Saving Crafter, page 4
Stepping forward, he motioned for the guards to raise the weak zombie up so he could inspect him. The creature looked like any other zombie, green from head to toe with rotting skin and a decaying smell that would scare away even the bravest of NPC warriors. Reaching out, Xa-Tul lifted the monster’s chin so he could look directly in the creature’s eyes.
“What is this information that is befitting the ears of your king?” Xa-Tul asked.
“HP … Please … HP,” the creature moaned.
The king growled, but grabbed the zombie and carried him to the HP fountain. He let the smallest of splashes coat the creature, then pulled him away from the life-saving spring. Setting him down against the stone wall, Xa-Tul glared at the weak monster.
“What is the information? Xa-Tul demands that it is given.”
The zombie tried to stand, but was still too weak. So instead, he sat there and gave his report.
“The User … back to … another …” The zombie was so weak that he could barely speak.
Xa-Tul growled, then picked up the creature and allowed him to bathe in the HP fountain for another second. Kneeling, Xa-Tul glared at the smaller zombie, his red eyes glowing with anger.
“What was that?” Xa-Tul asked.
“The User-that-is-not-a-user was seen,” he said.
“WHAT?!”
The zombie nodded his decaying head.
“The User-that-is-not-a-user was spotted though he was in user form. This zombie saw him riding horses into the village with another user and an NPC. The zombies were just about to attack.”
“Was the enemy of the zombies captured?” Xa-Tul asked.
The zombie shook his head.
“The User-that-is-not-a-user helped the NPCs defend the village,” the weakened creature explained. “The attack was not successful…. No zombies survived. If I hadn’t left early, I would have been killed and no one would know this information.”
Xa-Tul nodded his head, lifted the zombie, and placed him in the sparkling green HP fountain. As the healing embers danced across the zombie’s body, the king turned and faced his generals.
“This is the kind of zombie needed to ensure victory,” Xa-Tul boomed. “What is this zombie’s name?”
“Fo-Lin,” the creature answered as he stood within the HP fountain.
“Fo-Lin has earned a promotion for his decisive thinking. From now on, this zombie will be called Ri-Lin,” Xa-Tul said.
“Thank you, King,” Ri-Lin said as he stepped out of the HP fountain. “What commands are there for Ri-Lin?”
“It is important that Xa-Tul knows what is happening at that village,” the zombie king explained. “Ri-Lin will go watch the village and report if anything changes, especially with respect to the enemy, Gameknight999.”
The other generals growled at the sound of his name.
“The zombies of the Overworld will take revenge on Gameknight999 and his friends … but first, his location must be known. Go, Ri-Lin and report what happens.”
“Yes, Xa-Tul,” the zombie said.
Standing up straight, the newly promoted zombie bolted back into the dark tunnel that led out of zombie-town.
“Zombies, revenge is at hand,” Xa-Tul bellowed, causing a chorus of excited moans from the generals. “Gather the troops. It is time for zombies to declare war with anyone who gives aid to the User-that-is-not-a-user, starting with that village.”
The generals all turned and headed back into zombie-town to gather their troops. As the growls and moans drifted up from the collection of homes strewn across the chamber floor, Xa-Tul smiled. Soon, his enemy would be on his knees, begging for mercy that would never come.
“I’M COMING FOR YOU GAMEKNIGHT999!” he shouted loud enough to make the very walls of the cavern quake in fear.
CHAPTER 7
INTO MINECRAFT … AGAIN
Gameknight’s senses were completely overwhelmed by the bright light encompassing him. He couldn’t feel or hear or see anything other than the brilliant white glow of the Gateway of Light.
When the glare finally faded, Gameknight surveyed his surroundings. It was dark and difficult to see, but as his eyes adjusted, he could make out some details. A tall oak tree was just barely visible to his right. The blocky leaves moved gently in the warm breeze that flowed across the land. They swayed in a synchronized dance with the blades of grass that covered the ground. Normally, the block would have just appeared green with a texture that represented grass, but from within the game, he saw the fine detail and subtle beauty of the land.
