was right. That portal needed to be shut. The problem was that I had never closed a portal to the End! Gone through them? Yes. But never closed them. Was such a thing even possible?
One of the Ender Men attacked. The group was talking in their strange voices. None of it made sense. I deflected the strike from the Ender Man. The rest of them circled around us.
“They seem, uh – oddly focused on you!” Liam exclaimed as he ducked from an attack.
He was right. One of the Ender Men picked him up and tossed him to the side as if he weighed no more than a pound. Whatever was going on, they had taken a keen interest in me. Of course. Just my luck!
The Ender Men were closing in on me. I swung my sword but they easily avoided it, teleporting out of the way, as one of them restrained me. My sword fell out of my hands and then I couldn’t move. It was as if they had used magic on me.
The chittering grew louder. They seemed to be calling for someone. Through the cluster of Ender Men, a taller one came towards me. This one had a necklace on – a glowing red jewel that rested against his skin. It was pulsing as if it was connected to something. I had never seen an Ender Man wear a necklace before.
He stopped in front of me and gripped my face, tilting it up to look at him. I didn’t want to stare at him but I had no choice. Looking into his white eyes, I had the sensation of falling. I could picture myself falling off a cliff, toppling into darkness below. It felt so vivid and real, that I tried to break free of being restrained.
Yet this Ender Man didn’t let go of me. He appeared to be studying me. Was it because I was a creeper living in a human village? Or was there something else going on here?
Whatever it was, this strange Ender Man liked what he saw because he nodded and pointed to the nearest portal. They began to drag me towards it. I dug my heels into the wet dirt and struggled. There was no way I was going to let an Ender Man take me through one of those portals!
Yet my struggling did nothing. The Ender Man who was holding me was too strong. We grew closer to the portal –
And an arrow soared through the air and struck the Ender Men that was holding me. I was suddenly free. Losing my footing, I fell forward. But I reached out for the strange Ender Man’s necklace. My fingers wrapped around it and on a whim, I tugged.
The necklace broke free of its chain and fell to the ground. The Ender Man let out a screech of alarm. Before I could think about it too much, I brought my foot down against the necklace. The gem shattered as easily as a window when I smashed it with my foot.
The chaos was instant. Whatever the necklace did, it had a powerful connection to the Ender Men. The portals began to suck them into it, drawing them back through it towards the End. One second they had surrounded me. The next, they were gone. Being forced into the End, they shrieked loudly.
The Ender Men all around the village were being sucked into the portals. After a minute of this, the storm stopped and the portals were all closed.
I dropped to my knees, out of breath and shaken up by what had just happened. I looked over my shoulder to see that Liam had been the one who had fired the arrow that had helped free me.
He hurried over to me, “Are you okay?”
“Been better.” I admitted.
All around us, the villagers begun to realize that the danger was over. The portals had closed. But all we had were tons and tons of questions.
Day 3
A town meeting was called as soon as everyone made sure there were no lingering Ender Men around us. Crowded into the village leader’s house, everyone looked worried and scared.
I was still having a hard time wrapping my head around everything. Future me had come to warn me about something called End Guardians and crystals. Shortly after, portals open and we are attacked. Ender Men with a leader having a strange necklace, the ability to communicate with one another – not to mention that they had wanted to drag me into their world – all of it was overwhelming.
“Please, we can’t keep talking over each other,” The village leader, Cassie, said, “We have to try to stay organized.”
“Stay organized?” A panicking man exclaimed, “At any moment, more of those portals can open. What are we going to do about it?”
Everyone began to talk at once. Panic ruled the room. I couldn’t blame them. It was scary and no one had any answers.
“Please! We need to review what happened!” Cassie shouted over the crowd.
“What happened? We were attacked! And then they just left!” Someone else shouted.
I swallowed and glanced over at Liam. No one would be
lieve me about seeing my future self. But Liam had seen what had occurred when the necklace had been destroyed. I couldn’t be quiet about that.
I took a step forward, “The necklace.”
The people in the room glanced over at me, “What?” Someone mumbled.
I spoke, “One of the Ender Men – they had a necklace. I destroyed it and that was when the portals closed.”
“How did you destroy it?” Cassie asked as everyone began to talk again.
“I stepped on it. It didn’t seem to be very strong.”
“How did you get close enough?” Someone else called out.
I didn’t like attracting too much attention to myself. Telling them that the Ender Man had stopped to look at me for reasons unknown made me nervous. I was already a friendly creeper – rare in the Over World. Now I had to tell them that the Ender Men had been interested in me?
“They attacked me,” I said slowly, “Then, the one with the necklace appeared. He tried to get them to drag me into the portal.”
That sent off a lot of conversation. Cassie tried to quiet the room.
Once it was quieted, she said, “Was anyone else taken to one of the portals?”
The room went silence. People glanced around. But no one claimed they had been dragged towards the portal. I wasn’t surprised. Just my luck.
“Why did they want you?” Someone asked me from the back of the room.
“I don’t know.” I admitted.
“I saw it,” This time it was Liam who spoke up,