Something moved next to the tree.
Gameknight reached instinctively for his sword, but found he had no weapon. Taking a step closer to the tree, he saw there was something tied to it. A pair of horses were leaning their long heads down to the ground, munching on the thick grass. Each was saddled and ready.
Probably a gift from Hunter, he thought.
Off to the left, Gameknight could hear the splashing of water. It sounded as though it was falling from a great height, then pouring into a pool somewhere in a deep underground cavern. He knew exactly where he was, for he’d materialized here twice before. This was near his original hidey-hole, from the first time he’d come into Minecraft. The waterfall to his left was where he’d defeated the spider on his first day. And somewhere behind him, there was a secret entrance to the cave he’d carved into the side of the mountain that loomed over him.
Just as he was about to turn and find the entrance to his hidden sanctuary, a blinding sphere of light formed in the air. The intense illumination drove back the shadows and allowed him to see his surroundings for just a moment. When the light faded, he found his father standing on a grassy block in his monkey-skin and Superman outfit, a look of surprise on his face.
“Dad, over here,” Gameknight said, but his father didn’t move.
Walking to his side, Gameknight grabbed his hand and pulled him to the mountainside behind him.
“Stay here until I find the entrance,” Gameknight said.
Monkeypants mumbled something, but it was completely incoherent; he was probably in shock.
Ignoring him for the moment, Gameknight hopped up the blocky mountainside, looking for the entrance he’d hidden so long ago. Moving his hands across the shadowy blocks, he finally felt what he was looking for—grass-covered blocks stacked one on top of the other. They wouldn’t have spawned naturally like that. He clenched his hand into a fist and punched. In a minute, he was through the first block. Light from lava and torches streamed out of the hidden room, making it easier to see.
“Dad, come up here,” Gameknight said as he started to work on the second block.
Once it was shattered, he moved down to his father’s side.
“Monkeypants, we need to get inside. We have no weapons and no armor. We’re sitting ducks for any monster who might happen to walk by.”
His father said nothing. He just stared at the oak tree standing before him, then turned and looked down at the cubes of dirt covering the ground.
“Dad … are you OK?”
“It’s incredible,” he mumbled. “We’re in the game, we’re really in the game.”
“Did you think I was making it up?” Gameknight asked. “Come on, we need to get inside before some zombies come by.”
“Horses … look, there are some horses,” Monkeypants said, wonder twinkling in his eyes. “They’re all boxy and square, like in the game, but they look so much more alive now!”
“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Gameknight answered, putting his hand on his father’s shoulders and shaking him, hard. “You need to snap out of it, Dad. Can’t you see it’s dark out? Monsters will sense our presence here soon. We need to get up there, NOW!”
Monkeypants looked at his son, then glanced around at their surroundings and realized that they were indeed exposed out in the open.
“Come on, follow me,” Gameknight said.
Turning, he led the way up the blocky slope to the torch-lit entrance, his father following close behind. Once they were inside, Gameknight placed a block of dirt in the doorway to keep out any stray monsters.
“Did you build this room when you first came into the game?” Monkeypants asked.
“Yep,” Gameknight answered.
Monkeypants went further into the room, moving to the back so he could see the pool of lava that lit the rear of the cave.
“Don’t get too close to the lava,” Gameknight advised. “You can’t swim in it, just so you know.”
“That is sage advice, thank you,” his father answered. “What do we do now? Wait until the sun comes up?”
“No, we can’t wait. Every second counts. We must get to the village as quickly as we can.”
He moved to the chest he’d placed there long ago and opened the wooden box. He peered inside and then smiled up at his dad as he pulled a long iron blade from the chest.
“I think Hunter was here,” Gameknight said.
“Why do you think that?”
“Because I didn’t stock this chest with iron tools, weapons, and armor,” Gameknight explained. “I think she came here and filled it up for us.”
Gameknight pulled out pieces of armor and tossed them to his father, then carefully laid a sword, bow, and arrows on the ground. He then pulled the same out of the chest for himself.
“Put those on, quick,” Gameknight said. “We have to go.”
They both donned their armor and put their weapons into their inventory. Reaching into the chest one last time, Gameknight pulled out two loaves of bread and tossed one to Monkeypants. His father deftly caught the loaf and held it before his eyes. Carefully, he stroked the rough surface with his blocky fingers, then brought it to his nose and inhaled. A smile grew on his face as he placed the bread into his inventory.
“I can smell the bread—for real,” Monkeypants said.
“Of course you can,” Gameknight said. “This is for real and don’t you forget it. The monsters are real as well, and every one of them wants to destroy us for no reason other than they’re monsters and we aren’t.”
“Understood.”
“You ready?”
Monkeypants nodded his head.
“OK, here we go,” Gameknight said as he pulled out a shovel and dug up the blocks of dirt.
Putting away the shovel, he drew his sword and carefully stepped out of the hidey-hole. His father did the same.
“Take the blocks of dirt and seal up the hidey-hole again,” Gameknight said. “We might need it…. You never know.”
Monkeypants sealed the entrance and followed his son toward the horses tied up near the oak tree. As they neared the animals, a growling, moaning sound filled the air.
“Zombies,” Gameknight whispered. “Quickly, get behind me.”
His father ran behind his son and drew his own sword, watching his back. Suddenly, a pair of wretched green arms reached out at him, the fingers tipped with razor-sharp claws. Monkeypants screamed and swished his sword around in the air, not coming close to scoring hit. One of the zombies stepped forward and swung at Monkeypants, its nails carving four deep scratches in his chest plate.
“They’re behind you!” Monkeypants screamed.
Gameknight turned and lunged toward the monster. Spinning to the side, he swung his iron blade at the monster’s ribs, then blocked the claws from reaching his father again. Moving to the monster’s side, Gameknight swung his sword, scoring a strong hit that made the creature flash red and scream out in pain. Two more creatures moaned from the darkness as they shuffled forward.
“Dad, just watch my back and tell me if any of the monsters are trying to get behind me,” Gameknight instructed.
“Ahh … I mean …” Monkeypants stammered.
Gameknight could tell that is father was overcome with shock and fear. He remembered feeling the same way when that first spider had attacked him so long ago.
Focusing on the nearest zombie, Gameknight faked an attack with his sword, then drove a hard kick to the monster’s stomach. When it doubled over, he attacked with his blade, consuming its HP in seconds. It disappeared with a pop, leaving behind three glowing balls of XP. Not waiting, he charged at the next zombie, slashing at it with all his strength. After scoring multiple hits, it too disappeared, leaving only one monster remaining. Sprinting to this lone creature, Gameknight attacked its head. But before his blade reached the zombie, he knelt down and spun with his leg extended, taking the creature’s green, decaying legs out from under him. Falling hard on the ground, the zombie released a sorrowful moan and disappeared as Gameknight finished him off.
Gameknight found his father shaking, his face pale and covered with tiny cubes of sweat.
“Are you OK?” Gameknight asked.
“That was terrifying,” Monkeypants answered, his voice shaking.
“Welcome to Minecraft. Fortunately, it was only three of them,” Gameknight said. “It could have been a lot worse. Now come on, we’ll be much safer when we’re on horseback.”
Putting away his sword, Gameknight climbed atop the chestnut brown horse, then gestured for his father to do the same. The pair rode away from their hidey-hole, galloping as fast as their steads would carry them, heading southwest toward the village, which Gameknight knew would be waiting for them. Neither saw the zombie hiding in the darkness, watching them ride away, the long scar across his face and eye obvious in the moonlight.
“Xa-Tul will be pleased with Ur-Kil,” the zombie said to no one. “The User-that-is-not-a-user has returned, and Ur-Kil knows his destination.”
The zombie released a maniacal, guttural laugh as he headed back to zombie-town and his king.
CHAPTER 8
WELCOMING
“You’re telling me that this Herobrine character made all the monsters attack the Source?” Monkeypants asked as he rode next to his son.
“Shhh, lower your voice,” Gameknight said. “We don’t want to attract any more attention then necessary. And yes, that was Herobrine’s plan. He must have figured that he could escape the server if the Source was destroyed.”
“And you stopped all those monsters?” his father asked.
“Well … it wasn’t just me. I did have an army of NPCs with me as well as an army of users. So I wouldn’t say that I saved Minecraft. There were lots of other people there as well.”
“It sounds like that was dangerous,” Monkeypants said. “Maybe too dangerous.”
“A lot of people were in danger, Dad. I was just doing what I could to help.”
“But it sounds like you were at the front of the battle lines instead of being somewhere safe,” Monkeypants said. “Why couldn’t you let others be on the front lines? Must it always be you?”
Gameknight sighed with frustration.
“Because I can’t help if I’m hiding at the back of the army. Dad, this is what I do—I help these people when they don’t know what to do. I would have thought you’d be proud of me.”
“Ahhh—” Monkeypants started to say, but was interrupted by the sounds of an angry spider.
They looked for the clicking monster, but it had moved away to hide in the shadows again.
They rode in silence for a bit, both of them watching the square moon move across the sparkling starlit canopy of the night sky. The pale moonlight illuminated the ground just enough to allow them to avoid deep holes that would have likely injured or killed the horses.
“Watch out for that hole,” Gameknight said as he veered to the right.
Glancing behind, he made sure that his father was paying attention. Monkeypants steered his horse around the deep opening, but as he skirted the deep hole, he looked down into its depths. Gameknight could see his father start to waver on the horse, possibly becoming dizzy.
“Dad, you OK?” Gameknight said as he moved his horse next to his father’s. Reaching out, he grabbed Monkeypants’s armor and held him steady.
“What’s wrong?”
“You know … my fear of heights?” his father asked. “That hole was pretty deep.”
“Yeah, it’s probably part of a deep crevasse just under the surface,” Gameknight explained. “That’s why we need to be careful.”
“Thanks for steadying me,” Monkeypants replied. “I might have—”
Clicking sounds suddenly came from the top of a large spruce. Gameknight glanced up at the treetop and could see multiple red eyes glaring down at them. Veering away from the tree, they detoured far around it to avoid an unnecessary battle.
“And the spiders,” Monkeypants continued, his voice just a whisper, “they had a queen?”
“Yes, her name was Shaikulud. She was one of Herobrine’s creations, as was the enderman king and ghast king.”
“Malacoda and Erebus, right?”
Gameknight smiled. “You’re starting to get it straight … almost.”
“So after the battle with the spiders, you escaped in boats to another land,” Monkeypants said.
“That’s right,” Gameknight affirmed. “That was where the Last Battle for Minecraft was held.”
“It seems that you had the Last Battle a couple times before as well,” Monkeypants noticed. “They can’t all be the Last Battle…. Maybe you haven’t had the real one yet.”
“I hope that’s not the case,” his son replied.
“But you didn’t really destroy Herobrine, you just captured him in a pig’s body…. Is that right?”
Gameknight nodded his head as he scanned their surroundings for threats. Over the next hill, the sky was brightening, but it was too soon for dawn. They were getting closer to the village.
“And you think Herobrine’s evil is leaking out of this pig and infecting Minecraft?” Monkeypants asked.
Gameknight nodded again.
“Why don’t you just kill the pig and be done with it?”
“Do you remember seeing the glowing balls of XP that came from the zombies that attacked us when we came into Minecraft?” Gameknight asked.
“Sure.”
They started to climb a gentle sloping hill, the ground covered with long blades of grass. Blue and red flowers dotted the hill here and there.
“That XP would be infected with Herobrine’s virus,” Gameknight said. “It will infect anyone that touches it, letting Herobrine take over that new body. This is the difficult thing. We can’t kill him; we must instead put him someplace where he can’t hurt Minecraft anymore.”
